The National Shooting Sports Foundation: A History 1961 to 2011

50 Years of Promoting, Protecting and Preserving Hunting and the Shooting Sports by NSSF, the Firearms Industry’s Trade Association

The creation of the National Shooting Sports Foundation by leaders in the hunting and shooting sports industry has proven to be a major milestone in the long struggle to preserve America’s hunting and shooting heritage.

That struggle is the epic story every individual associated with our industry—indeed, every hunter and shooter—should know. Trailblazers such as Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell and Aldo Leopold, plus organizations like the Boone and Crockett Club and National Rifle Association, made immense contributions to protecting our sporting way of life.

As the years passed, new individuals and groups emerged to continue the fight, demonstrating a passion for hunting and shooting at least equal to that of the early champions.

One of those groups was the National Shooting Sports Foundation. NSSF enters the story in 1961, its formation a bold next step on the part of an industry that had contributed so much already to preserving the nation’s sporting traditions and conservation efforts.