If you’re not familiar, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is a trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports, and one of its campaigns is National Shooting Sports Month—which happens to be August.
That makes the month of August a great time to go the extra mile in celebrating the traditions you love. Aside from just going to the range and having a great time shooting, here are six other ways you can celebrate the shooting sports and even give back to the community.
1. Buy Shooting Gear
Did you know that when you purchase firearms, ammo, and all kinds of associated hunting and shooting gear, part of that purchase goes to fund wildlife conservation and public shooting ranges in your state? The Pittman-Robertson Act, passed in 1937, places an 11 percent excise tax on guns, ammunition and archery equipment and a 10 percent tax on handguns. The funds are used for grant programs for state fish and wildlife departments for things like wildlife restoration, hunter education programs, building and maintaining public shooting ranges, and more.
So simply making a purchase can help you give back to wildlife and the shooting sports—what could be better and easier than that? Incidentally, this act means that hunters and gun owners provide a hefty chunk of funding for the habitat improvements that bird watchers, hikers and other non-hunting (and even anti-hunting) user groups get to take advantage of. You’re welcome!
2. Take Someone Shooting
It’s no surprise that firearms are a politically charged issue, and the fight to protect our Second Amendment rights is never-ending. That’s why it’s so important to grow our community and bring more shooters and hunters into the fold—we need voters who continue to support the right to keep and bear arms.
Aside from that, there’s a tremendous satisfaction in teaching someone how to shoot—particularly women. Try taking a friend, coworker, family member or other acquaintance to the range and introducing them to guns in a safe, fun, encouraging environment. I promise you’ll have at least as much fun as the new shooter will!
3. Get Involved With a Youth Team
We sometimes say that we’re only one generation away from losing our firearm freedoms, so encouraging kids to participate in the shooting sports is a great way to reach the next generation. Did you know that there are youth shooting teams all over the nation? Whether it’s trap, skeet, sporting clays, handgun shooting, rifle shooting, Olympic-style airguns or something else, kids all over the country are learning how to enjoy the shooting sports safely and getting the benefits of team sports at the same time.
Youth teams often need volunteers (and donations), and coaching a kids team or otherwise offering assistance is so rewarding. Check with your local 4-H chapter as they sponsor many youth teams, or check out the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, which governs the Scholastic Clay Target Program for young shotgun shooters and the Scholastic Action Shooting Program for pistol and rifle shooters. The NRA conducts National Junior Shooting Camps around the country and sponsors a number of other youth programs you can get involved with.
4. Volunteer at Your Local Club
Some larger ranges are major operations with a full staff, but this country is full of out-of-the-way public ranges, small-time operations, volunteer-only shotgun clubs and other great places to shoot that could really use some help. Why not get in touch with a small club near you and see what they need? Maybe you can go weed-eat the shooting lanes, cut the grass at the trap club, help replace the shot-up old wooden target holders at a small outdoor range, serve as a safety officer or scorekeeper at a local shoot, or give back in some other way that marries their need with your skills.
The big fancy ranges are awesome, but the small local (and often struggling) ranges play a vital role in making sure everyone who wants to shoot has access to a safe place to do so, and volunteering some time at your local range or club is a great way to help secure the future of the sports we love.
5. Try a Competition
If you’ve never entered a shooting competition before, you’re missing out on a great learning environment and a ton of fun. Whatever your game—3-Gun, Steel Challenge, sporting clays, IDPA, precision rifle, you name it—there’s probably a match going on somewhere in your area at least semi-regularly. There’s nothing like the pressure of friendly competition to force you to up your game and push your skills to the next level, and something about the shooting sports brings out the best in most people. The fellowship and camaraderie at events is top-notch.
You’ll meet wonderful people, improve your skills and have a great time when you try a shooting competition. But be warned: Competitive shooting is seriously addicting!
6. Join an Association or Conservation Organization
The hunting and shooting industry is full of associations and organizations to support and promote any niche you can think of, from conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to recordkeeping and sanctioning bodies like the National Sporting Clays Association, the Amateur Trapshooting Association, the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), USPA and many more.
The conservation organizations are often broken out by species, so if you have a particular passion for anything from quail to bighorn sheep to African game, you can find a .org dedicated to conserving and promoting it. Just be careful that the organization you join is hunter-friendly, as “wildlife conservation” is a blanket term that covers hunters as well as some very anti-hunting and anti-gun organizations like the Humane Society of the United States, the Sierra Club, PETA and more.
Even if you’re not ready to compete, joining the association that sanctions the sport you’re most interested in is a great way to give back to the shooting sports. Membership often comes with benefits even if you never shoot a competition, including things like access to discounted firearms insurance, a member magazine and communications, scholarship programs and more.
And of course, if you’re not already a member of the NRA, we’d love to have your support as we continue to defend the Second Amendment and support every American’s right to keep and bear arms and enjoy hunting and the shooting sports.
