A Schützenverein is in German language

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 countries a voluntary association

Voluntary association

A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...

 featuring sport-shooting

Shooting sports

A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...

 either on Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 levels or historic weapons.

Historically, these associations originated in late medieval autonomous towns

German town law

German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...

 as a form of citizens' militia aimed mainly to defend the town's privileges against the local princes.

Today these kinds of clubs are present with this name in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The members practice a shooting-sport on strict rules, mostly according to Olympic rules without attaching any military importance, and the most used weapons are air-rifles

Air gun

An air gun is a rifle , pistol , or shotgun that fires projectiles by means of compressed air or other gas, in contrast to a firearm, which burns a propellant. Most air guns use metallic projectiles as ammunition. Air guns that only use plastic projectiles are classified as airsoft...

, air-pistols, small bore weapons

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

 and crossbow

Crossbow

A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...

s.

The biggest head organisation in Germany for a "Schützenverein" is the "Deutscher Schützenbund" (DSB), originally founded in 1861 in Gotha

Gotha (town)

Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...

 and refounded after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in 1951 in Frankfurt (Main). It has about 15,000 clubs with about 1,500,000 members (Schützen), which makes it the third largest sports organisation in Germany. Legally recognized alternative head organisations include the "Bund Deutscher Sportschützen", "Bund der Militär- und Polizeischützen" and the "Deutsche Schießsport Union". These offer a wider variety of shooting styles and competition types than the DSB, particularly in the field of large-bore firearms.

Non-European appearance

In the Americanised spelling, schutzenvereins were also quite popular for generations of German-Americans. These social facilities were the German community's version of a country club, featuring guns instead of golf clubs, and where a hole-in-one had a very different meaning. Some facilities resembled little more than a neighborhood bar, while others were strikingly similar to a modern day amusement park.

Each of these facilities featured at least one target range for rifle marksmanship. In addition to the shooting and target houses, they sometimes included an inn, dance hall, music pavilion, zoo, bowling alley, roller coaster, refreshment stands, athletic field, picnic grounds, and other amusements. It was common for tens of thousands of people to attend a major event.

The popularity of these facilities began to decline in America around 1917, when the anti-German sentiment from World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 restricted the activities of German-Americans and led to the prohibition of the use of the German language in public. Many businesses and organizations changed their German names or dissolved. The American Schützenvereine were dealt another serious blow in 1919 when the "Prohibition Act" outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, the consumption of which was casually mixed with shooting activities.

Schuetzen Park in North Bergen, New Jersey

North Bergen, New Jersey

North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...

 and Schuetzen Park

Schuetzen Park (Iowa)

Schuetzen Park is a privately owned park located in the west end of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was developed by the Davenport Schuetzengesellschaft as a location for the practice of target shooting in the traditional German style called "Schuetzen". The park is now owned and operated by...

 in Davenport, Iowa

Davenport, Iowa

Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...

recall the tradition.

External links

• Deutscher Schützenbund (German head organisation)
• Österreichischer Schützenbund (Austrian head organisation)
• Schweizer Schießsportverband (Swiss head organisation)
• Deutsch-Amerikanischer Schützenverein (United States)
• National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom (Great Britain)
• Koninklijke Nederlandse Schutters Associatie (The Netherlands)
• ESC - European Shooting Confederation
• ISSF International Shooting Sport Federation