NSSF: Aiming for Accuracy

More Women Learning About Concealed Carry

With his story "Women Aim for Protection in Female-only Concealed Pistol Classes," Howard Meyerson of the Grand Rapids Press illustrates the growing interest among women in taking classes designed to teach safe and responsible handgun ownership. It's a trend that also can be seen in NSSF's First Shots program, where a recent study of program participants revealed that 74 percent of women who enrolled in First Shots classes were motivated by an interest in personal protection.

Watch the video, too, that accompanies Mr. Meyerson's story. The seminar he writes about was sponsored by the Great Lakes Outdoors Foundation.

Working to Prevent The Illegal Purchase of Guns

The video below gives a good overview of the Don't Lie for the Other Guy straw-purchase deterrent program.

Today in San Diego, the firearms industry, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will join forces to launch Don't Lie for the Other Guy. The goal of the program is twofold: to warn residents and visitors about the severe penalties associated with illegally purchasing a firearm, and to educate federally licensed firearms retailers on how to better detect and deter potential straw purchasers.

Straw purchasers are individuals able to pass the criminal background check required by federal law before the retail purchase of any firearm. However, these people are not the actual buyers of the firearm; instead, they use their good name to commit the crime of providing a gun to a person prohibited by law from possessing a one. The program's key  message is: Buy a gun for someone who can't and buy yourself 10 years in jail.

Over the past year, the Don't Lie program has been rolled out in Texas cities along Rio Grande, plus Houston, San Antonio and Tucson. The program was jointly developed by ATF and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Firearms Accidents Not a Major Factor in Health Care Costs

With some media stories about health care making reference to guns as a reason for rising costs, the National Shooting Sports Foundation reminds reporters and editors that fatal firearms accidents are at all-time lows and now represent less than 1 percent (actually 0.7 percent) of all accidental fatalities in the country.

Declines in accidents involving children have been steep. Between 1996 and 2006, accidental fatalities for children 14 years of age and under decreased by 61 percent, and by 77 percent going back to 1986, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

In a side-by-side comparison with other forms of unintentional fatalities, firearms rank far down on the list, well below motor vehicles, poisoning, falls, choking, drowning and fires.

These successes have come about through the promotion of the safe use and storage of firearms through voluntary measures, including programs such as Project ChildSafe and the practice of including appropriate gun-locking devices and safety literature with new firearms. These voluntary, firearms industry programs, along with ongoing firearms and hunter safety education efforts, are helping to continue the trend toward increased firearms safety and decreased firearms accidents.

Report: New Women Shooters Say They're Interested in Personal Protection

From NSSF's weekly e-newsletter Bullet Points:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation's First Shots program has helped introduce thousands of first-timers to shooting at their local ranges. Nearly half of these participants have been female. A new report from NSSF shows a snapshot of these new women shooters. For example, after attending a First Shots seminar at their local range, 47 percent of women have met their local requirements to purchase a handgun, 26 percent said they have already purchased a handgun and 58 percent said they are planning to purchase a handgun in the future. When asked what their primary reason for purchasing a handgun would be, 86 percent said personal protection.

Read the rest of the Bullet Points e-newsletter.

Bullet Points is sent free of charge to subscribers each Monday and provides a roundup of news related to the firearms industry, the shooting sports and Second Amendment. To receive Bullet Points weekly subscribe here.

NSSF and NRA Already Have the Programs

A right-on column by Dave Workman, who writes the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner, shines a light on the 400-member Mayors Against Illegal Guns, founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a group that has more to do with restricting legal gun ownership than keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. The writer points out that NSSF and NRA already have the programs the mayors claim are needed to reduce the criminal acquisition of firearms and to promote firearm safety:

"MAIG has made a big deal out of partnering with Wal-Mart to prevent illegal gun sales, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation beat them to the draw with its highly acclaimed “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” program.
   It claims to support “gun safety” measures, but the National Rifle Association already wrote the book on that subject, and has a nationwide network of firearms safety instructors whose services have never been enlisted by anti-gun metropolitan mayors."

NSSF has offered the Don't Lie for the Other Guy program to MAIG's members several times but has never received the courtesy of a reply. Meanwhile, the program, a ten-year joint effort with ATF that educates retailers on how to detect and prevent illegal straw purchases and which warns the public that engaging in a straw purchase carries stiff penalties, has been very active along the U.S.-Mexican border in Brownsville, Houston, San Antonio, Tuscon and (soon) San Diego.

Young Hunters: Safe and Supervised

The following comment from NSSF has been posted to an MSNBC.com story about a youth hunting accident whose content misleads readers about Families Afield, an initiative supported jointly by NSSF, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and the National Wild Turkey Federation. The comment was posted by NSSF senior vice president Chris Dolnack.

To the Editor:

There is nothing wrong with a family member taking a youngster hunting under supervised conditions in order to pass along the many wholesome traditions that responsible hunting teaches.

By sensationalizing a youth hunting accident, however, your story paints an inaccurate image of young hunters as being unsafe and undermines the successful work of Families Afield, an initiative that seeks to remove restrictive age barriers so that youth can experience hunting with an adult mentor.

Research shows that supervised youth hunting is a safe activity. That's one reason why over the last five years 28 states have changed their hunting laws and regulations to create opportunities for youth to hunt under the supervision of an adult, resulting in 283,000 new and safe hunters. This is good news for hunting, a tradition that faces considerable challenges from urbanization, access and a changing culture.

An introduction to hunting at a young age goes hand in hand with nationwide movement to encourage children to spend more time outdoors being active, enjoying nature and gaining an appreciation for wildlife and habitat. Having tried hunting with a parent or guardian, a child can move on to take a hunter education course, which is required in all 50 states in order to purchase an adult hunting license.

Making the Case for Sporting Firearms at the United Nations

As president of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, a Non-Governmental Organization member of the United Nations, Steve Sanetti today is addressing the U.N.'s  Open-Ended Working Group with the goal of explaining the legitimate uses of firearms and ammunition for sporting purposes and hunting by many millions of law-abiding persons worldwide, and urging that civilian firearms should be beyond the scope of any proposed U.N. consideration of fully automatic military firearms when its deliberations turn to small arms and light weapons as part of an International Arms Trade Treaty.

Mr. Sanetti is delivering the speech to approximately 300 delegates at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. Some segments of the speech are provided here . . .

• Mr. Chairman and Members:

• Thank you for this opportunity to address the Open-Ended Working Group on behalf of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, an NGO member of this body and which serves to establish industry standards for safety, interchangeability, reliability and quality related to the manufacturing of sporting firearms . . .

• Sport shooting activities enjoy a deep heritage and broad appeal worldwide, and are rooted in centuries-old traditions built on safety, responsibility, marksmanship, competition, fair chase, respect for wildlife and respect for the land. That responsible civilians can, as they have for centuries, safely own, use and enjoy their personally-owned firearms is dramatically illustrated by the fact that despite an estimated nearly 300 million firearms in lawful private possession in the United States alone, firearms accidents are at an all-time low, accounting for less than 1 percent of all accidental fatalities in the country, dropping by over 42 percent in the last 20 years, according to the National Safety Council.

• Millions of sportsmen and women have a strong appreciation not only for the activities they enjoy, but also for the fine craftsmanship and industrial ingenuity that are hallmarks of the sporting firearms they use and collect for sport shooting. On a personal note, as an avid sport shooter and collector I can say that owning and using firearms for sporting purposes has enriched my life and given me untold hours of pleasure and shared good company . . .

• The world is constantly changing, and there are some who call for social and political reforms that increasingly threaten sport shooting and hunting. That is why I welcome the chance to speak to you on behalf of a responsible and law-abiding industry and for so many sportsmen and women throughout the world who share this passion.

• For as long as firearms have been around, they have been used for hunting and target shooting—traditional activities that are enjoyed with family and friends. The stories of successful hunting trips and competition medals won are passed down through generations and have created the fabric of the sport shooting culture around the world . . .

• The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute advocates the legitimate, safe and responsible use of sporting firearms, and the right of free passage of those firearms through member states . . .

• It is difficult in the limited time I have this morning/afternoon to capture the full value of hunting in the modern world, but I will try. Hunting is at the core of what makes us human, and contrary to what some may think, hunters celebrate wildlife and have done more to help conserve wildlife and habitat than any other single group in history . . .

• The economic impact of hunting supports more than wildlife conservation, however. Economic stimulus from hunting is visible globally, from small towns in rural America to small villages in African countries where a dependable, yearly food and revenue stream is vitally important. When wildlife is considered as a valuable commodity to protect and conserve, it works to prevent the illegal taking of game and the eventual devastation of species and their habitats.

• . . . In countries such as Namibia, a popular destination for hunters, the economic impact of hunting is substantial, amounting to well over 100 million Namibian dollars and totaling approximately 14 percent of the tourism sector . . .

• So in conclusion, I urge that this group consider carefully the benefits sport shooting and hunting convey to hundreds of millions of law-abiding citizens around the globe, prior to formulating any policies or directives which address our mutual goal of creating appropriate policies regarding the international transport and transfer of fully automatic military weapons. These important goals, both of them, can be addressed and obtained, so long as we all have a proper respect for the rights of law-abiding citizens of disparate cultures and lifestyles that must be allowed to co-exist if all of us are to enjoy the right to the pursuit of happiness, each in our own way.

• Thank you.

Hunting Is a Wildlife Management Tool

Whenever The New York Times' editorial writers bring their urban sensibilities to outdoor matters such as hunting, the result is something we can only read with amusement, such as today's opinion on culling the overpopulated elk herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The Times does not like Senator Byron Dorgan's (D-ND) idea of a "common-sense" public hunt to reduce the herd from approximately 900 animals to 300, the number wildlife biologists say the park's ecology can sustain. The Times instead advocates bringing in sharpshooters to cull the herd, as is done in Rocky Mountain National Park, which is nearly four times the size of TRNP and has extensive wilderness areas.

The irony here is lost on The Times. In a public park named after America's greatest conservationist, Teddy Roosevelt, public hunting, which is central to wildlife management, is not considered an option for herd management.

Hunting is one of the seven pillars of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation: that every citizen has the right, under law, to legally hunt on public land in the United States. (You can read the others on the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Web site.) Granted, most national parks do not permit hunting, but when it's necessary to keep wildlife populations in balance, public hunting, under appropriate restrictions, should be allowed.

Sound scientific game management will tell what proportion of bulls versus cows should be taken, and appropriate hunting permits issued for the park hunt could easily make sure that these best practices would be followed to manage the herd. Apparently, The New York Times thinks that only bulls would be taken by "unprofessional" hunters, which once again reveals its lack of knowledge and experience in real-world, hunting-related matters.

Hunting is an extremely safe activity and there is no cause for anyone to think that "sharpshooters" are the only "safe" and "more efficient" way to reduce the herd.

NSSF does agree that the decision on how to cull the herd should be decided by the National Park Service and that it should be based on sound science. What concerns us, however, is that NPS does not always act on the basis of sound science.

Recently, NPS announced its intention to ban the use of traditional ammunition and fishing tackle that contains lead components without producing the necessary "sound science" to support that policy. In response to an outcry from the conservation community and an NSSF press release, NPS claimed its press release was premature and was misunderstood and that its policy was only an internal one that intends to ban the use of traditional ammunition by park personnel and hunters participating in a culling hunt on NPS land. It is clear, however, the NPS fully intends to eventually eliminate the use of traditional ammunition by all hunters on park service-managed lands.

NSSF has continued to call upon the NPS to engage sportsmen and the conservation community that includes the fireams and ammunition industry in a dialogue before announcing policy unsupported by science and to actually conduct some scientific research to determine whether wildlife population management or human health warrants such a drastic policy that will harm hunting.

Read more about the issue of hunting and the use of traditional ammunition in this background paper from NSSF.

Reaching Out to Outdoor Media

The writers, editors, publishers and TV/radio hosts that promote hunting and target shooting, and otherwise help publicize the image of responsible gun owners, remain critical to the future of our sports.

That's why NSSF makes it a point during the year to attend the major outdoor media conferences of such organizations as the venerable Outdoor Writers Association of  America, the relatively new and growing Professional Outdoor Media Association and  the largest regional group, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, among  others. These annual conferences provide an opportunity for NSSF to network with media professionals and remind them to utilize NSSF as a resource for information and research on firearms, hunting, shooting, safety, legislation and wildlife conservation.

NSSF makes presentations to the membership on topical and sometimes contentious issues. Current topics include that the eating of game meat taken with traditional ammunition does not pose a health risk to humans, and that the  term "assault weapon" is a political, and inaccurate, term used by gun-ban advocates to describe what has become the "modern sporting rifle."

We want the media to base their articles, columns and shows on accurate information so that their readers can have a solid understanding of the issues that affect their right to own firearms and their use of them to hunt and target shoot without encountering barriers.

Some have said that the influence of outdoor media is in decline due to the economic challenges media outlets everywhere face. Perhaps that is true in print media, as newspapers shed outdoors coverage and, unfortunately, the jobs of those journalists who provided that content to an avid readership for so many years. But that loss is, to an extent, balanced by increasing online content in e-zines, e-newsletters and blogs and on video sites developed both by professional media and citizen journalists who report, comment and enthuse about firearms and their use.

No one quite knows where the future of information delivery is headed, as author and social media expert Paul Gillin told the audience at the NSSF Shooting Sports Summit last week, but no matter where it's headed those, like NSSF, who rely on that media to tell accurate stories about often misunderstood subjects--such as gun ownership and hunting--need to stay in touch with the individuals who provide the content. And not just by e-mail or text message.

Recently, Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a speech at Carnegie Mellon's commencement ceremony told graduates, many of whom were about to receive freshly printed degrees as computer scientists, to remember to turn off their computers and cell phones occasionally so that they could spend time on something even more important: building relationships face to face.

That is NSSF's goal at these media conferences. Over the years, we've found that it's the relationships with individuals who share a common passion for hunting and the shooting sports that endure and provide a stable center around which the outdoor communications world swirls.

NSSF will be attending the OWAA Conference, which begins this weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and will be at the POMA Conference in St. Louis next month, with attendance at other conferences to follow later in the year.