Stand Together, Stand Strong
The rollercoaster shows no signs of slowing down. In early May, there were rumblings of a softening taking place across the industry — leading to the hope of businesses being able to take a small breather after a grueling two-plus years. However, the tragic shootings at a Buffalo, N.Y. grocery store and an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school have significantly altered how the rest of the 2022 Business Year will unravel.
As a father and a passionate member of this industry, the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, is especially heartbreaking. I have two young boys, with my oldest just finishing his first year of preschool the day after the shooting.
When the news first came in about a shooting at an elementary school, my heart sank. I stopped what I was doing and gave each of my boys a huge hug. As more details emerged, I was struck with anger, shock, sadness and disbelief — what happened is tragic. How could anyone have the capacity to commit such a heinous, evil and cowardly crime?
In the fallout, the instant politicization from the other side has made it all the harder. We’re hurting, they’re hurting — we’re all human. But as members of this dynamic industry, we’re able to separate the firearm from the person who uses it illegally. Those who abhor firearms and firearms ownership are once again using a tragedy to advance an anti-gun/industry agenda, and we need to be ready for it.
Anti-Gun Movement Reenergized
There’s no question: The anti-gun movement senses an opportunity to restrict gun rights and has been very active in Congress and state legislatures across the country. They have already renewed calls to ban certain kinds of firearms, reduce magazine capacities, enact red flag laws and more.
At the state level, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill package that raised the age for semi-auto rifle purchases to 21, ban the sale of body armor and strengthened red flag laws, among other measures. As of this writing in mid-June, similar bills are being considered in Delaware, Rhode Island and other states.
June 8, the House passed a wide-ranging bill (H.R.7910) that proposed raising the age limit for purchasing a semi-auto rifle to 21 and limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds.
Reacting to this bill’s passage, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) shared a view that’s likely widely held by many in the industry: “This is unconstitutional and it’s immoral. Why is it immoral? Because we’re telling 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds to register for the draft. You can go die for your country. We expect you to defend us, but we’re not going to give you the tools to defend yourself and your family.”
Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action have been vocal promoting their political activism — dropping off petitions in U.S. Senate offices, participating in House Committees and even appealing to Big Tech. (Facebook’s supposed “10-strike” rule has drawn the ire of these anti-gun groups.)
What We Can Do
Countering these movements is going to take a unified approach from the industry.
Now, more than ever, we — as an industry — need to stand together and stand strong. We can engage the “other side” of this issue, presenting them with facts and educating them on successful industry-led programs like NSSF’s Project ChildSafe program, Operation Secure Store, Don’t Lie For The Other Guy campaign and more.
Those who abhor firearms and firearms ownership are once again using a tragedy to advance an anti-gun/industry agenda, and we need to be ready for it.
Highlighting the “fun” side of the shooting sports is another, lighter avenue to connect with customers. (And there’s already a ready-made promotional opportunity: National Shooting Sports Month is next month.)
A fact: The industry has made a lot of inroads over the past two years, with an estimated 14 million first-time gun buyers from diverse backgrounds. There’s a reason why they were motivated to purchase and exercised their right — we now need to do our part and re-engage these buyers, encouraging training and developing them into enthusiasts of our industry and its products.
Agree/disagree? We want to hear from you:
editor@shootingindustry.com.
Project ChildSafe Safety Sweepstakes Raises Nearly $90,000
The Project ChildSafe Safety Sweepstakes recently concluded with the random selection of seven prize winners, who, along with thousands of other donors, made contributions in support of NSSF’s Project ChildSafe firearm safety education program. The sweepstakes raised a total of $89,639 thanks to the generous donations of 3,608 donors.
The sweepstakes was promoted by NSSF, SHOT Show and the Project ChildSafe Foundation. Prize winners hailed from Alaska, New York, New Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“Project ChildSafe is one of the most respected and widely used safety programs in the country, with some 15,000 law enforcement department partners bringing the Project ChildSafe message of responsible gun ownership to their communities.”
Joe Bartozzi, Chairman Project ChildSafe Foundation
“We’re grateful to the thousands of donors who stepped up to support Project ChildSafe and its mission of promoting the safe handling of firearms and their secure storage when not in use,” said Joe Bartozzi, chairman of the Project ChildSafe Foundation and president and CEO of NSSF. “Project ChildSafe is one of the most respected and widely used safety programs in the country, with some 15,000 law enforcement department partners bringing the Project ChildSafe message of responsible gun ownership to their communities.” / projectchildsafe.org
GLOCK Encourages Everyone To “Follow The Four”
June was National Safety Month, and GLOCK has taken this initiative and extended it through 2022 via its Follow the Four campaign.
The Follow the Four campaign aims to increase awareness on safety and education to those who own or handle firearms and to further encourage responsible gun ownership. It encourages customers to take a pledge to “follow the four” rules of firearm safety when using, handling, maintaining and storing a firearm. This year, GLOCK decided to prolong its Follow the Four initiative past National Safety Month.
“Firearm safety is a priority for GLOCK and that’s why we’re expanding our pledge campaign to be all year and not just during National Safety Month — starting in July 2022,” said Brandie Collins, GLOCK marketing director.
“At GLOCK, we care about the safety of not only our customers, but all of those who own or handle firearms,” the company added in a press release.
Gateway Provider Eases Business For Multiplatform FFLs
Blue Payment Agency of Windham, Maine, a Second-Amendment-focused payment gateway provider, has announced a simplified credit card payment acceptance process for multiplatform FFLs.
FFL dealers that sell online using both the popular auction site GunBroker.com and the WordPress shopping cart WooCommerce can now benefit from a streamlined application, approval, setup, integration and reporting process.
“Over the years, we have found many WooCommerce FFLs also sell on GunBroker. These online dealers who accept consumer transactions online and then ship to other FFLs for the necessary NICS check run into unnecessary complexity when setting up their firearms payment processing,” said Alex Roy, president of Blue Payment Agency. “We’ve seen dealers forced to set up — and subsequently pay for — a separate GunBroker and WooCommerce merchant account and payment gateway. In addition to the added costs, these FFLs also must deal with multiple logins and a far more complicated approval process. Our all-in-one, WooCommerce/GunBroker program simplifies that.”
BluePaymentAgency.com has designed a program and trained its staff to streamline the process for gun business owners. Their WooCommerce/GunBroker FFL program facilitates approvals and actively helps integrate an FFL’s payment processing into both WordPress and GunBroker using a single application.
/ bluepaymentagency.com/fast-affordable-firearms-credit-card-processing
