I am trying to get a general sense of how colleges view participation in sports activities involving guns. Are shooting sports treated like other sports if the student was involved in an organized program with practices and competitions? Or will the mere mention of guns on an application scare colleges away?
I would hope that sport shooting is treated like any other sport. It is in the olympics after all.
That being said, given most schools do not have shooting teams, it will be treated like other non-recruitment level athletics which is essentially the same as any other EC.
As long as your application is balanced out with a variety of other things to show you are a well rounded person I wouldn’t worry about it. I assume you are concerned that it will be perceived negatively due to our anti-gun movement in the country. My son in an avid hunter and was also part of shooting sports. However, he was also an Eagle Scout, had huge amounts of community service and held a job during most of high school. We didn’t feel there was any concern about his involvement with shooting. However, if shooting sports was all he did, it might have been viewed negatively. JMHO.
Just a suggestion. There are numerous groups of gun owners who do support gun safety-even the March for our Lives movement has members who are gun owners supporting safety measures. If your son feels he could join or support any such group, it would make for an interesting essay or experience.