Kids learn how to be safe behind the trigger

PRINCETON — The third annual Youth Day at the Range event took place at the Dan Hale Reservoir on Saturday with a top priority of teaching gun safety to both children and adults.

Founders Dr. Randy Maxwell of Willis Chiropractic and Jerry Dove, owner of Dove Custom Guns in Princeton, started the event with a desire to offer a safe and fun way for both children and adults to participate in shooting sports.

Maxwell said the event not only offers gun safety information to children, but also to adults not familiar with handling a firearm. He said it is surprising how many people in Mercer County have never shot a gun before.

Participants were invited to learn how to properly handle a firearm by shooting under the supervision of West Virginia State Police and Division of Natural Resources officers.

The most important priority of the event was safety.

“Safe gun-handling is one of the biggest things here,” said Maxwell.

Dove agreed by saying, “It’s a chance for [the youth] to shoot and learn how to do it safely in the right way.”

Dove said he hopes the event will help change a negative image some adults have about firearms.

Since the first year of the event, Maxwell and Dove have watched attendance grow. They began with 139 youth participants the first year, saw 250 youth attend the second year and planned for 400 youth at this year’s event.

The event’s proceeds supported Mercer County’s Child Protect, a non-profit advocacy center. Shiloh Woodard, executive director of Child Protect, said the organization helps around 200 children each year. Child Support offers free services like counseling, trauma therapy, bullying prevention and support for families in the court system. They also work with the court and local police to conduct forensic interviews with children who may be the victims of abuse or have witnessed a crime. This is the first year Child Protect has been a part of Youth Day at the Range.

The center became involved with the event through Maxwell. The chiropractic office has held fundraisers for the center for the past four years.

“This is the strongest showing of community of support for our agency we’ve ever had in the past 11 years of our operation,” said Woodard. “Just to know that this community cares about children, cares about child safety and cares about kids who have not been blessed with growing up in safe environments is really significant to us.”

A total of 30 exhibitors participated in this year’s event, including Marlin Firearms. Jessica Kallam, press relations manager for Marlin, said not enough youth are involved in outdoor activities. One of Marlin’s goals is to reach more youth and female shooters to get them involved in shooting sports. Kallam said the Youth Day at the Range event is a great way to reach a lot of people and educate about firearm safety.

Pamela Faulcon, assistant brand manager for Marlin, said it was an awesome opportunity to reach out to youth at the event. Marlin is a traditional brand that was established in 1870. They are most known for their lever-action rifles. Faulcon said a lot of children learn to shoot with Marlin firearms because of family tradition with parents and grandparents using the brand.

Marlin donated 25 .22-caliber firearms for the event. Fifteen of those firearms were raffled off to participants.

Ten different stations were provided at this year’s event, .22-caliber firearms were available to shoot at the Marlin station, and the National Guard station allowed participants to shoot an M4 training rifle. Other stations included information from West Virginia DNR, the CONSOL Energy mine rescue team, a 9/11 tribute station and Child Protect. Alpha Resources brought Ginny, the first dog to be trained in underground search and rescue, for photo opportunities and demonstrations.

At noon, all activities paused for the official ceremonies. Ceremonies included raising the American flag, colors presented by the Civil Air Patrol and a 21-gun salute by the West Virginia Honor Guard.

Participants at the event shared a common desire to learn about gun safety and spend a day enjoying the outdoor sport.

Dusty Raulerson, of Lashmeet, has attended the event for the past three years with her sons Braylan, 10, and Jensen, 4. She said it is good for her children to learn gun safety. At home, the family participates in target shooting.

“I like to come because I get to learn gun safety, and they have some pretty cool stuff here,” said Braylan.

Sarah Ballengee, of Athens, attended for the first time this year. Her son Bryce, 6, also attended to learn about gun safety. Ballengee’s husband is an avid hunter, and she said shooting guns is a tradition in her family and a way to teach her children about working for food.

The Outdoors Channel and several outdoor sports magazine journalists also attended to cover the event on a national basis.

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Kids learn how to be safe behind the trigger

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