Our team is back from Nuremberg, Germany, and the 2019 IWA Outdoor Classics. Our booth location was great, the show was busy, and could not have gone better. In NASGW's first experience organizing this opportunity for our members, we learned so much about the process, and we are already making plans to make this even better next year. To help summarize our week in Germany, we have pulled together a few notes, quotes and observations: 

Great leaders hire great people. And great people play a crucial role in your strategic success. If you want to be successful in today’s shooting sports industry, invest in and harness the power of people.

Look, we are facing unprecedented change, unending political volatility, and constantly moving targets when it comes to local, state and federal firearm laws. Some prominent and recent legal decisions also have us scratching our heads. To say it’s unpredictable and challenging for a company to navigate is an overwhelming understatement.

In my 26 years in the wholesale business, it has been a blessing to be surrounded by such brilliant people. I’m very fortunate to have an amazing team that makes it all work. Bringing together all the different skill sets and perspectives helps us all stay motivated and makes each one of us better. I’m so lucky to work with them, and their enthusiasm inspires me. As I begin my journey leading our association, I’m also looking forward to being a more significant part of the team at NASGW in much the same way.

Washington, DC, May 14-17, 2019

Building upon the success of last year’s inaugural event, the Second Annual ASA Industry Forum provides an opportunity for executives and compliance personnel from across the industry to come together to advance our common mission for pro-suppressor advocacy. The Forum will begin with an informal reception on Tuesday evening at a location TBD near Capitol Hill.

As is typical, the beginning of 2019 has seen a flurry of legislative activity.  Generally speaking, the beginning of legislative sessions see more bills introduced than later in session.  Legislative activity impacting the sale and distribution of firearms is no exception.  We have already seen hundreds of bills introduced which are directly aimed at the industry.

Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Members Congressmen Ron Kind (WI) and Rob Bishop (UT) introduced the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act of 2019 (H.R. 1222), which would amend the Pittman-Robertson Act to provide more flexibility to state agencies to construct, expand, and maintain public target shooting ranges.

If you hunt, fish, shoot competitively, or maybe when a gun is not in hand, spend time on a golf course, odds are you’ve got a partner who joins you regularly.

Growing up, and even more so probably when I was just out of college, my “partner-in-crime” was my next-youngest brother Jason. I’m one of four brothers, and we stuck together for a lot of things. But Jason and I were probably most alike. Together we’d camp, ride horses, shoot guns and fish. But our favorite joint pastime was hunting, specifically whitetail deer.

In my time in this industry, I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a lot of great people and learned many lessons along the way. Looking back, there is one lesson that really resonates with me to this day. As a young teenager, my father taught me to give a firm handshake. That valuable lesson has served me well and I have observed several looks of surprise over the years when being introduced to others at social gatherings, business meetings and events. That handshake goes a long way to make a first impression, and as a wholesaler in this industry, it can symbolize the trust and commitment to our partners.

It’s that time of year again.  State legislatures have returned – or will do so shortly – to their respective capitals and tens of thousands of pieces of legislation have been proposed that affect all aspects of daily life.  With respect to firearms ownership and distribution, hundreds of bills which can have a positive or negative effect have already been proposed.  Orchid Advisors monitors these bills on a daily basis to keep its clients informed and up to date.  While we will update NASGW members monthly on the status of bills that have been adopted, defeated, or are nearing adoption, below is a sample of some new legislation that has been proposed:

NASGW is wrapping up onboarding the influx of subscribers to the SCOPE™ data program after launching in October. Data-savvy NASGW members can look forward to new features and new data in 2019.