All of you are well aware of the heated national discussion surrounding school shootings and gun policy. President Trump hosted a roundtable discussion, CNN held a town hall meeting, and the media outlets have been filling the 24-hour news cycle with anyone claiming they have the answer to prevent violence. In most cases, the proposed answer is more anti-gun legislation, or the finger just gets pointed at our industry.In this national discussion, we all need to individually be a part of advocating effective actions to address this.

Another Shot Show is in the books, and the industry is buzzing again with the opportunities of a new year. After a soft year for many, a sense of optimism for 2018 seems to be a common theme among the many vendors, customers, and colleagues I have spoken with. For the first time in many years, I was unable to attend Shot Show due to some unforeseen events. I missed seeing my colleagues, my friends, and the many people I’ve built business relationships over the years. Shot Show is always a great time to connect and get the new year started right. For those of you who were in attendance, I truly hope the show was successful for you.

As we all take some time away from work to enjoy the holidays with our families, I personally want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This truly is one of my favorite times of year. This time of year also has us looking to the upcoming year with hope or for some, worry. For those of us who’ve been in the industry long enough, we know that years like 2017 come and go. Last week I was fortunate enough to contribute some of my thoughts on what 2018 has in store during NASGW’s webinar titled, “Building a Successful Business in the New Normal.” I was quite impressed with the discussion from industry leaders like Tom Taylor of SIG SAUER, Mike Noell of Sentry Products Group, Chris DiCenso and George Harris of Growth Strategy Partners, and myself. It was great to hear the thoughts about 2017 and 2018 from varying places around the country and the industry. At the end of the webinar I took three big themes away from our discussion: focus on making our own businesses better through innovation and relationships, data is playing a more crucial role in our industry, and being scrappy is a virtue. 

This time of year, it’s pretty easy to take inventory of the things we are thankful for. For me, the list is too long to rattle off in this article. But, I can’t help looking back on the past 12 months and be thankful for the experience to serve as the Chairman of NASGW. It seems like just yesterday I was writing an introduction to tell you all a little about myself and my background and here we are a year. Where has the time gone?

Wow, what a week in San Antonio! I hope you’ve had time to rest and recover. I personally want to thank all of you who attended the 2017 NASGW Expo. It’s always great to see all of you and plan out 2018. Congratulations to all our award winners. It was great to recognize the companies that are most committed to two-step distribution with our Leadership Awards and the brand new NASGW-POMA Caliber Awards brought a new twist to the Expo in recognizing the best new products of the last year. It might be a little early, but we want to encourage you all to start making your plans to join us next year in Pittsburgh. There is no better place to get business done than at the NASGW Expo.