President's Message: History Tells a Story

If I told you the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers wasn’t even started by wholesalers, would you believe me?

Well, as a matter of fact, it’s true. The founders of what is today known as NASGW, were in the publishing business, not the wholesale business. In fact, the original idea for the creation of NASGW came about because the owners of “The Sporting News,” the Spink family of St. Louis, were also publishing two directories that were specifically related to the business of sporting goods and retail. Published monthly was “The Sporting Goods Dealer,” which highlighted products across the wide spectrum of what you might find in a sporting goods store in the early 1900’s, everything from golf clubs to bats and balls, fishing tackle to guns and ammunition, and of course everything you can imagine in between.

FEATURED ARTICLES

2024 Expo Registration is Now Open

Registration is now open for the 2024 NASGW Expo being held October 15 - 18th at the Kansas City Convention Center. It’s time to take advantage of early bird pricing on badges and purchase tickets for the annual Appreciation Dinner. The appreciation dinner will be held on Tuesday evening, October 14th at the Downtown Kansas City Marriott.

Sponsorship and advertising opportunities are now available as well. Inquire with Meg Pawelski to learn about the great options to showcase your company and enjoy some VIP benefits while supporting the NASGW Expo.

NASGW Launches New States Bill Tracker Tool

In an effort to help our members navigate the ever-changing legislative landscape impacting your business, NASGW has teamed up with Orchid to create an easy tool to monitor pending legislation that directly impacts the industry. Users can sort bills by state, category, year, and bill status. This new tool is easily accessible under the News/Media tab on the NASGW website. 

Make Your 2024 Expo Hotel Reservations

Hotel booking is now open as well, for the 2024 NASGW Expo. The Downtown Kansas City Marriott will once again be the NASGW Headquarters Hotel for the Expo. Book your rooms early as the room block tends to fill up fast.

The Downtown Kansas City Marriott room link below is the ONLY official NASGW contracted hotel room block. If you are contacted by any 3rd parties for the purpose of booking hotel rooms, please do NOT utilize these companies. Only booking rooms within the designated NASGW block provides you with the safest and most secure option for booking hotel rooms. Also, every year our members are contacted about purchasing a list of Expo attendees. NASGW will never provide a list of attendees to any 3rd party businesses or organizations, so these lists are not legitimate. 

NASGW Participates In The CSF Annual Congressional Clays Event in DC

The Congressional Sportsman's Foundation's annual Congressional Clays Competition took place earlier this week on May 14th in Glenn Dale, Maryland. NASGW was on hand to participate in a friendly trap, skeet, and sporting clays competition. Kenyon Gleason and Tom Hopper represented NASGW and enjoyed a day connecting with Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus Members (CSC) and others for the sportsmen's community. 

Made up of nearly 250 members of the House and Senate, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus is the largest, most active bipartisan caucus in Congress, renowned for its unparalleled effectiveness and dedication to advancing the interests of America’s 55 million sportsmen and women. The CSC is truly the champion of sportsmen and women in Washington D.C. and has certainly lived up to this reputation in 2024 – spearheading several critical pieces of legislation including the EXPLORE Act, America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act, the Protecting Access for Hunters & Anglers Act, and more.

Ninth Circuit Upholds California Law Allowing Gun Owners’ Private Data to be Shared with Research Institutions

On May 8, 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s law requiring California’s Department of Justice to provide firearm purchasers’ and CCW applicants’ information to research institutions.

In September 2021, California enacted AB 173, which allows the state to disclose highly sensitive information—including a gun owner’s name, social security number, address, place of birth, phone number, occupation, driver’s license or ID number, race, sex, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and the types of firearms they own—to universities and other research institutions. In January 2022, NRA filed suit to stop this attack on gun owners’ privacy.

After the district court ruled in favor of the state, the NRA appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit. This week, unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision.

2024 Q1 SCOPE™ Report Now Available

The 2024 Q1 SCOPE Report is now available. The Overview Report is included in your NASGW membership and can be downloaded by just clicking the button below. The enhanced Detail Report goes deeper and provides an additional level of information for those looking to understand regional distribution and product segmentation. The Detail Report is available at no cost for current SCOPE subscribers, by logging into your SCOPE portal, and available for purchase by NASGW members who are not currently subscribed to SCOPE. 

Firearms Shipments

Ammunition Shipments

Optics Shipments

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

• NSSF Brings Gun Safety to Times Square
• Warehouse Worker Protection Act Threaten Supply Chain Stability
• US Small Business Sentiment Rebounds in April

• Doctors Citing Fake Mass-Shooting Data to Justify Questioning Patients About Guns

• Preparing for the Costs of Supply Chain Disruptions
• Hearing in Philadelphia Reveals Gun Control Hypocrisy

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 17-19, 2024

NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits

Dallas, TX

July 30, 2024

NSSF Annual Import/Export Conference

Washington, D.C.

October 15-18, 2024

NASGW Expo

Kansas City, MO