The mere mention of the National Rifle Association sends tensions rising, so it should come as no surprise that some school boards have rejected grants that the organization has made to some school rifle teams.

The Stroudsburg Area School Board gained the national spotlight last month when it voted 6-2 against accepting a $4,730 grant intended to modernize the rifle team’s equipment.

Now, don’t think for a minute that these weapons are AR-15s or some other exotic, high-powered guns. These are single-shot .22-caliber rifles that are used in competition, similar to those used in the Olympic Games. The rifle team, made up of both boys and girls, has been in existence for decades at the school.

Two area businessmen thought that the board was overreacting in the wake of the Valentine’s Day killing of 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, so they spearheaded a fund drive to collect the money to not only update the rifles but also to buy the team members jackets, spotting paraphernalia and ammunition.

As so often happens when controversy breaks out in communities, supporters, especially when it comes to students, respond generously, and in no time at all, community donations swelled to $6,750, well over the amount of the proposed NRA grant. In fact, the call for donations was so successful that the two men stopped taking donations. They presented the check at last month’s school board meeting to Superintendent Cosmas Curry.

Theirs was a response to the creation of a GoFundMe page initiated by freshman state Rep. Maureen Madden, D-Monroe, started for the same project, which to date has raised more than $12,000, nearly three times its original goal.

The online donations include an anonymous private donor, who matched $2,500 in donations. “I have spoken to many community members who feel the same as I do in regard to equipping the team,” Madden said. “Let us put our political ideology aside and come together as a community in support of our rifle team.” Madden said she plans to present the check to the school board later this month.

The businessmen and the other donors to that fund were unhappy with the Madden effort, fearing that it would further politicize the situation. One of the businessmen, Brian Winot, owner of Northeast Site Contractors in East Stroudsburg, said that the students should not be in the middle of a political debate and controversy not of their making or choosing. He and his stepbrother, Tim Primrose, owner of Primrose Landscaping in East Stroudsburg, said their actions were to ensure that the 21 rifle team members get the support and equipment they need.

“Guns and hunting are part of the very fabric of the Pocono community,” Winot said in a news release.

A Facebook poll that attracted more than 3,000 responses opposed the school board’s rejection of the grant by almost 5 to 1.

One other thing: The NRA didn’t “force” this grant down the throat of the school district; the grant was awarded through a nationwide competitive process initiated and applied for last December with the support of rifle team coach Mike Qendro.

The NRA has increased its funding to schools recently, according to an Associated Press analysis of NRA Foundation public tax records. Nearly 500 schools received more than $7.3 million from 2010 through 2016, mostly through competitive grants for shooting sports, such as the rifle team at Stroudsburg, along with Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, hunting safety courses and agriculture clubs.

Three other schools in the region received the NRA grants this year, including Freedom and Liberty high schools in Bethlehem and Southern Lehigh in Coopersburg. In all, seven school districts in area counties have received nearly $63,000 in grants during the past six years. Most of the money went to rifle teams and Junior ROTC programs.

Pro-NRA websites were positively euphoric with the turn of events at the Pocono school. 100percentfedup.com said, “This is a perfect example of the good that can be done when Second Amendment supporters stick together.” Downtrend.com condemned the board action, calling those who voted against the action “liberal loons.”

I believe the school board overreacted in the hysteria of the moment, but I am also pleased that the community stepped into the void.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com