Steve Sanetti

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Changes Coming To NSSF Leadership

August 9, 2018 by

Steve Sanetti has been President and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation since 2008 and was President of Sturm, Ruger before that. The NSSF has announced a succession plan for when Sanetti retires at the end of 2019. Joseph Bartozzi, Executive VP and General Counsel of Mossberg, will become the new President of NSSF on September 10, 2018 with plans that he assume the CEO role on Sanetti’s 2019 retirement.

Bartozzi has been with Mossberg for the last 32 years in a variety of positions. He is also the Chairman of the Board of SAAMI and is a NRA certified RSO. You can read more about Bartozzi in the NSSF’s announcment below.

From NSSF:

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The Board of Governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association to the firearms industry, today announced that O.F. Mossberg & Son’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Joseph Bartozzi, will be the organization’s next President. Bartozzi will assume his new duties Sept. 10, 2018.

Joseph BartozziCurrent President and CEO Steve Sanetti will stay on in his CEO capacity through his retirement at the end of 2019, at which point Bartozzi will take over those additional duties.

Bartozzi has spent the majority of his career with Mossberg, joining the company in July 1986. His time with Mossberg included a wide variety of positions, including Quality Engineer, Quality Manager, Product Service Manager, Director of Technical Services, Director of Manufacturing Operations and Corporate Attorney.

Bartozzi currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI); Treasurer and Member of NSSF’s Board of Governors; Board Member and Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS); Committee Member for the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM); and Technical Advisor to the Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners (AFTE). He is also certified as a Range Safety Officer (RSO) by the National Rifle Association. Bartozzi was nominated for the 2013 “Person of the Year” by SHOT Business magazine, a nomination reprised in 2014.

In 2015, Bartozzi was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. A member of the Connecticut and Maine State Bar Associations, he holds three professional certifications from the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and he is a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).

“The Board of Governors agreed that Joe’s unique set of experiences and skills will provide NSSF and the firearms industry with the strong leadership needed to ensure we can continue our mission of promoting, protecting and preserving hunting and the shooting sports for generations to come,” said Robert Scott, Vice Chairman of Smith & Wesson and NSSF’s Board of Governors Chairman.

“I have known Joe Bartozzi for more than 20 years, on both personal and professional levels, and I believe he is an exemplary choice for this important position,” said Sanetti. “I know that he will work extremely hard to further our mission for the benefit of our industry and its customers, and I am very much looking forward to working together with Joe during this transitional period in the coming year.”

“I’ve had a tremendous career thus far at Mossberg, one for which I’m most thankful,” said Bartozzi. “As difficult as it is to leave that fine organization after 30 years, it is an honor to now take on a leadership position that will work to successfully conquer the challenges and seize the opportunities before us for the benefit of all our industry members.”

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The NSSF State Of The Industry Speech

January 16, 2013 by

Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, gave the State of the Industry speech yesterday in Las Vegas at the SHOT Show. His speech which lasts about 17 minutes is well worth a listen. He doesn’t shy away from talking about the Newtown shooting which occurred in the NSSF’s hometown. I like his ending where he is repeating what an elderly man said to him about punishing the good people.

Sanetti was the President and CEO of Sturm, Ruger before he became head of the NSSF. He has been through many of these battles before and is a good man to have on our side.

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Too Cool For An AR?

August 7, 2012 by 2 Comments

Richard Stengel, Princeton ’77 and Rhodes Scholar, is too cool for an AR. He also thinks you don’t need one either.

Stengel’s profile picture from Time Magazine

Stengel is the Managing Editor of Time Magazine and penned a blurb for the Aug. 6th issue entitled “Talking Common Sense About Guns”. In the blurb, Stengel said, “And gun owners know better than anyone else that an AR-15 has little or no sporting purpose.”

Even if one accepts – and I don’t – the ATF’s interpretation of the sporting purpose language of the Gun Control Act of 1968 which they use to say that 3-Gun competitions are not “sporting”, AR-15s in a variety of calibers are used to hunt everything from ground squirrels to whitetail deer and everything in between. Firearm manufacturers ranging from the venerable Remington to the newer Daniel Defense are now making ARs for the hunting market.

Stengel’s comment brought a swift reaction from Steve Sanetti of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Sanetti sent a letter which said, in part,

It never ceases to amaze recreational shooters and hunters when persons who wouldn’t touch a firearm on a bet presume to tell us that certain firearms “have no sporting purpose”…

People fear what they don’t know, and that’s perfectly understandable. But to presume to know what kind of equipment many millions of other law-abiding Americans use for legitimate recreational pursuits in the face of the facts is just wrong.

I don’t know whether Stengel’s comment comes from ignorance or willfulness but I do find him to be as arrogant and out of touch as the magazine he edits. Sorry Mr. Stengel, that is just not cool.

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NSSF’s Steve Sanetti On The Arms Trade Treaty

March 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

NSSF President Steve Sanetti was interviewed by Ginny Simone of NRA News at the recent IWA Show in Germany. This show is the European equivalent to the SHOT Show. They discussed the international aspects of privately owned firearms, the industry, and, most importantly, the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty.

The Arms Trade Treaty is an UN effort that seeks to control small arms and ammunition. Under the draft terms of this treaty, a home reloader would be considered an ammunition manufacturer and would have to be licensed. The previous Bush Administration had told these folks to take a hike but the current Obama Administration has indicated their support for the treaty. All international treaties to which the United States is a party must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Currently, 50-some Senators have voiced their opposition to it.