The National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW) in partnership with the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), have chosen the top three products in six categories including: Best New Rifle, Best New Handgun, Best New Shotgun, Best New Ammunition, Best New Optic, and Best New Accessory. An independent panel of 18 industry judges, comprised of NASGW members and POMA members, selected the finalists in each category. In order to qualify, manufacturers needed to be a NASGW member in good standing and the product must have been publicly released between November 2020 and prior to this year’s Expo. "Despite the cancelation of last year's NASGW Expo, the Caliber Awards have continued to grow in notoriety across the shooting sports industry," said Kenyon Gleason, NASGW president. "This year we have another lineup of outstanding finalists for each of our six categories and we can't wait to announce the winners at the Expo in Columbus, Ohio."

The National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW) and their wholesale members have nominated this year's Appreciation Award finalists. Each year, NASGW Awards the top optics, accessory, ammunition, and firearms manufacturers and the leading importer and innovator who best demonstrate a commitment to the two-step distribution process and provide outstanding value and service. Wholesaler members evaluate manufacturers' performance on four key criteria; distribution policy, marketing, sales, and promotion; logistics and operations; and NASGW and industry support. This comprehensive assessment of manufacturer performance is designed to provide a more balanced appraisal that truly recognizes the best of the best, according to NASGW distributor members.

You can zoom yourself to death. At literally every hour of every day, there is a potential zoom call or webinar that you can join. I teach a class every Fall at the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Unfortunately, our state was hit with another hurricane this season and it shut down many schools for weeks, including those in New Orleans. I was told that my class would be via zoom AGAIN this year because the campus wouldn’t open till mid-October. But as of a few days ago, the students returned and now my upcoming class will be in person. Thank goodness. Sometimes the translation of a one-on-one meeting, seminar or classroom just isn’t the same from a computer screen while sitting in your jammies. I’m so over it. I’m ready for the face-to-face meetings to start again. Masks or not, I don’t care. I’m ready to socialize.

In Washington, D.C., Second Amendment supporters, outdoorsmen and women across the country and the entire firearm and ammunition industry breathed a collective sigh of relief as the White House withdrew the nomination of David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Chipman was wholly unqualified to lead the dedicated men and women of agency. NSSF supports the confirmation of a qualified leader, just one that will uphold the charge of leading the agency that oversees the firearm industry. Attention now turns to see if President Joe Biden will nominate another gun control advocate or instead someone serious who could gain the support of senators on both sides of the aisle.

“Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?”

It’s a saying as old as time itself, because ever since people started traveling places, be it on horseback, in a wagon, a train, plane or cars, our children have this uncanny ability to get under our skin by asking the question repeatedly, and usually in a grating and annoying voice.

I’m certain I was guilty of this when I was a child, and I know my kids were as well. I still tease my wife by asking her the question on some of our travels. No… she doesn’t think it’s funny.

As I wrote this column, I was in Dallas wrapping up an amazing two days at the 2021 NASGW Wholesaler Summit. This was a tremendous opportunity for many of the wholesalers in our industry to meet, network, share ideas, and discuss challenges within our industry, the future of NASGW, and your association’s role in supporting two-step distribution. I can’t thank the wholesalers enough who attended. The communication and collaborations were inspiring and I’m truly excited for the road ahead.  Then it was back to Baton Rouge to face Hurricane Ida.

USA Shooting kicks off VICTORY FUND Campaign to drive support for Olympic Shooters 

In Washington, D.C., the nomination of David Chipman by President Joe Biden to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has reached a screeching halt. Several key Democrats remain fervently non-committal, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called for his nomination to be pulled.. The U.S. Senate and House are focusing efforts on passing, or blocking, huge budget and infrastructure packages. However even through the August district work period, several members are introducing bills to protect the Second Amendment and ability of lawful businesses to remain able to provide the right to law-abiding Americans.

ANKENY, IA (August 30, 2021) – The National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW), the association representing shooting sports wholesalers, manufacturers, and their trade partners, is pleased to announce that Winchester Ammunition will be sponsoring speaker Chris Stirewalt at the NASGW Expo Appreciation Dinner on October 26th in Columbus, Ohio.

It’s official, I’m an empty nester. Took the youngest of our five sons to college at Wichita State University late last week. That was a surreal experience.

I suffered from a case of “eye sweating,” as my wife calls it. I mean, it was 104 degrees on the thermometer when we unloaded his stuff just outside his dorm, so it makes sense my eyes were sweating, right?

My wife and I, as parents who’ve had children living with us for the past 27 years, have had an interesting year with a lot of “last time for this” moments. And now we’ve got the “first time for this” moment of living in a home without loud boys to keep us company (or sometimes drive us crazy). I am certain this is going to take some getting used to for both me and the missus. We did bring home a couple of new dogs over the summer though, so we’ve got plenty to keep us busy and keep the house active.