During the Spanish American War, the federal government discovered that its Army recruits were poor shots, so it instituted the Civilian Marksmanship Program to produce a better pool of reservists. Nine decades later, attempts to eliminate the program have failed, following a lobbying effort on the program's behalf by the National Rifle Association. The $2.5 million subsidy provides guns and ammunition to about 1,500 marksmanship clubs, including the Boy Scouts summer camp program.

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