NSSF

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An Increase Is Still An Increase

July 10, 2013 by 1 Comment

The National Shooting Sports Foundation adjusted NICS background check numbers are out for the month of June. They show a 3% increase over the month of June 2012. This marks the 37th straight month in which the NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased.

The June 2013 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 872,025 is an increase of 3.0 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 846,437 in June 2012. For comparison, the unadjusted June 2013 NICS figure of 1,270,817 reflects a 1.5 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,290,210 in June 2012.

Note however that that unadjusted NICS numbers do show a decrease. I think we are starting to see the post-Newtown buying panic beginning to subside. My trips to the sporting goods department at my local Walmart have shown a gradual increase in the number of firearms available. In January, you might have found the odd shotgun or .22LR rifle. This past weekend at this Walmart I saw Colt, Bushmaster, and Windham Weaponry AR-15s along with a full complement of more traditional hunting rifles and shotguns. The gun case was full but the ammo supply were still virtually nonexistent.

It could be that we’ve reached a new plateau. Even if it is a plateau, the absolute number of firearms being sold are much greater than it was just two or three years ago. It will be interesting to see what July and August numbers show.

As always, I should caution that NICS background checks should be considered an indicator of trends and not sales. They are not a perfect correlation with firearms sales as several states use them for background checks on both new and active concealed carry permit holders.

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NSSF Sues Connecticut Officials In Federal Court

July 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

The National Shooting Sports Foundation filed suit today in US District Court for the District of Connecticut alleging that Connecticut leaders led by Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-CT) misused the emergency certification exception in order to pass gun control. The lawsuit contends the use of the emergency certification exception was invalid as it violated both Connecticut state statutes and the Connecticut Constitution. Moreover, they contend the action violated due process protections under both the Connecticut and the US Constitution. They are seeking to have SB 1160 declared void and unconstitutional and to enjoin the state and its officers from enforcing the provisions of SB 1160.

The NSSF is represented in this case by the Renzulli Law Firm and their own General Counsel Lawrence Keane.

The release from the NSSF regarding the case is below along with links to the complaint.

Firearms Industry Files Suit Alleging Process Used to Pass Gun Regulations Violated Connecticut Statutes and Constitution

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, today filed suit in federal court for the District of Connecticut alleging that Gov. Dannel Malloy and the leadership of the Connecticut General Assembly misused the so-called “emergency certification” exception to circumvent the safeguards of the normal legislative process and in violation of Connecticut statutory law in order to pass Senate Bill 1160, a package of strict gun-control regulations.

The suit further alleges that enactment of the new law violates fundamental due process rights guaranteed by both the Connecticut and United States Constitutions. NSSF is asking the court to declare the law invalid and issue an injunction prohibiting its enforcement.

“A 139-page bill was assembled behind closed doors, bypassing both the public hearing and committee processes, and quickly sent to floor votes on the same day in both the House and Senate where legislators did not have adequate time to even read the bill. The governor then signed the package into law the next day. All of this is in violation of guarantees citizens are supposed to have under Connecticut State Statutes and protections in our State and U.S. Constitutions for which our forefathers fought,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel, NSSF. “Our suit focuses on this abuse of process that has resulted in enacted law that does nothing to improve public safety, while resulting in adverse effects on law-abiding citizens, manufacturers, retailers and sportsmen’s organizations.”

The filing can be accessed at http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/NSSFComplaint-FILED_070813.pdf.

The Connecticut Law Tribune recently editorialized on this topic. That editorial can be accessed at http://ctlawtribune.com/PubArticleCT.jsp?id=1202608974608

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Three Years And Counting

June 11, 2013 by 2 Comments

May 2013 became the 36th straight month – or three full years – in which the NSSF-adjusted NICS check figures topped the same period in the preceding year.

The May 2013 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS) figure of 974,457 is an increase of 15.9 percent over the
NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 840,412 in May 2012. For comparison, the
unadjusted May 2013 NICS figure of 1,424,450 reflects a 9.1 percent
increase from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,305,392 in May 2012.

While the NICS checks are not a direct correlation with sales, they are an indicator of trends. The National Instant Criminal Background Check
System is also used by a number of states for concealed carry permit background checks for both new and active permits.

There are many anecdotal reports that a good part of current gun sales are from first time buyers. If this is indeed the case – and I’ve come to believe it is – then this is not a bubble but a shift in the demand curve.

This could also explain the scarcity of ammo. If I were to buy a new 9mm pistol, I have ammo for it that I’ve bought over the years. I don’t have to run out to Walmart, my local gun store, or go online right away to get ammo. However, if someone who has never owned a gun now buys one, he or she will need ammo for it. In the past week, I stopped into two Walmarts that were over 100 miles apart. Both had a decent selection of rifles and shotguns. Neither of them had any ammo in the more common calibers even though they have restrictions on the amount one can buy.

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Stage Planning For Steel Challenge With Doug Koenig

May 24, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has released another of its pistol training videos featuring champion shooter Doug Koenig. In this video, Koenig discusses how he approaches shooting a five-plate set-up. He also discusses alternatives to his way of shooting including one that is used successively by Max Michel. As Koenig makes clear, you need to take the approach that you feel most comfortable with shooting.

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Center For Biological Diversity Loses Again

May 24, 2013 by

The US District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Center for Biodiversity and other groups to force the Environmental Protection Agency to ban lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation was granted permission to be an intervenor. It was their motion to dismiss the case that was granted. They have more on the case and the dismissal below:

U.S. District Court Dismisses
Lawsuit to Ban Traditional Ammunition

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today dismissed a lawsuit brought by the radical anti-hunting Center for Biological Diversity and six other groups demanding the Environmental Protection Agency ban traditional ammunition containing lead components.

Traditional ammunition represents 95 percent of the U.S. market and is the staple ammunition for target shooters, hunters and law enforcement, with more than 10 billion rounds sold annually.

NSSF filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last August. The court today agreed with NSSF that EPA does not have the authority to regulate traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

EPA had already twice denied attempts by CBD to have the agency ban traditional ammunition, and the court had dismissed an earlier case brought by CBD seeking the same relief.

“We are gratified that the court has found this second frivolous lawsuit, which is essentially the same as the one dismissed last year, was equally without merit,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. “This was a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and EPA resources spent in having to defend a baseless lawsuit.”

CBD’s serial petitioning of EPA and its repeated lawsuits were designed to cripple the shooting sports in America by banning the ammunition that millions of hunters and target shooters choose to use safely and responsibly.

“There is quite simply no sound science that shows the use of traditional ammunition has harmed wildlife populations or that it presents a health risk to humans who consume game taken with such ammunition,” said Keane. “Banning traditional ammunition would cost tens of thousands of jobs in America and destroy wildlife conservation that is funded in part by an 11 percent excise tax on the sale of ammunition. The protection and management of wildlife is properly handled by the professional biologists in the state fish and game agencies, as it has been for over a hundred years.

In addition to NSSF, the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International and the Association of Battery Recyclers intervened in the case.

Organizations that joined CBD in its lawsuit were the Cascades Raptor Center of Oregon, the Loon Lake Loon Association of Washington, Preserve Our Wildlife of Florida, Tennessee Ornithological Society, Trumpeter Swan Society and Western Nebraska Resources Council.

NSSF was represented by Roger Martella and Christopher Bell from Sidley Austin.

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NSSF Ditches Reed Exhibitions For SHOT Show

May 9, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, sponsor of the SHOT Show, announced today that they ended their agreement with Reed Exhibitions to produce and manage the show. Reed, who managed both the SHOT Show and the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show, ran afoul of gun owners when they said they were banning the display of “modern sporting rifles” at the Harrisburg show. Reaction from both gun owners and exhibitors was swift and severe leading to the eventual cancellation of this year’s show.

At the time, NSSF said they were evaluating “all options regarding the management of future SHOT Shows.” It is now official – Reed Exhibitions is out. Losing a show the size of the SHOT Show has got to hurt and I, for one, hope it hurts a lot.

From NSSF’s announcement:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, today announced that it has reached an agreement with Reed Exhibitions to terminate the agreement the parties had for the management of the SHOT Show. Accordingly, effective immediately, Reed Exhibitions will no longer be manager and producer of the SHOT Show.

Reed Exhibitions provided excellent service to NSSF and the customers of the SHOT Show for more than three decades, however, the company’s decision to restrict the sale of certain types of firearms this year at its consumer hunting and fishing show — an event unrelated to NSSF and the SHOT Show — was in conflict with NSSF’s mission to serve the shooting sports industry. As a result, both organizations decided it was in the best interest of the SHOT Show to end their relationship.

NSSF is actively engaged in the process of identifying a new show management company to manage and produce the SHOT Show beginning with the 2014 SHOT Show.

The SHOT Show — the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show — is owned and sponsored by NSSF. It is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. The 2014 SHOT Show will be held Jan. 14-17 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.

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April Marks The 35th Record Setting Month

May 7, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has released its adjusted NICS data for the month of April. The trend of increases over the same month in the previous year remains unbroken at a record 35 months.

The April 2013 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS) figure of 1,185,231 is an increase of 27.2 percent over
the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 931,660 in April 2012. For comparison,
the unadjusted April 2013 NICS figure of 1,702,455 reflects a 20.2
percent increase from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,416,074 in April
2012.

While the NICS checks are indicative of trends in firearm sales, they are not a perfect correlation as the NICS System is also used by states such as Kentucky and Iowa for their concealed carry background checks on both new applicants and current holders.

I know from speaking with several manufacturers in Houston at the NRA Annual Meeting that firearms are headed out the door as soon as they are made. I didn’t hear any manufacturer say they were building up inventory.

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Building Speed By Pushing Your Limits

April 18, 2013 by

In the latest training tips video from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Doug Koenig discusses how to build your speed as a competitive shooter. He suggests having a timer and then begin to push your limits. When your performance starts to suffer – larger groups, missed targets, etc. – back off a bit and start to work at that speed. Eventually, your groups will tighten and your speed will increase.

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NSSF On Yesterday’s Votes

April 18, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation issued this statement yesterday evening after Manchin-Toomey went down to defeat along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s new AWB.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Today, the U.S. Senate voted on several measures that would have impacted the firearms and ammunition industry and our Second Amendment rights. Thanks to the hard work of our allies in the Senate, in the end no anti-gun measures were adopted.

The flawed Manchin-Toomey amendment, opposed by NSSF, was defeated as was Senator Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) amendment to institute a new “assault weapons ban” and an arbitrary limit on magazine capacity. Unfortunately, a handful of positive, solutions-based amendments also failed to pass the Senate.The NSSF-backed Grassley substitute amendment, which would have improved current law and fixed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), fell short by one of the closer margins of today’s amendments.

All Americans share the goal of wanting to make our communities safer. The civil debate on the Senate floor today further shows that reasonable minds can disagree on how to best achieve this goal. Looking ahead, NSSF will continue to work to find real solutions that improve current law, fix the NICS background check system to ensure all appropriate criminal and adjudicated mental health records are entered into the system, to provide law enforcement with additional tools they need to arrest and prosecute illegal firearms traffickers and straw purchasers and to urge effective, consistent enforcement of existing laws, all without infringing our Constitutional rights and unduly burdening our industry.

Today’s votes do not represent the end of the discussion in Congress or in America. NSSF looks forward to moving ahead with the work that remains to be done to try and help make our families safer and preserve our firearms freedoms.

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NSSF – No To Manchin-Toomey

April 16, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has come out strongly against the Manchin-Toomey amendment. They have issued an Action Alert aimed at retailers but applicable to all of us.

They object to prioritizing NICS checks coming from gun shows over those at retail counters and the measures that could put a FFL’s license at risk.

The U.S. Senate is expected to begin debate tomorrow on The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act, S. Amdt. 715, proposed by Sens. Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Toomey (R-Pa.). This measure will slow down all storefront FFL checks on weekends by requiring that gun show checks must be COMPLETED before a non-gun show check can be completed.

Prioritizing gun show checks over storefront checks will harm storefront FFLs’ businesses. Weekends, when gun shows take place, are the busiest time for storefront FFLs who may not be able to run checks for their customers. Tell your senators that it’s unacceptable to prioritize the Second Amendment rights of private party transferees over the rights of storefront FFL customers. Congress should provide adequate resources to NICS so that ALL checks are done instantly.

While S. Amdt. 715 is not the universal background check bill opposed by 86 percent of federally licensed firearms retailers, it does not address critical product liability concerns for retailers processing private party transfers and imposes record-keeping responsibilities that could result in license revocation for even simple mistakes. Tell your senators not to put your livelihood on the line.

Call or write your U.S. senators and tell them to VOTE NO on the flawed Manchin-Toomey Amendment and on any bill that does not present real solutions to making our communities safer.

Find your elected officials here.