As Thetford’s Selectboard considers rapid-fire shooting hours at the Fish & Game Club in the Town Forest (“Neighbors complain of shooting range,” July 28), they should be asking, “Is this a fish-and-game club or is it a gun club?”

I’m a gun owner with a deep respect for hunting culture. I believe state and town should do all in their power to encourage Vermont’s hunting tradition.

But rapid-fire shooting plays absolutely no role in traditional, ethical hunting.

Vermont statute 10 V.S.A. § 4704 says, “A person engaged in hunting for wild animals shall not use, carry, or have in the person’s possession … a machine gun of any kind or description; or … an autoloading rifle with a magazine capacity of over six cartridges, except a .22 caliber rifle using rim fire cartridges.”

Ethical hunters do not construe the .22 caliber rimfire exception as sanctioning rapid fire. Deer hunting with .22 rimfire ammunition is explicitly illegal in the vast majority of states, because .22 rimfire lacks the velocity and energy for reliable, humane kills.

The .22 rimfire cartridge may be suitable for “varmint” hunting, but no ethical hunter takes small game by “spraying” with rapid fire.

Rapid firing bears the same relation to hunting as grenades do to fishing. Gun enthusiasts interested in rapid-firing, large-magazine and especially automatic weapons represent a cultural shift that has nothing to do with hunting.

According to the Valley News, Thetford Selectboard member Steven Tofel noted that the club has existed for 50 years and asserted (in the VN’s paraphrase), “everyone who’s moved in since then knew what they were getting into.”

People who moved in 50 years ago knew they were moving within earshot of a fish and game club — not a gun club. And this is not, as Selectboard member David Forbes opined, an issue of Thetford becoming more “suburban.”

Rapid firing was not an issue before the Selectboard 50 years ago, or 40 years ago or even 30 years ago, because hunters practicing skills needed in traditional, ethical hunting don’t practice rapid firing or spraying .22 rimfire ammo.

Hunting hasn’t changed.

Gun culture has changed.

No matter your politics, it’s undeniable that over the last 50 years gun culture has strayed far from hunting to a focus on weapons and uses — like handguns, “assault”-style rifles and rapid fire — that are relevant only to “self-defense.”

Gun enthusiasts can explore their fascination with tactical firepower wherever such uses are permitted by local, state and federal governments.

But Thetford is under no obligation to mistake a tactical firearm enthusiasts club for a hunting and fishing club. Confusing them could eventually lead to a backlash against tactical gun noise that unintentionally weakens hunting tradition.

To protect hunting culture for generations to come, the Thetford Selectboard should forbid rapid-fire shooting and help the Fish & Game Club stay true to its name.

Thetford resident William Craig teaches creative writing at Dartmouth College.