JOHN YANG: For decades, using and owning guns has sparked debate in America.

But every year, millions of Americans use guns recreationally.

Not just for hunting, but also for target sports like skeet and trapshooting.

Special correspondent Megan Thompson tells us that a growing number of young people are jumping into shooting sports.

We should warn you that this story includes the sound of gunfire.

MEGAN THOMPSON: It's 08:00 on a June morning in western Minnesota.

After paying respects to the American flag, hundreds of high school athletes head out for one of their last competitions of the season.

They're facing off in Minnesota's Trapshooting Championship.

Over the course of nine days, more than 8,000 teenagers will compete.

Across the country, youth shooting sports have exploded in popularity over the last decade.

MAN: Got a TriStar TT15 right here.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Organizers claim it's now one of the fastest growing high school sports and that this is the world's largest shooting sport event.

RANDAL BAKER, Coach, Wayzata Clay Target Team: Do the best you can.

Have a good time.

All right.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Randal Baker and Michelle Jacklitch coach the 28 member team from Wayzata High School, one of the best in the state.

MICHELLE JACKLITCH, Coach, Wayzata Clay Target Team: Got this.

MAN: Got it.

MEGAN THOMPSON: The conditions are good today.

Almost no wind.

And Baker says the team's off to a good start.

RANDAL BAKER: Yeah, good enough to be on top.

At the end of the day.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Wayzata High School serves a well to do suburban area west of Minneapolis.

Many of the team's families hunt or already have guns at home.

We attended the team's last practice before the big competition.

RANDAL BAKER: Before you call for the target, that gun should be on your face for a half a second.

MEGAN THOMPSON: There are three main shooting sports that involve a shotgun and a clay target.

Today, the team is practicing trap.

A squad of five shooters stands at stations on the trap field.

A voice activated thrower placed 16 yards away flings the bright orange clay discs into the air.

MAN: Right when the person before me fires, I take a deep breath, put it up, exhale partly, then I'll call pull.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Today, and during competition, they'll get 100 shots.

XENA HEIMBECHER, Member, Wayzata Clay Target Team: I love trap shooting.

I can't even express it.

It's a totally different feeling getting up on that line.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Rising senior Xena Heimbercher has been on the team since 7th grade.

Unlike most school sports, girls and boys shoot together, although they're scored separately.

And on this team, some of the strongest shooters are the girls.

XENA HEIMBECHER: It allows me to do something that most people don't expect.

Most people don't even know what it is.

RANDAL BAKER: It's not about whether you're a female or male.

You can be tall, you can be short.

Makes no difference.

That's one of the beautiful things about this sport.

ALLISON PLYMATE, Member, Wayzata Clay Target Team: I'm more like the nerdy gamer kind of person.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Rising senior Allison Plymate is another one of the team's talented shooters.

She says the sports helped teach her to be mentally strong.

ALLISON PLYMATE: A big part of it is just keeping in the right headspace and staying focused.

I used to be a sore loser, and now I've learned you could just brush it off and keep going, which is exactly what happened today.

MEGAN THOMPSON: After missing four shots in her third round, she shook it off and shot a perfect fourth round.

JOHN NELSON, President, USA Clay Target League: Our goal is to get as many kids as possible outdoors.

MEGAN THOMPSON: John Nelson is the president of the USA Clay Target League, which organizes the competitions.

In the early two, previous president, Jim Sable, noticed the average age at his local gun club was over 55.

So he started teams at three local high schools, including Wayzata.

Soon, there were dozens of teams across Minnesota.

The high school league started in 2012, and then with funding from Cabela's, the outdoor recreation retailer, John Nelson and Sable began launching Clay Target teams in other states.

JOHN NELSON: In our early days, there was a lot of pushback simply in saying, thank you, no thanks, and we'll close the door real quick after you leave.

MEGAN THOMPSON: And why?

JOHN NELSON: Well, I think the perception of kids, guns in schools, that is a negative perception.

It's also we're talking to an audience that doesn't know much about shooting sports.

MEGAN THOMPSON: But over the last ten years, Nelson has navigated that pushback.

The high school league now operates in 35 states.

This past spring, there were more than 1,500 teams and 34,000 athletes.

Hundreds more compete in college and homeschool programs.

JOHN NELSON: We've had more than a quarter of a million student athletes through this program, and we have never had a reported injury.

MEGAN THOMPSON: That's because, Nelson says safety is taken extremely seriously.

No one can participate until they've completed a gun safety certification program.

On each field at Wayzata practice, a parent volunteer watches to make sure the students are following the rules.

MADI SCHULTZ, Wayzata top shooter: Unloaded.

Uncased.

Pointing down is important.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Recent graduate Madi Schultz is Wayzata top shooter.

MADI SCHULTZ: This is your action.

MEGAN THOMPSON: When the action is open, the gun is unable to fire.

MADI SCHULTZ: The only time we close it is when it's our turn to shoot.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Schultz says athletes must carry the gun straight up or straight down, never pointed at a person.

They must wear ear protection, safety glasses, and closed toe shoes.

Guns are prohibited on school grounds, and all practices are held at off campus gun ranges.

JOHN NELSON: Safety is the first priority today.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Safety protocols were on full display at the big competition, but evidence of America's political battle over gun rights was not.

Nelson says the league makes a point of staying out of politics, but one of the event's 20 sponsors was the National Rifle Association, which made donations worth more than $2.7 million to youth and college programs across the country in 2021.

The NRA's political arm is known for aggressive lobbying against virtually all gun control, and its involvement here doesn't sit well with Chris Brown, the president of Brady, one of the nation's oldest gun control advocacy groups.

KRIS BROWN, President, Brady: For an organization like the NRA that is curbed to more guns in all hands, regardless of the consequences, attempting simply to arm more young people with firearms?

Or are we actually allowing young people to be informed about the true risks and benefits of firearms?

MEGAN THOMPSON: Brown says she's not opposed to youth shooting sports, but she points to CDC data showing that firearms are now the leading cause of death for young people, accounting for about 20 percent of childhood deaths in 2000 and 2021.

KRIS BROWN: The reality is a gun in the home, including something that you take home from this kind of sporting event, is much more likely to harm you or someone in your household than to be able to be used in self-defense.

And the NRA does not well communicate that risk.

MEGAN THOMPSON: In an email to PBS News Weekend, an NRA spokesman called safety the bedrock of its mission, adding that its goal is to support the future of the shooting, sports, and traditions.

By promoting this sport and having more kids taking guns home, how is that not making the situation more dangerous?

JOHN NELSON: Our goal is to try to get those kids to understand how dangerous a firearm can be if they are in an environment where a firearm comes to.

I can assure you that one of the kids in our league will make sure that firearm is unloaded.

XENA HEIMBECHER: I can understand the controversy, absolutely.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Xena Heimbercher says she's gotten some strong reactions when she tells people she's on a shooting team.

XENA HEIMBECHER: And I think a lot of that's a lack of understanding.

There's so much more to it than the gun aspect of it.

It's the team, it's the mental, it's the physical.

It's the resilience of shooting and coming back and showing up.

MEGAN THOMPSON: And that's exactly what Heimbercher and her teammates did at the big competition.

As the long day finally wound down, they anxiously waited for the final results to come in.

JOHN NELSON: All right, conference two first place female high average goes to Madi Schultz from Wayzata High School.

Congratulations.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Schultz was the only female to shoot a perfect 100, a feat that earned her three medals.

Xena Heimbercher earned a medal.

Allison Plymate, too.

And the team as a whole won two first place trophies.

Finish the day exhausted but full of pride.

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Megan Thompson in Alexandria, Minnesota.