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.

We have all had extraordinary experiences that we’ve learned from over the past several weeks.  We all have heart-warming and heart-breaking stories to share.  One of the most significant eye-opening realizations for me has been, “what are the needs vs the wants.”  As we begin to introduce our team back into the walls of our Baton Rouge office and warehouse, we have to ask ourselves, “What are those things that we must have that are crucial to our operations and what are those items that fall into the bucket of “well it would be nice if…?”  Don’t get me wrong.  The “wants” are quite important too; they make up our culture and they round-out our daily lives.  Just make sure the needs are met first.  Right now it boils down to masks, gloves, clean air, hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, and the list continues.

As everyone in the world is acutely aware, we are presently faced with a public health crisis of epic proportions.  Covid-19 has affected almost every aspect of our lives and is causing disruption to commercial activity in a manner not seen in decades.  Some cities and states have experienced more disruption than others and most states have issued a statewide shutdown of “nonessential” businesses.  

The firearms industry is not immune to the disruption caused by the novel coronavirus.  The supply chain has seen impacts at every level; materials providers, parts and components suppliers, firearms manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and dealers have all to some extent experienced a measure of difficulty in continuing operations. 

I think we all agree that this year has been difficult. Though we've seen some really good sales in our industry, COVID-19 has made it very challenging to run our businesses.

I want to go back in time just a few months, to October and our annual NASGW Expo and Annual Meeting in Orlando. Every year we kick off our show with an annual banquet and awards show. For those of you in attendance, you’ll remember I talked rather candidly about the tough year for shooting sports distribution in 2019.

Update on Congressional Action for Additional Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Funding

Yesterday evening, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) exhausted its funding forcing the Small Business Administration (SBA) to stop accepting applications for job-saving loans.  According to a press release from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and the SBA, “By law, the SBA will not be able to issue new loan approvals once the programs experience a lapse in appropriations.”

To say 2019 was a turbulent year in our industry is an understatement. As all of us continued to adjust to the new normal we saw lower than average sales, consolidation in the wholesale world, and continued attacks on the 2nd Amendment around the country. During that time we've also seen turnover on the NASGW Board of directors. To bring you all up to speed, we thought we'd introduce our newest board members including a familiar face who is back from retirement.