GUNS AND AMMO: One of America's fastest growing high school sports has 'no benchwarmers'

Shooting sports are gaining popularity among high schoolers across the United States, despite conflicting attitudes toward guns.

SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. – Rain cascaded down Sophie Johnson's face as she aimed the shotgun. She held her breath, trying not to fog up her glasses, then curled an icy finger around the trigger and pulled.

Across the field, the bird exploded in a hail of neon green shards.

"It was amazing that I was able to hit the target because I couldn't see anything," Johnson said after the round. "But once you got past the cold, it was pretty easy to concentrate. Once it was your turn, you just had to stop shaking to shoot."

Sophie Johnson, a senior at Sedro-Woolley High School, waits for her turn to shoot at the FFA District 1 trap championship, Oct. 24, 2023, in Skagit County, Washington. Competitors shot two, 25-target rounds for a total of 50 targets. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

WHY GUN OWNERSHIP IS SPIKING AMONG THIS DEMOGRAPHIC

Johnson was one of 55 high school students competing at a Future Farmers of America district trap shooting championship in late October in Skagit County, Washington.

Clay target shooting is currently one of the fastest-growing high school sports, but not long ago the pastime teetered on the edge of obscurity.

In Newport, Washington, a town of about 2,000 nestled along the Idaho border, the local sportsmen's club struggled with a shrinking — and rapidly aging — membership.

"'If we don't do something to get the younger generation involved and younger families involved, our club and our shooting sports around here, they're going to die,'" local high school teacher David Bradbury recalled one club member telling him around five years ago.

So Newport followed the lead of