NSSF Bullet Points | Online News Service

May 14, 2012

Vol. 13 No. 18

This Week:

Government Relations

SHOT Show

Industry News

News of Note

NSSF Grant Helps Florida

PILOT PROGRAM LIFTS HUNTING LICENSE SALES . . . The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission used coordinated e-marketing campaigns to boost hunting license sales by 4.2 percent last year, one of the largest increases demonstrated in test promotions funded by Hunting Heritage Partnership grants from NSSF. Florida worked on the project with Southwick Associates, a specialist firm in outdoor statistics, and to reduce costs, enhanced its messaging with existing video tips on hunting and shooting from NSSF's extensive video tips library. "These relatively low-cost campaigns were amazingly successful in motivating recipients to purchase or renew their hunting licenses," said Melissa Schilling, NSSF director of recruitment and retention. "NSSF will share this success with other states." Read NSSF's news release.

Government Relations

  • OPPOSE EXPORT CONTROL AMENDMENTS . . . Outdated U.S. export regulations put the firearms and ammunition industry and many other U.S. industries at a severe disadvantage when competing with foreign companies. Export reforms are underway, but now some in Congress are trying to derail those much-needed reforms by offering amendments to National Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 4310).  NSSF urges you to call your member of Congress at 202-224-3121 and tell him or her to oppose any amendments to H.R. 4310 that would undermine the Export Control Reform initiative. See the NSSF Legislative Alert.

  • IOWA GOVERNOR PROTECTS TRADITIONAL AMMUNITION . . . In a major victory for all Iowa sportsmen and the firearms industry, Gov. Terry Branstad signed an executive order Friday to remove the traditional ammunition ban in the state. Last summer, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources decided to implement the ban during the state's first-ever dove season, but the ban was eventually delayed. Gov. Branstad came to the relief of hunters after inaction by the Iowa Senate on SJR 2001, a legislative resolution to rescind the ban. NSSF would like to thank all sportsmen and women for making their voice heard and Gov. Branstad and Senator Dick Dearden for their extraordinary efforts to protect sportsmen and the industry.

  • CONN. LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL TO REMOVE BOUND BOOK . . . NSSF-supported SB 196 passed both the Senate and the House and is awaiting Gov. Malloy's action. This bill will remove the requirement that firearms retailers keep a separate bound book for the sale of handguns. This state law has always been duplicative because firearms retailers already must comply with federal requirements to keep a bound book for all firearms transactions and also to file every Form 4473 for 20 years. Fortunately, retailers will now be able to conduct transactions more efficiently.

  • CALIFORNIA ADVANCING ANTI-GUN LEGISLATION . . . With economic problems facing the state, the last thing legislators should be doing is trying to advance bills that will impact law-abiding retailers and sportsmen throughout California. Unfortunately, SB 1221 and SB 1315 are close to receiving a vote in the State Senate as early as today.  SB 1221 would ban hunting bears and bobcats with dogs and represent yet another negative impact to the more than $4 billion dollar hunting industry in the state. SB 1315 would allow the County of Los Angeles, and any city within that county, to regulate and ban the sale of any BB "device" such as a toy gun, replica of a firearm or other device, effectively destroying California’s firearm preemption law. This would lead only to patchwork of firearms laws throughout the state. Please call and e-mail your state senator today and urge him or her to oppose SB 1221 and SB 1315.

SHOT Show

  • BIRDIES FOR THE BRAVE . . . NSSF will once again be hosting a charity golf event at the 2013 SHOT Show in partnership with PGA Tour for Birdies for the Brave on Jan. 12-13, 2013, at TPC Summerlin, in Las Vegas. Last year's inaugural event raised $70,000 for the nine charities supported by Birdies for the Brave, and the goal for 2013 is to net $100,000. It's a great opportunity for our industry to provide even more support for those who have sacrificed so much for our country. Read more on the SHOT Show Blog.

Industry News

  • UPDATE ON BOA ALLEGATIONS . . . In response to recent allegations that Bank of America has an anti-firearms industry policy, NSSF investigated the allegation, including contacting the Bank of America to insist on a response from them to the allegations that it has a corporate policy of not doing business with members of the firearms industry. As we noted in our original statement on this matter, we are aware that many members of our industry have had longstanding banking and business relationships with the Bank of America and had reported to us that they had not encountered any problems with the bank due to the fact that their business was in the firearms industry. In a May 2, 2012, reply, the Bank of America said that though it could not comment on its relationship with customers, the company has not made changes to its policies. "I want to assure you and your organization that we do not have a policy that would deny banking services to entities because they are in the firearms industry," wrote Anne G. Pace, senior vice president, communications executive, of Bank of America in BOA's letter.

  • MARCH 2012 FIREARM & AMMUNITION IMPORTS AND EXPORTS . . . NSSF reports that overall U.S. imports (in units) in six sporting arms and ammunition categories increased 15.9 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. March 2012 imported units in tracked categories totaled 182.3 million, up from 157.2 million reported in March 2011. For the first three months of 2012, total units imported in the four sporting arms categories rose 53.1 percent while the two ammunition categories increased 6.8 percent over the same time period in 2011. NSSF reports that overall U.S. exports (in units) in six sporting arms and ammunition categories increased 27.3 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. March 2012 exported units in tracked categories totaled 113.1 million, up from 88.9 million reported in March 2011. For the first three months of 2012, total units exported in the four sporting arms categories rose 14.0 percent while the two ammunition categories increased 2.0 percent over the same time period in 2011. Additional firearm import and export data, including monthly historical data and charts for each category, are available to NSSF members by logging in and clicking NSSF Industry Research then Monthly Firearm Import Export Data.

  • Laura SpringerNSSF NAMES LAURA SPRINGER EMERGING MEDIA MANAGER . . . NSSF has promoted Laura Springer to manager of emerging media. In her new role, Springer will manage NSSF's online efforts, including websites, mobile-application development, social media and digital publications. Springer has been with NSSF since 2000, serving as webmaster. Read NSSF's press release.

  • FREEDOM GROUP NAMES CAMPBELL AS LEAD DIRECTOR . . . Freedom Group, Inc. (FGI) has named James Campbell to its board of directors as lead director. Campbell spent 10 of his last 30 career years as president and CEO overseeing a global appliances and lighting business. "As we continue to enhance the operation of our family of companies, Jim's understanding of manufacturing, product development, supply chain and quality control will be a strong asset," said George Kollitides, CEO and chairman of the FGI board.

  • UPDATED RESEARCH REPORT ON BOWHUNTERS' PURCHASING TRENDS . . . The 2012 edition of NSSF's The Modern Bowhunter Report® is now available.  The report provides 2010 and 2011 demographics and purchase information on a wide range of popular bowhunting products from bow cases to arm guards. Cost, brand and place of purchase are included in this report, which is sourced from Southwick Associates, HunterSurvey.com. NSSF member cost is $50, nonmember price $500. This report can be ordered online, and additional NSSF research can be found at www.nssf.org/research.

News of Note

  • BLM TO ALLOW SHOOTING ON NATIONAL MONUMENT LAND . . . The Federal Bureau of Land Management last Friday said it would recommend keeping the Sonoran Desert National Monument area outside of Phoenix open to recreational shooting. This is welcome news since BLM had previously recommended to close the entire monument area to shooting, which would have put 90 percent of the public lands in a 30-mile radius surrounding Phoenix off limits to target shooters. Members of the federal Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council recently met with BLM officials to express their concerns about the closure. "We appreciate them taking our concerns to heart," said NSSF President and CEO and WHHCC member Steve Sanetti. "It is our hope that this will help stop the steady erosion of availability of federal lands for recreational shooting across America."

  • JACK ROBERTSON SPORTING CLAYS EVENT TO BENEFIT U.S. SHOOTING TEAM; SLOTS STILL OPEN . . . The 13th Annual Jack Robertson Sporting Clays Invitational, scheduled for May 24, in Dover Plains, N.Y., will benefit the U.S. Shooting Team, which is preparing for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London. The shoot, coordinated by the Hunting Heritage Trust, is largely a shooting industry event, and this year's squads will include an "Olympic Dream Team" sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. As of earlier today, openings for three teams of six shooters and approximately five more individual shooters still existed. Interested? Email Kay Delfay or call her at 803-641-1030.

  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NAMED FOR SCHOLASTIC SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION . . . Dan Hathaway has been named executive director of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, which oversees the NSSF-developed Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP). Hathaway brings more than 40 years of business experience in a variety of industries to the organization. SSSF is responsible for all aspects of SCTP, including participant registration, coaches, state coordinators, state and national championships, promotion, communications, websites, public relations and growth strategies.

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COPYRIGHT © 2012 by National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted for broadcast, publication, retransmission to e-mail lists, Web sites or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety, including this paragraph, and 2) no fee is charged. "Bullet Points®," "National Shooting Sports Foundation®," "NSSF®," and all other trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos and images of the National Shooting Sports Foundation appearing in this publication are the sole property of the Foundation and may not be used without the Foundation's prior express written permission. All other trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos and images appearing in this publication are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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