A quick Snapchat photo announced the latest accomplishment of my first son-in-law. He passed his conceal-and-carry class.

We are that family. The one you hear right after getting up from the dining room table at Christmas Eve. Don’t ask me why, but we shoot guns. I know, nothing says, “Let’s celebrate the joy of the season” like gunfire.

No, I am not a member of the National Rifleman’s Association. No, I do not have stickers on the back of my truck defending the Second Amendment. Yes, my husband owns a few guns. Yes, he comes from a long line of outdoor enthusiasts. No, I don’t like hunting — primarily because it makes me sit still and stay quiet for entirely too long. But yes, we want our children to know how to safely handle a gun.

My father taught me how to fire a pistol and rifle when we moved from a subdivision to the farm. I was not very accurate. Still, I practiced. He told me I needed to know how to safely use a gun to protect my family and our farm. It took five years before I was tested.

A pack of dogs came to the barn in the middle of the night. They left behind dead and mutilated lambs and ewes. We called the sheriff’s office. They came out. During those days, the only option was to protect the flock. My dad and I waited that night in the barn, rifles in hand. The dogs returned. They did not leave.

HEADED TO HANNIBAL: Kaitlyn Davis (center), sitting with her family, will shoot for Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal. She participated in 4-H Shooting Sports and honed her marksmanship.

It got me thinking, in my day there was no such thing as 4-H Shooting Sports. I only had my dad. But today there is a program that teaches kids not just about how to defend and protect, but it goes well beyond.

The 4-H Shooting Sports program is an educational activity to teach firearm safety to 4-H youth, help them improve their marksmanship, and to enjoy outdoor activity. Some are becoming so proficient they have an opportunity to shoot in college.

I recently ran across information on two Texas County 4-H Shooting Sports members who had a college signing ceremony for shotgun teams. How cool is that?

Kaitlyn Davis will shoot for Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal, Mo. A home-schooled student from Summersville, Mo., she enjoys the competitiveness of shooting sports and meeting new people. She plans to major in criminal justice.

A 2019 graduate of Cabool High School, James Scott will join the shotgun squad at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo. Scott says 4-H shooting sports was good to him because he liked watching himself improve and getting to be around other people with the ambition to continuously get better. He will also major in criminal justice.

I am impressed how 4-H can help kids develop skills and mold out a career. So, if you’re taking your kids on a hunt, or shooting as a family on Christmas Eve, consider enrolling them in 4-H Shooting Sports. You never know where it will lead.

NEXT LEVEL: James Scott (sitting at right) of Cabool, Mo., will join the shotgun squad at Missouri Valley College in Marshall.