How did Korea get 3 Gold in Shooting?
How can a country with no guns shoot so well?
It seems that the United States should have three gold medals in shooting, but they missed the target. Korean citizens cannot buy or carry firearms, yet they have three gold medals in shooting from the Olympics.
Game Rooms
I thought about this for a while and realized that people are not born shooting a target.
It takes a lot of training and practice.
It starts when they are young. The city is filled with game rooms like American cities are filled with gas stations and Wallmarts. Although Koreans study hard, they also play hard. One of the most popular section in the game room is the shooting gallery.
School Classrooms
There is a classroom just for simulation. Students in elementary school come and practice against targets. They compete against each other. The only problem with this is that sometimes they shoot at other student's targets to make other students points go down.
That was the case this summer when two boys started shooting each other's targets.
The one boy thought it was pretty funny. The other boy was super sensitive. When I realized what they were doing I stopped the practice.
We sat down and talked about it and they said they were sorry.
It looked like the end.
Outside the classroom
This one didn't end in the classroom.
After class the sensitive kid found the other kid's cellphone and took it. I had to call his mom and ask him to bring the phone back to school. He didn't bring it back, but sent his mom to bring it back. That's because the screen was smashed.
The other boy could have sued this kid, but he decided to buy his mom a drink and say, "No hard feelings." The kid had every reason to be angry, but he was cool about it. Maybe in another country where kids have access to real firearms it wouldn't have ended like this.
I understand in some cases it may be a good idea for kids to learn to use firearms. When I visit friends in another country we go to the farm and pick off crows that endanger the harvest. It works better than poison or scare crows. My boys pick up riffles and shoot. The dog picks up the birds we get and has dinner.
That's the way of life in the country. In the city I can't see any reason to have or carry a firearm unless you are a trained law enforcement officer. In fact the gun itself puts the owner at risk.
The secret behind three gold medals in shooting is not having more guns. The secret is education. Maybe gun safety should be part of health class, not technology class.
Peace,
