The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry — has issued the following statement following the concern by some regarding the action items listed for discussion as part of the Shooting Sports Summit:
The action items presented as part of the NSSF Shooting Sports Summit have been developed by researchers predicated upon three years of public opinion research.
The purpose of the summit is to take the intelligence that has been gathered concerning the public opinions of shooters and non-shooters alike and take our ideas and meld them into coherent new programs and policies to attract, retain and re-introduce participants into the shooting sports – ALL the shooting sports.
NSSF has programs for rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers. And, as our motto says, we are always shooting for more.
The intelligence gatherers, like any effective reconnaissance team, studied the opinions we must face and reported their suggestions. As to the strengths and weaknesses of possible courses of action, NSSF does not have to accept their recommendations. All decisions as to what actions NSSF will take will be made by NSSF, after full discussions and consideration of all points of view.
The NSSF has no intention of abandoning pistol shooters. Our very successful First Shots program is specifically designed and targeted to encourage pistol sports shooting. Much of the NSSF staff, including its new president, have been pistol shooting both recreationally and competitively for decades – and, in fact, some have worked in the handgun industry. (bold for my emphasis)
NSSF looks forward to completing a successful summit, helping to foster a strong future for all of the shooting sports.
Good for them. I think this is the kind of statement we were hoping for yesterday from NSSF, I am quite pleased to see them issue it now.
I also agree with Michael that we shouldn’t let Responsive Management off the hook easily; the way they interpreted the data does appear to be a clear cut of researcher bias, and it’s right to call them (and not NSSF) out on that.
Back to the statement from the President of NSSF, as I said above I’m very pleased with it – I think it clearly addresses the point that the study does contain valuable data that should be looked at, while making it abundantly clear that the National Shooting Sports Federation has no intention of abandoning handgun shooters. Good for them.
