JOIN YOUR INDUSTRY’S EFFORT IN 2016 . . . Beretta USA, Browning, Leupold, North American Arms and Winchester Ammunition are among the 500 companies throughout our industry proudly displaying the #GUNVOTE icon on their websites. Your company should, too. Download and post the #GUNVOTE icon and link it to www.gunvote.org. NSSF’s #GUNVOTE is a voter registration and education campaign platform for use by firearms industry manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and media members, as well as the pro-Second Amendment customer.
How You Can Help:
Download and post the #GUNVOTE icon to your website and link it to gunvote.org.
Visit the #GUNVOTE website and encourage others to do the same.
Help spread the word on social media and follow #GUNVOTE on Facebook and Twitter (@GUNVOTE).
Contribute to #GUNVOTE.
Government Relations
CALIF. FIREARMS REGISTRATION EXPANSION . . . The California Legislature recently sent another anti-gun bill to Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate Bill 1332, which will do nothing to increase public safety. If signed, SB 1332 will require any firearm loaned to another person without having gone through an FFL to be registered with the California Department of Justice. Contact Gov. Brown and respectfully urge him to veto SB 1332.
MINOR CRIMINAL RECORD DOESN’T OVERRIDE 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHT . . . The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has limited the government’s ability to strip a person’s gun rights in relation to certain misdemeanor crimes. The combined cases involved two Pennsylvania men who had been convicted of misdemeanors in the 1990s and were subsequently prohibited from owning firearms. Neither served jail time. The court ruled it is unconstitutional to permanently bar the individuals from owning firearms since they were convicted of relatively minor offenses.
WHAT YOU FIND WHEN YOU UNPACK MRS. CLINTON’S BASKET . . . Hillary Clinton’s characterization of half of Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables” received considerable media attention over this past weekend. In that characterization and her subsequent limited apology, the NSSF’s Larry Keane hears both the expression of a genuine elitist attitude toward Americans and a familiar political echo. Read more.
MISLEADING ON ATF TRACING . . . Conceding most federally licensed firearms retailers are law-abiding, Hillary Clinton proceeds to misrepresent the facts. In her response to an International Association of Chiefs of Police questionnaire she referenced a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) statistic saying, “Indeed, nearly 90 percent of guns recovered on crime scenes in America come from just 5 percent of gun dealers in America…” Read more.
Read NSSF’s latest Government Relations Update for more.
Retailers/Ranges
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINE NEARING FOR UPCOMING NSSF RANGE COMPLIANCE WORKSHOP . . . The early bird registration deadline for the upcoming NSSF Lead Management and OSHA Compliance Workshop, coming to Minneapolis October 16-18, is this Friday, Sept. 16. Register now.
BREAKING GROUND ON WORLD-CLASS RANGE IN FLORIDA . . . Rifle and pistol ranges constituting Phase 1 of the new Palm Beach County Shooting Sports Park are scheduled to open in 2017, according to officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Palm Beach County. In addition, plans call for five Olympic trap fields, six American trap fields, nine skeet fields and a 12-station sporting clays course, making the facility one of the largest in Florida.
ATF Q&A . . . More great questions came in on our 24/7 NSSF member compliance hotline last week. One question covers what documentation a law enforcement officer will need to produce to purchase a duty weapon.
DID YOU KNOW? . . . NSSF members receive a discount on hardware designed to reduce liabilities associated with mechanical keys and locks. Learn more.
News of Note
LAST CHANCE TO ENTER! WIN A FREE HOTEL STAY AT SHOT SHOW . . . NSSF’s nominations contest for the 2017 SHOT Business Awards is closing this Thursday, Sept. 15. The annual contest was created in 2015 to better engage industry members and improve feedback about those industry colleagues who most actively support the NSSF’s projects and mission. Enter here.
WHAT TO DO WITH AMMO AFFECTED BY FLOOD WATERS . . . With recent floods affecting several areas of the U.S., the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute and NSSF recommend not attempting to salvage or use submerged ammunition. Learn more.
NSSF STEPS UP BIG FOR KIDS & CLAYS . . . NSSF was proud to be the presenting sponsor of the inaugural Kids & Clays Sporting Clays Tournament benefitting Ronald McDonald House of Connecticut last Friday at Fairfield County Fish & Game Protective Association. Kids & Clays-organized charity shoots have generated more than $14 million toward supporting facilities for families of sick children away from home.
OWAA MCDOWELL SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED . . . The Outdoor Writers Association of America awarded three scholarships for the 2016-17 school year to undergraduate and graduate students studying for a career in outdoor communications. Mark Kaufman at New York University, Emily Cook at Prescott College and John David Santi II at University of Mississippi were recipients. Read more.