SHOT Show Offers Educational Opportunities
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trades Show (SHOT Show) ins’t just about seeing the latest and greatest guns and gear that is coming down the line. The show offers great opportunities to get the education you need to be successful in your field, wether it’s law enforcement, operating a shooting range or selling firearms and accessories.
SHOT Show University
SHOT Show University, held January 13 (the day before SHOT Show starts), offers four separate course tracks that you can check out based on your educational needs: ATF Compliance, Marketing, Retail Operations and Range Operations. These courses cover everything from Error Proofing your 4473 Forms to using social media, from taking inventory to hiring the right people and everything in between.
Retailer Seminars
Retailer Seminars run from January 14-17 and cover a variety of topics including grassroots political organizing, NFA compliance, background checks, loss prevention and much more.
Law Enforcement Education Program
This program, which also runs the duration of the show, January 14-17, is presented by NSSF and Law Officer Magazine. The LEEP covers topics including advanced sighting systems, illumination systems, recruiting practices, low light training, enhanced weapons systems and more.
Visit the SHOT Show Education page to see the full schedules and register for courses to help you get the most out of your SHOT Show attendance.
Fall is in the Air. NSSF Infographic Depicts Economic Impact of US Hunters.
There is a chill in the air, the leaves are turning colors before falling to the ground and millions of American hunters are heading into the woods to take advantage of fall hunting opportunities. These hunters have a bigger impact than just a stroll through the forest and a chance at filling their freezers.
The infographic below from NSSF depicts some of the nearly $40 billion economic impact (higher than the revenues of Google!) of hunting in America. Part of this impact comes from the $790+ million in hunting license and $817 million in duck stamps.
Check out the graphic below to see the impact that nearly 20 million hunters make. Continue reading
Are “Smart Optics” Catching On?
During last year’s SHOT Show, we covered the Tracking Point Xact system, a closed-loop weapon system with “smart optics” that compute ballistic data and make long range shooting so easy a caveman can do it. Although there were skeptics in the GunLink crew at first, they were won over. So, it seems, were others…
Remington recently announced their 2020 smart optic, powered by Tracking Point technology. In addition to a line with more caliber options – .30-06 Springfield, .308 Winchester and .223 Remington versus Tracking Point’s .338 Lapua and .300 WSM – the price is significantly lower. Where the Tracking Point offerings tip the scales in the $18,00-23,000 range, the Remington packages have a more palatable MSRP well under $6,000. Where the factory rifle offerings from Tracking Point were totally custom numbers, Remington 2020 packages come with familiar Model 700 and Bushmaster rifles underneath their smart optics. Continue reading
Extended NICS Hours for Black Friday
Worried about long waits at the gun counter when snapping up those smoking Black Friday deals? This recent announcement may help to ease your mind.
The FBI NICS Section has announced extended hours of service on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013 (“Black Friday”), for E-check Users and state Point-of-Contact (POC) Programs. Typically, the NICS is available daily from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). However, in response to requests to bring NICS into service earlier on “Black Friday” to better accommodate typical business-hour extensions throughout the retail industry and due to a long history of record-breaking volume on this day, the FBI will bring the NICS in-service starting at 4:30 a.m. EST for NICS E-check Users and for state POC Programs. The NICS Contracted Call Centers will open, as normal, at 8 a.m. EST.
For those Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) that do not currently utilize the NICS E-check service and would like to do so prior to NICS Peak Season 2013 or in advance of the earlier-than-normal NICS service hours being provided on “Black Friday,” contact the following for that expeditious, automated firearms background check service: 1-877-324-6427. Select Option 2 for FFL Customer Service and then option 5 for E-Check enrollment. Continue reading
Starbucks Reverses Position: “No Guns, Please.”
In a recent post on Voting With Your Wallet on gun rights, we lauded Starbucks’ use of common sense in in regard to their policy on firearm carry in their restaurants. This week, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz issued an open letter (shown below) to the American people to “respectfully request” that customers no longer bring firearms into the 18,000 outlets it operates in 62 countries, while stopping short of an outright ban.
It may not have been a surprising outcome, however, with many gun rights advocates pushing the envelope on the company’s policy (and, perhaps, the boundaries of common sense). The company’s previous policy was to defer to the law of the land – local, state and federal laws in effect at the restaurant’s location. Thus, if the law allows concealed carry then the restaurant allowed concealed carry. If the law allows open carry, then the restaurant allowed open carry. And this is where the story starts to come off of the rails. Continue reading
Springfield Armory 3.3 XD-S SAFETY RECALL
Visit www.springfieldrecall.com for more details.
Springfield Armory is initiating this voluntary safety recall to upgrade 3.3 XD-S 9mm and 3.3 XD-S .45ACP pistols with new components, which eliminate the possibility of a potentially dangerous condition. We want to emphasize that no injuries have been reported to date.
Springfield has determined that under exceptionally rare circumstances, some 3.3 XD-S 9mm and .45ACP caliber pistols could experience an unintended discharge during the loading process when the slide is released, or could experience a double-fire when the trigger is pulled once. The chance of these conditions existing is exceptionally rare, but if they happen, serious injury or death could occur. Continue reading
