Hillsdale College, founded in 1844 by a group of Freewill Baptists, has established itself as one of the preeminent private educational institutions in the United States, with a particular defense of the traditional liberal arts, as well as a robust focus on the foundational principles of the United States. Of these foundational principles, the college educates its students on the meaning of the Second Amendment in theory and practical application. Watch our “American Rifleman Television” feature segment above to see how Hillsdale approaches teaching the Second Amendment to a new generation of Americans.
”The college, from its origins, was given to four principles or what we call “pillars,” and that is high learning, it’s here to promote and to furnish high learning,” Dr. David Whalen said. “Faith. The Christian faith is foundational here. Moral formation of our students, so moral character is important. And then finally, freedom. The college, in fact, was said to exist by virtue of gratitude for the inestimable blessing of civil and religious freedom. So freedom is very important here.”
Even as early as the mid-19th century, Hillsdale College practiced what it preached regarding its defense of freedom, liberty and the U.S. Constitution. A higher percentage of Hillsdale College students enlisted to fight for the Union in the Civil War than any other western college. Four Hillsdale college students earned the Medal of Honor. Sixty students gave their lives during the war.
”The curriculum here is robust. It’s rich, but it’s also, and this is important, integrated. These courses aren’t designed to provide smatterings of knowledge. They are not designed to create little dilettantes who know a little bit about a lot of the different things,” Whalen said. “Instead, they all presume upon and lean upon each other. They bespeak a unity of knowledge. There’s a kind of integration in these courses, or at least we strive for a high degree of complementarity and integration in these courses so that, you know, you’re not just graduating students who have minds full of clutter, but who have intellects capable of a kind of comprehensive vision of the world at large.”
As part of its core curriculum, a series of courses that every Hillsdale student must take, there’s a comprehensive look at early American political thought, culminating in an intensive look at the U.S. Constitution. Courses also explore the historical roots of Western civilization, as well as the American heritage, specifically in cultivating a greater understanding of the “American experiment of liberty.”
“ As I often tell my students, it’s important to remember that both reason and experience show us that it is true that liberty is not a grant from a government, but is rather a gift from God. And so we spend a lot of time in class talking about what that means,” Dr. David Raney said. “At a very basic level, in a free society, it’s each citizen’s not just right, but responsibility, to step forward and provide the means by which they can defend all of their God-given liberties. And that typically means the ability to keep and to bear arms.”
To provide a venue for students to learn the practical side of the Second Amendment, in 2008, the college purchased a nearby property. Over the next few years, the range was developed further, and by the early 2010s, the John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Complex was dedicated.
“ The first time I visited the range was in 2008. The property, which was an old gravel pit, was purchased in 2006 with a grant from one of our donors, and we used those proceeds to buy this particular property, which is about four and a half miles from campus. We have 113 acres out there, ” Halter Shooting Sports Complex Range Manager Matt Little said. “So it was one trap field, one outhouse and one light pole in 2008. And now fast forward to 2024-2025, we’ve got about $30 million invested and soon to have our largest facility out there with the Taylor indoor/outdoor building.”
Today, the range boasts five bunker trap fields, eight American trap fields and four combination American/International skeet fields. There’s a 23-station sporting clays course on the property, as well as an enclosed and heated five-stand facility. The complex recently finished the construction of a seven-bay pistol arena and is currently finishing construction on an indoor/outdoor air rifle and pistol range. There are also archery ranges and a 100-yard rifle range at the site. At the center of the complex is the classroom building, where students can choose one of several firearm-training courses.
”We have courses that do not presume any familiarity on the part of the student with any kind of firearm. And so there are, they’re very basic, of course, they’re safety-oriented. They teach students how to operate firearms safely, responsibly,” Whalen said. “But we also include in these courses, something of the understanding I was talking about a moment ago pertaining to the place of firearms in a free society. What is that all about? And then there are higher level courses that are oriented more towards perfecting a skill set that you developed, whether in an earlier course or perhaps you came to the college with a pretty good skill set.”
The continued growth at the Halter Shooting Sports Complex has drawn the attention of several notable firearm industry giants. For years, Winchester Ammunition partnered with the college to provide ammunition for its many programs. More recently, Springfield Armory provided firearms to the college and supported the establishment of the school’s first action-pistol shooting team. In 2019, USA Shooting designated the Halter center as the official home for its shotgun sports.
”Some might think it’s antiquated, some might actually think that it’s irrelevant, but it’s actually still a part of our United States Code. Title 10. Every adult, able-bodied male is part of the unorganized militia of the United States. I take that seriously, and so does Hillsdale College,” Raney said. “In the end, if you are part of that militia, you should be bearing arms, and you should know how to use those arms, and you should be able to use those arms effectively if you or a colleague or a, let’s say a fellow student or somebody in a broader context within the community, if they’re in any way either either assaulted or if they’re in danger, then that well-armed citizen would then be able to step in and to meet that danger and hopefully, you know, avert a crisis. And that’s a duty all of us actually, I believe, bear. To be armed, to prepare for situations like that and thwart danger and personal harm either individually or collectively, whenever it might arise. It’s a duty of citizenship.”
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
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