Trunk or Treat: Gun Girl Style

All of the gun talk at church is really sinking in with people. I am now the go-to girl from teach me to shoot to help me decide which gun to buy. Now, it’s gone one step further: influence my kids. On Sunday, the Primary president had all of us Primary teachers together in a room for a training. At the end of the training course, she brought up a new idea that she had. Typically our ward does a Trunk or Treat for the kids on the Saturday closest to Halloween. We start inside with a chili cook-off and costume contest. Once it’s dark enough, we head out to the parking lot where people have parked their decorated cars. The kid go from car to car Trick or Treating until all of the candy is gone.

Sister F’s idea is to add more activities to the activity. Specifically, carnival games for the Primary children (ages 3-12). We came up with the usual cake walk, bobbing for apples, etc. and then, Sister F turned to me and asked me to run a shooting gallery. She will provide Nerf guns and Velcro guns. I need to figure out targets, prizes, etc. I’ve decided that it’s not going to be an unstructured event.

I’m going to require the shooters to wear eye protection and there will be a firing line. The line commands will be simple: Ready, Aim, Fire and Cease Fire will suffice. Range rules will also be simple: 1. Do not point the gun at anything until I say “Aim.” Then, you may point at the TARGET ONLY. 2.  Keep your booger hook off of the bang switch until I say “Fire.” 3. Stop shooting when I say “Cease Fire.” I think this will give them an idea of how to act in a disciplined and safe manner around guns. Practice for the day when they run into a real one.

As for prizes? I’m not sure. I’m going to get some Eddie Eagle stickers as a participation prize; every kid will get one weather he hits something or not. Eddie Eagle message coins will be a prize for something as well. I’m also planning to order from the NRA the Parents’ Guide to Gun Safety and have them available at the booth for interested parents. But the sticker and coin are boring. They’re not edible and they don’t do anything. So I’ve got to come up with additional prizes.

Any ideas? I’d like them to be educational AND fun. I’m not sure that’s possible.

I’ve decided for the young shooters, targets will be a kids plastic bowling pin set. I will set them up on a long table top  in two groups so I can have two shooters at once. I think it will be fun for them to shoot the bowling pins with the Nerf guns and watch the colorful pins bounce around.

I’m still brain-storming on targets for the older shooters. I’ve thought about having Velcro targets with rings and making the caliber of the prize vary with the ring hit. Or I could use the single-shot Nerf guns and have them on Ready dip the tip into a bit of chocolate pudding spread out on a a paper plate on the table in front of them and then load. After the F-command, they’d shoot into a paper target taped to the wall behind the table with masking tape. The “bullet” would leave a chocolaty evidence of their accuracy. I could do three shooters at a time and award first, second and third place prizes.

Maybe this should be two separate booths? I can run Shooting Gallery, Jr. with bowling pin targets for the 3-5 year-olds and have GB run a Shooting Gallery PRO with chocolate targets for the 6-12 year-olds.

Tags: gun safety, guns, kids and guns, shooting, shooting range

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