Thanks to the efforts of Francisco W. Perese ’09, the Harvard Shooting Club—founded in 1883 but on hiatus since 2002—is shooting to become an active organization once again.
Sharply dressed (and belying his sharp-shooting skills), Perese said that all new members will first be trained in pistol and rifle safety under National Rifle Association guidelines, and then progress to skeet and trapshooting at the Fin Fur Feather Club in Millis, Mass. His goal is “promoting sportsmanship and exercising our Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
Perese acknowledged that some oppose the new club. Though the club won’t hunt live game, “obviously there are people who are against hunting, or the idea of weapons in general,” he said. And Perese said that various safety measures have been put into place: “Guns are stored at HUPD. We’ve had a relationship with Students Against Handgun Violence in the past.”
Perese hopes to resurrect Harvard’s tradition of competing with Yale, and also to challenge MIT. “[Shooting] requires a lot of thought, concentration, and practice...[Harvard students] can easily pick up [shooting] recreationally,” he said.
The Harvard Shooting Club has about 25 members, thanks to safety-conscious recruiting efforts like a club-sponsored Harvard/Yale tailgate. It should be operative this week. Perese encourages those interested, regardless of experience, to join. In the future, perhaps the number of shots fired by Harvard might rival the number of shots fired in New Haven.
