Monthly Features
Get Good...
As a relatively new pilot, I’ve learned quickly your aircraft instruments are your best friends. They can get you out of a jam and alert you to an issue
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a strong draw
While the COVID-19 pandemic chilled much of the nation’s economy, many sectors of the outdoor retailing market have been ablaze. Notably, bowhunting and...
2
Where’s All...
Ammunition sales have been through the roof for the past year, with production lagging very far behind. Firearms retailers are seeking inventory anywhere...
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Where’s All...
It’s been over a year since ammunition began to fly off retail shelves across the country. The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide civil...
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It’s All Fun &...
When Rex Gore opened his Ohio shop some 20 years ago, he was given a bit of advice regarding the idea of using his range for shooting leagues. Don’t do...
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Set Your Sights...
It’s hard to believe deer season is just around the corner! Following a year of record-breaking fishing and hunting license sales across the country,...
1
Meeting The New...
in 2020, the team at Shoot Like A Girl personally introduced over 2,700 women to the shooting sports, and 75% of those interactions were post-COVID shutdowns.
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What...
Women remain a growing part of recreational shooting communities and continue to be a progressively important firearm customer. According to the National...
1
Survivors, Not...
Do you know any women who have suffered domestic violence at the hands of a loved one? Chances are, you know more than a few. The number of people...
1
Measure Up
With a record number of gun sales in 2020, you indeed had to adjust your shop’s priorities. Keeping the shelves stocked has been pretty high on the list...
1
Check Your...
Women have fought to vote, get a credit card in their name, receive an Ivy League education and to even wear pants. Purchasing a gun, the greatest...
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Let’s Talk
The women’s market and connecting with female customers isn’t the mystery some make it out to be. Pop culture and social media can offer clues, and the...
1
The Art of...
When bringing the words “women” and “shooting sports” together, it always seems to require additional clarification, such as “women-only” or...
1
2021 Trends
With 2021 in full swing, what trends have emerged? Last year the industry saw record sales on everything — guns, ammunition, accessories — and a huge...
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Your Store’s...
Dogs have been an important part of humanity for millennia. Over the past few years, studies have shown the wild canids that came to campfires initiated the...
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The High-End...
Late December, the folks at Centennial Gun Club decided to take a chance ordering a handful of pricey Walther special-edition handguns.
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E-Commerce An...
Of the various retail tools available to shooting sports retailers today, e-commerce has proven to be one of the most powerful. Having an online store...
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Events + Classes...
Think back to last year — before the coronapocalypse. If someone told you we would have over 8 million new gun owners (many from traditionally...
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Handgun Sales No...
Personal protection was on the mind of many people as the world struggled through a tumultuous 2020 blistered by pandemic, politics and civil unrest. Gun...
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Precision...
Precision target shooting has evolved into one of the hottest segments for FFL dealers across the country. The number and variety of long-range competitions...
1
Continued Unrest?
We all know the record-breaking sales of 2020 — driven by COVID-19, the summer’s unrest and presidential election — won’t last forever.
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Knives For EDC +...
It may be easiest to think of your knife-buying customers belonging to one of two distinct groups — those looking for everyday carry options, and those...
1
Turkey Time
Like many retail businesses, the holiday season is one of the busiest for gun retailers in part because it also coincides with big-game hunting season, and...
4
The Community...
Good relationships in the community are essential to every firearms retail business. Some retailers, however, go a step farther. Not only do they cultivate...
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How to Optimize...
We’re continuing to learn how to engage with our audience — the ultimate goal is maximizing opportunities for customers to find your business or brand....
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Training and the...
Considering everything that happened in 2020, it’s hard to really call it the year of anything. So for our purposes, let’s call it the year of the...
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Continuing To...
Even in the face of a global pandemic, HAVA’s commitment to serving disabled veterans and injured active-duty military personnel hasn’t wavered....
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Urban Success Story
Indoor ranges have a very different look and feel from outdoor ranges. In Des Plaines, Ill. — a Chicago suburb — Maxon Shooter’s Supplies and Indoor...
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Video Marketing...
As we adapt and become accustomed to the realities and the “new normal” created by COVID-19, consumers have changed the way they buy products. Brands...
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Be A Good...
When it comes to growing your business, there are only a few ways to achieve the desired goal — attract new customers, increase the average sales per...
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How To Optimize...
If you’ve been the teacher this year (#ThanksCOVID), it’s time to flip roles and become the student. Class is in session on how to optimize your social...
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A New Playing Field
While 2020 was a chaotic year for firearms and sporting goods retailers, the unknowns heading into 2021 are creating consternation on multiple fronts.
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Priority Number...
If you’re a one-man or woman shop, your store’s persona (i.e., how it’s perceived by others) is going to be based on your character and personality....
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20 on 20
To say 2020 was a very strange year is to understate the obvious. Between COVID-19, unrest in many cities and towns and an election season that left many...
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Predicting 2021
Though well said by many people many times, 2020 was certainly a crazy and unexpected year. While no one ever wished for a global pandemic, social unrest...
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The WRP Excise...
Over the years, billions of dollars — industry dollars as many say — have been invested in wildlife, hunting and recreational shooting via the federal
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100 Acres Of...
Five-star ranges are the gold standard for the recreational shooting sports market. The ranges that have earned this designation from NSSF have
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Welcoming Millions
Back at the beginning of this year, while discussing the approaching presidential election and its impact on the industry, who would have predicted the
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Tough Times...
Somewhere over the past few months, a meme I saw online summed up 2020 about as perfectly as you can. It was titled, “If 2020 Was A Math Problem.” It then
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Demystifying SEO
Did you know nearly 40% of small businesses still don’t have a website going into 2021?1 As surprising as this may be, what’s arguably worse are those...
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Video Marketing...
Last year at this time, most of us were putting together our marketing plans, organizing budgets, planning the calendar for the upcoming year and getting
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Rainy Day Fund
The shooting sports industry has never experienced a year quite like 2020. Faced with a global pandemic, ongoing riots across the country and an uncertain...
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The Year Of The...
Let’s be honest. This year turned out pretty much nothing like anyone expected it to. As if we needed a reminder, the business of forecasting the future
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Airguns and Airbows
The airgun segment of outdoors sales has changed dramatically over the past 30 years or so.
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No Luck Of The Draw?
There’s a running joke in Arizona that pops up every year revolving around the annual awarding of game licenses through random draws.
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safety first!
Your store may be seeing a record number of gun sales because of all the craziness this year. As you are surely very aware by now, data suggests nearly 5
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The Light-Bulb...
Since the start of COVID-19 followed by social unrest, gun stores have continued to see record sales each month. From March to August, 11.3 million
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Crossbow Appeal
Today’s crossbows are fast, efficient and easy to use. The novice archer will have no trouble using them, and they’re great for people who are sensitive...
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hunting &...
AN election year, a global pandemic and the start of fall hunting season have created somewhat of a perfect storm for firearm dealers.
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“It’s Like...
On any given day, Ace Sporting Goods has somewhere around 4,000 guns in stock. Any given day, that is, before 2020 went off the rails.
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Knife Retailing...
Firearms sales set records in many states this year, but more than guns are flying out the door of outdoor retailers. Knife sales have also been brisk.
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Tracking...
Americans recently found themselves cut off from traditional day-to-day life; some discovered empty shelves at their grocery stores, and others experienced...
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Pandemic +...
Security is on everyone’s mind today. We’re living in strange times, reflected in the number of guns people are buying and the storage solutions...
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Training and The...
Gun stores have been given a boost as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a state of civil unrest in much of the country as peaceful protests have been...
1
Success In...
There have been many lessons — good and bad — learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not least among them is the idea gun shops need to be able to reach...
2
Signs of a...
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, signs of a revival in the hunting segment were beginning to materialize. With the closure (and reclosure, in some...
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A Hot Commodity
Sitting in a shop with shelves emptied by coronavirus-weary and protest-spooked gun buyers, it can be difficult to remember what life was like before...
3
Light ’Em Up
Although you can still find cheap plastic lights, most of today’s lights are high intensity, high-tech accessories more at home in the gun store than the...
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Membership Drive
On your website are you actively trying to sell memberships, rather than just merely offering them?
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Rebuilding A Brand
Colt Senior VP of Commercial Sales Paul Spitale came to the storied manufacturer in 2015, the year they filed bankruptcy and were struggling with damage...
2
Taking Control...
Like the Goodrich dealer, the firearms dealer also has an identity problem. The anti-gun politicians have been screaming “Guns are bad” for so long,...
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The Time Is Now...
Inside the July issue, we provided the annual state of the firearms industry update. One of the key takeaways was despite the slowdown in firearms...
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When You Buy A...
Every customer who purchases a gun has the potential to purchase gun-care and cleaning supplies and equipment. As the song says, they “go together like a...
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Understanding...
Over the past few years, Southwick Associates and NSSF have been learning more about the unique groups, or segments, that make up the U.S. firearms market.
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DIY Events:...
A special “Do It Yourself” (DIY) event is a wonderful tactic that delivers multiple dividends for any retail store.
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6 Tips To Grow...
Your digital presence, or lack thereof, matters now more than ever. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, the internet is seeing a...
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U.S. Firearms...
In the early days of the pandemic, dealers reported robust activity from customers — wiping out entire in-store firearms inventories in many cases.
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Summer Fun
Full disclosure: This article was written in late March, just one week after the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. If we all did our part...
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Raising The Bar...
The atrocity of September 11 galvanized our nation. It was a wake-up call to thousands of American citizens to finally pull their heads out of the sand and...
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Archery Trends...
The market for archery equipment, including gear used in competition, recreational shooting and bowhunting, has been holding its own in recent years with...
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Range Games
It’s safe to assume every one of your potential customers knows you sell guns. They also know you sell ammo and a wide range of accessories to go with them.
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Ammunition &...
Winds of change are blowing through the shooting sports industry. As everyone well knows, outside events can radically impact business....
14
Women & the...
The NASCAR concept in advertising made its way into the firearms industry in the 1980s and ’90s. As a result, the shooting sports received unprecedented...
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Selling Fun:
Odds are, there’s not a single airgun for sale in your shop. It might even be the sort of thing you’ve never even considered. After all, why set aside...
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A Thank-You...
A woman walks into your shop. She’s a little unsure about where to begin and cruises the store a moment before approaching one of your sales staff. “I...
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Shot Show 2020...
For the first time in several years, SHOT Show 2020 was held in a period not marked by either fear-induced buying or widespread sluggish sales — replaced,...
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SHOT Show...
Just as it is every year, SHOT Show 2020 was busy and crowded. With only mild jitters about the impending impeachment hearings in the air, retailers were...
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Decisions, Decisions
Another SHOT show is in the books. Now comes the daunting task of figuring out what to make of all the new firearms and accessories announced during (or...
2
Advancing...
Though their history dates back to the late 1500s, airguns — the oldest pneumatic technology — still aren’t getting the credit they deserve. The best...
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Satisfying The...
Long-range shooting, whether for fun, competition or hunting has been on a steady upswing in recent years. How are retailers going the distance when it...
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Building Blocks
For most dealers, the concealable handgun represents one of the pillars upon which a business can be built. Manufacturers are constantly churning out new...
3
Knife Profits
It’s a dilemma every retailer faces, especially when SHOT Show rolls around and hot new products are tempting their buying taste buds at every turn.
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Success Depends...
A good point-of-sale (POS) system can serve as the backbone of a retail business. If implemented well, it will make your operation more efficient by...
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Cashing In On...
A few years ago a book called In Search Of Excellence burst onto the business scene spouting a message so simplistic as to be almost laughable.
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From the...
Editor’s Note: For businesses on a downward trend, Ernest W. Fair recommended first diagnosing the cause and taking relevant steps outlined in this...
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THE SILVER BULLET
Competing with the likes of Amazon and other online retailers, your store has to “get it right” while meeting the immediate needs of customers today.
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Distributing The...
Entering the 2020s, it doesn’t take a lot of detective work to notice the significant amount of change the two-step distribution model experienced over...
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Selling High-End...
The increasing popularity of long-range shooting has spurred more than sales of just firearms and ammunition. As shooters have reached for longer and longer...
4
Turkey Time
Like many retail businesses, the holiday season is one of the busiest for gun retailers in part because it also coincides with big-game hunting season, and...
4
Cash In on Dog...
Many retailers eschew dog-related products for a variety of reasons. Dog products are specialty items, and as such, are not for every gun shop.
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Getting Your...
In this age of hyper-compressed margins, one of the categories still capable of putting some money in the till is eye and ear protection — particularly if...
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Varmint/Predator...
When you consider the plight of the white-tailed deer hunter who might go an entire season without taking a shot, it’s easy to see why a novice may find...
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Market Insights:...
Predators and varmints provide many hunters with an excellent opportunity to both extend their hunting season and to pursue some diverse and exciting...
3
Taking A Path...
Ask any gun-store owner about top-selling handguns and you’ll get an answer that varies only slightly from coast to coast.
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Advancements In...
As the technology of shotgun shells has changed, so, too, are the shotguns selected by hunters. Savvy retailers are making new ammunition and guns available...
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Hot Steel! The...
No matter whether your retail store is focused on outdoors, hunting, tactical, EDC — or all of the above — there are knives to be sold and profits to be...
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Examining...
Anyone familiar with the sport of hunting knows no two hunters are the same. While all hunters share a common passion for pursuing game in the field and...
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Tools for...
When Steven Soucy opened his New Hampshire gun shop, one of the first things he noticed about the industry was its somewhat limited online presence.
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Make the Most...
Bill Vancleave is a co-owner of Outdoor Country in Bishop, Texas. A self-described “gun guy,” Vancleave said the biggest trend he’s seen in the guns...
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Self-Defense:...
When it comes to increasing sales, there’s nothing wrong with going for the low-hanging fruit. For firearms dealers, this means existing and potential...
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Taking A Stand
Standing up for what we believe and who we are is something the shooting sports industry is used to. We accept challenges thrown
at us and find a way to...
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Show And Tell
We’ve been hunting with firearms as long as there have been firearms. So, it’s probably no surprise when you find yourself dealing with customers who...
3
Clean Up With...
Gun-care products should be a part of every firearm sale. When your customer purchases gun-care products, the transaction is as good for him as it is for...
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Aiming For...
Most firearms retailers don’t think too much about bowhunting season. They’re busy helping hunters get ready for gun season, stocking rifles and...
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Clean Up With...
Sales of accessories and gun-care products follow firearm sales. And since every customer who buys a gun needs gun-care products, this is a must-carry...
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Carry The Odd...
On the ammo shelves at Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, N.C., you’ll find pretty much everything you’d expect to see there. There are boxes and boxes of 9mm,...
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Part 1: Connect...
Many of the issues and challenges women have faced over the years such as abuse, being targeted as easy victims, living as single mothers trying to protect...
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Selling Gun-Care 101
Talking about gun-care products should be a staple of selling every gun. After all, if a shooter fails to clean his gun, he’ll eventually be back...
1
Zero-In On...
For some time now, a certain subset of target shooters has been interested in — even obsessed by — long-range shooting.
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A Proactive...
Having a strong web presence to enhance a store’s brick-and-mortar offerings is no longer a question, but whether or not it involves branching out into...
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The Long-Gun Puzzle
There are certain realities faced by every brick-and-mortar gun store. Among them is the simple fact display space is limited — no matter how small or...
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Everyday Carry...
Spend a little time watching YouTube videos posted by everyday carry advocates, and you’re likely to come away with a skewed view of what this market is...
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Turkey Fever
Depending on your perspective, spring turkey hunting is either the last phase of hunting season, or the first outdoor activity of the spring.
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Set Your Sights...
Advances in technology are changing the way people do pretty much everything — hunting included. And with predator populations (like feral hogs and...
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Branching Out
Enhancing your store’s physical location with an integrated e-commerce website has never been easier. Likewise, high-tech POS systems facilitate...
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5 Tactics
In the last decade, we’ve seen a massive increase in consumer interest in self-defense, generally, and concealed carry, specifically.
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Varmint Hunting...
In early July, Tim Van Leiden decided to take his 11-year-old granddaughter out for her first hunt. With popular game seasons still several months away, the...
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