Our partners and the National Association of Wholesler-Distributors continue to work for our industry in Washington D.C. Here are recent updates from NAW on four pressing issues.

NSSF^â’s Government Relations Team dedicates its time and resources to supporting legislation beneficial to our industry and fighting those bills that infringe on our rights to legally conduct business and compromise everyone’s Second Amendment rights. Team members attend legislative hearings on the federal, state and local levels year-round across the nation, keeping their finger on the pulse of those issues affecting us.

Our May column continued to cover the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the firearm industry. Indeed, it seemed the headlines about the public health situation would never cease—and then the rioting started.

Today, the U.S. Senate passed the historic Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), which represents the single greatest commitment to increasing public access and advancing conservation in a lifetime, on a strong bipartisan vote of 73-25.
 
The Great American Outdoors Act will provide $9.5 billion over 5 years to address the crumbling infrastructure on America's public lands and waters. While the National Park Service will receive $6.5 billion in funding, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation (CSF) led a successful effort to secure the inclusion of $3 billion to repair and maintain public land infrastructure overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which provides critically important recreational opportunities for America's sportsmen and women.

In the immortal words of the band Queen, “The show must go on.”

And the 2020 NASGW Expo and Annual Meeting is going to happen. We continue to see movement and changes in the re-opening of our economy and in hotels, event spaces and pretty much every other business and service you can think of. This is true now in many states.

In the case of the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX, they are actually going to be hosting some fairly large events in July, August and September, long in advance of our arrival. The hotel has developed protocols regarding events at their facility. We’ve posted information from the hotel, along with a whole host of information on a SPECIAL COVID-19 webpage as a part of our NASGW Expo website. You can find it here: https://nasgwexpo.org/covid-resources#.

Here we go; we are doing this. That’s right, the recovery is underway, and we are all trying to return to “normal” slowly. Put down the bag of chips, the beer can, and the pack of Oreos. Step away from the breakfast table. It’s time to get back to your office and a “normal” routine. 

(You may define “normal” as you please.) 

Who could have predicted that we would have had nearly three months of exploring new ways to juggle our workloads, homeschooling, and practicing social distancing?

The Government Relations Team of the National Shooting Sports Foundation^â (NSSF^â), the trade association for the firearm industry, dedicates its time and resources to supporting legislation beneficial to our industry and fighting those bills that infringe on our rights to legally conduct business and compromise everyone’s Second Amendment rights. Team members attend legislative hearings on the federal, state and local levels year-round across the nation, keeping their finger on the pulse of those issues affecting us.

I love baseball.

Ok, so I love a lot of sports, but I desperately want baseball to return this summer. I really hope it does. I don’t care if it’s a shortened season. The crack of the bat and ball coming together is a sound I’ll never get tired of hearing.

 Growing up in the ’70s and '80s just outside a small town in North Dakota, baseball was our life in the summer. And my small town was actually rather well-known for its baseball prowess. There are probably state championship banners still hanging from the rafters in the old school gymnasium, right there next to the words of our old school fight song.

On April 23, a federal court in California put a halt to California’s ammunition background check requirements declaring, “Accordingly, the Court enjoins the State of California from enforcing the ammunition sales background check provisions” found in the California Penal Code. The Court’s grant of this injunction is a strong win for all California sportsmen and women because the ammunition sales restrictions will prevent the State of California from enforcing the ammunition sales background checks through its now enjoined onerous and flawed system as the Rhode v. Becerra case continues to be litigated.