You cant have a knife, you cant start fires. you cant kill a animal for food. now you can shoot targets with a water gun but have to wear safety glasses?
I used to donate 22 ammo to the local boy scouts, but the people who ran it quit because of all the new rules, it aint the same boy scouts that I remember
I always see these claims on the 'net, but it's like it's from some other parallel scouting universe. It doesn't seem to reflect reality. My cub just got his whittling chip so he can carry a knife when he's in uniform. Making fire is part of the curriculum. We do archery and BB all the time.
They don't do firearms until boy scouts, but I'm OK with that considering the wide variety of maturity levels you have in lower- to middle-elementary-age years. I've helped out with the BB gun range during summer camps. Let me tell you... With even two or three cubs standing right there in front of you, you need about six arms and eight eyes. I'd rather introduce my own eight-year-old to a .22 on my own property at my own pace.
Looking at the council site, it seems like there still are shooting and hunting opportunities, if they can get the needed sponsorship, interest and support --
http://www.cornhuskercouncil.org/clays -- so don't throw in the towel yet. I reckon they need
more support and assistance, not less.
The water gun thing is a dumb political decision. I see a lot of angry reaction online. Maybe they can turn that around.
Women as cubmasters? Yeah I can appreciate that people would rather see the fathers do that, but I do know that without the mothers' time the packs and troops couldn't keep going. There's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes as committee chairs, advancement chairs, managing fundraisers, making sure the unit remains chartered and everyone's mandatory training is done. A lot of whip cracking needs to be done and the fairer sex seems to be really good at it, but I'll stop right there before I get myself in trouble.