The National Shooting Sports Foundation has released another training tip video featuring champion shooter Doug Koenig. In this video, Doug discusses both sight alignment and sight picture. The nice thing about his videos is how well he simplifies things. I really like his discussion on sight picture and how the right one to use is up to you.
Dave Miles of the National Shooting Sports Foundation gives an overview of 3-gun matches, the equipment needed, how they are shot, etc. Helping him is Tom Fuller of Bushnell Outdoor Products. The video includes footage from this past weekend’s match in Rockcastle, KY.
Gunsite instructor Jay Tuttle demonstrates three kneeling positions to help you increase your accuracy while shooting a rifle. They included the braced, speed knee, and the double knee kneeling position.
In another of the NSSF’s training tip videos, Doug Koenig discusses proper trigger control and how to integrate it into your dry fire practice.
Dove season starts on September 3rd in North Carolina. While dove hunting isn’t the big social event here in western North Carolina that it is in the Piedmont or eastern North Carolina, it is still fun.
The NSSF has been putting out a lot of great shotgunning tips by Gil Ash. This latest tip says you shouldn’t be looking down the barrel when you are trying to shoot either a dove or a clay pigeon. Gil explains why in the video.
In a post today to the SHOT Show blog, Chris Donack of the National Shooting Sports Foundation says they will be “repurposing” the SHOT Show effective with the 2013 show. They will be limiting participation to those companies in the outdoor, hunting, shooting, and tactical industries. With a 300 company waiting list for participation, NSSF wants to make sure the smaller and newer companies have an opportunity to participate.
Many of the most iconic brands in our industry started out small and likely would have occupied a 10×10 booth at the SHOT Show were they starting out today. Companies like Browning, Colt, Glock, Hornady, Remington, Ruger and Smith & Wesson started out as small one- or two-person operations. Who knows which of these 300 companies will become the next industry leader given the time and opportunity to grow their business.
To that end, we will begin the process of repurposing he SHOT Show beginning with the 2013 edition. That means that we will focus our exhibit floor on those companies that are involved in our core business — shooting, hunting, outdoor and tactical. Those exhibitors that do not represent core shooting, hunting, outdoor and tactical product segments will be informed that they will not be invited to exhibit in 2013. Letters will be going out to those companies affected beginning in September 2011, and should those companies choose not to exhibit in 2012 as a result, we will offer them a full refund, which is contrary to the terms of their 2012 contract, but only fair under the circumstances.
Recognizing that growth in their core businesses is critical for the growth of the shooting sports, the move to give the smaller and newer companies a chance to exhibit is a smart move by the SHOT Show. They should be congratulated on this change.
UPDATE: Chris Dolnack got back to me on what does not represent core business. His examples are:
Swords, orthopedic inserts, furniture, toys, radio controlled cars, copters, et al; outfitters, chotchke (coffee mugs, pins, decals, brick a brack) etc. Anything that a firearms retailer would not have in their store.
In the debate over stripping funding from the ATF’s new multiple rifle sale reporting requirement in the Southwest, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) said removing the funding from the rule would be akin to “virtual wholesale slaughter.” His comments, as reported in The Hill, go on:
“The NRA is so afraid that the people who are really funding the NRA, the gun manufacturers, might lose some sales that we’re willing to sacrifice the lives of these people that are casualties of this gun war,” Moran said during the markup.
“And we’re promoting it. We’re enabling … that slaughter to continue,” Moran said.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation did not take Moran’s comments lying down. They responded with a blistering 3-page letter which took him to task over his comments. The full letter is here.
First, NSSF General Counsel Larry Keane points to Moran that ATF was never given the authority by Congress to impose the reporting requirement.
We are filing the lawsuit on behalf of our members challenging ATF’s new record keeping and reporting requirement because Congress never gave ATF the legal authority to impose this requirement. In 1986, Congress amended the Gun Control Act to require the multiple sale reporting of handguns. Congress could have, but did not, require reporting of long guns.
Then, the NSSF reminds Moran that it is the NSSF that speaks for the firearms industry.
Please allow me to correct another misunderstanding. The people who are really funding the NRA are its 4 million members. The NRA does not speak for the firearms industry. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry – we, not the NRA, are the voice of our industry
Next, Keane points out that the new reporting requirement will make it harder for FFL’s to spot straw purchasers and proactively report them to ATF.
..the policy is ill-advised as it will actually make it more difficult for firearms retailers to cooperate with law enforcement, as illegal firearms traffickers quickly modify their schemes to circumvent the new reporting requirement. They can simply send a straw purchaser to multiple dealers, recruit more straw purchasers, spread out the purchases beyond five business days, or acquire firearms in non-border states. America’s firearms retailers, the very people ATF identifies as their “partners” and the first line of defense, will no longer be able to detect suspicious purchases and alert the proper authorities.
Finally, he discusses the decade-old “Don’t Lie For The Other Guy” program that NSSF has funded to the tune of $5 million dollars and then reminds Moran they sought his help for more funding to expand the program.
About a year ago, we visited your office to seek your help as a member of the Appropriations committee in securing grant funding for the Don’t Lie program so we could grow and expand the program and deliver its message throughout the country. Unfortunately, you did not provide the bipartisan leadership we had hoped for.
In other words, Jim Moran is not just an ignorant tool of the gun banners but a hypocrite as well. When he had the chance to help expand the Don’t Lie program, he took a pass.
Lest it be forgotten, during Operation Fast and Furious, firearms stores in Arizona reported the suspicious sales of firearms, requested that the sales be denied, and were specifically told to go through with the sales by ATF to what were obvious straw purchasers. The guns didn’t walk to Mexico because of FFLs; they walked under orders from ATF and DOJ.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has started to put out a lot of videos with instructional tips. This one with Gil Ash makes a lot of sense about how to “slow down” the speed of the bird or clay pigeon. He uses the analogy of merging on to the highway. If you are standing still and looking at the cars whizzing by, they look like they are moving fast. However, if you are moving at a speed close to the other cars, everything seems to be moving slower.
Doug Koenig knows a thing or two about pistol shooting. In this video for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Doug talks about what he considers the proper grip for shooting.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has announced that they plan to file suit challenging the legal authority of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the Gun Control Act of 1968 to force FFL’s in the four Southwest border states to report multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for America’s firearms industry – announced today that it will file a lawsuit challenging the legal authority of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) under the Gun Control Act to compel 8,500 federally licensed firearms retailers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas to report the sale of two or more semi-automatic rifles larger than .22 caliber and capable of accepting a detachable magazine that are purchased following an FBI background check by the same individual within five consecutive business days.
At the time Congress authorized the reporting of multiple sales of handguns it could have required it for the sale of long guns, but it did not. ATF is clearly exceeding its lawful authority under the Gun Control Act. Current ATF Acting Director Ken Melson himself has previously questioned ATF’s legal authority to impose this new requirement.
“While we encourage all retailers, not just those along the southwest border, to continue to cooperate with ATF and report any suspicious activity, this is the proverbial ’slippery slope,’ “ said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “If ATF can require this record keeping and reporting requirement of law-abiding retailers in these four states simply by sending a letter demanding the information, than there is no record or report ATF can not require of any licensee, anywhere in the country for as long as ATF wants. They simply need to send a letter demanding it,” said Keane.
Operation Fast and Furious confirms what ATF has always maintained, that retailers are a vital source of information for law enforcement in combating illegal firearm trafficking. These retailers routinely report questionable transactions to authorities, including ATF. Throughout the Fast and Furious congressional investigation, it was suggested that federally licensed retailers were the original source of information that gave rise to the operation and retailers allowed ATF special agents to stand behind the counter of their shops so that they were better able to observe the transactions.
Even if ATF had the legal authority to require sales reporting for long guns, it is an ill-considered policy that will actually make it more difficult for retailers to cooperate with ATF. Illegal firearms traffickers will simply alter their schemes to avoid and evade the reporting requirement. For example, traffickers could simply recruit more “straw purchasers” and have them illegally purchase firearms from multiple licensees, or simply move their illegal trafficking activities to other states where the reporting requirement does not exist.
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