Hunters and Shooters: Help Your Sport by Taking Online Survey

A new online survey will help the outdoor industry better serve its customers who hunt and shoot. The survey is free. And respondents could win one of several $100 gift certificates to be given away each month. To participate, visit www.huntersurvey.com.

Respondent information will be used in the development of new products, better services and expanded opportunities to enjoy hunting and shooting.

Gift certificates, to be awarded monthly via random drawing, are offered as incentives for participation. Winners may use the $100 certificates at online or "brick and mortar" outdoor retailers of their choice, including local independent retail shops.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry, and state fish and wildlife agencies are interested in learning more about customers' monthly sporting activities, purchases, expectations, and more.

Chris Dolnack, senior vice president for NSSF, said, "More and better information helps us learn how we, as an industry, can meet the changing needs and expectations of today's hunters and shooters. It's the key to developing and promoting our sports as well as innovating new products to fit today's lifestyles."

Huntersurvey.com was developed by Southwick Associates Inc. of Fernandina Beach, Florida. The firm tracks hunting and shooting sports trends and specializes in assessing revenue streams and business models, regularly helping state agencies and trade groups in their efforts to protect and expand hunting, shooting and other outdoor opportunities.

First-time survey visitors must briefly register. Southwick Associates assures that collected e-mail addresses will be used only for sending monthly electronic surveys, and will never to be sold, given away or used for any promotion or solicitation. Actual surveys take about two minutes to complete.

The survey is expected to reach several thousand U.S. hunters and shooting enthusiasts each month. Respondents will be asked about their hunting and target shooting activities in the past month, species pursued, types of target shooting enjoyed, products purchased, opportunities desired, and more. The survey will track responses month to month. Data will be scientifically weighted to reflect all hunters and shooters, even those who do not complete surveys or use the Internet. Southwick Associates will begin compiling reports in 2006.

For more information, contact Southwick Associates (www.southwickassociates.com) at 904-277-9765; Info@southwickassociates.com; or P.O. Box 6435, Fernandina Beach, FL 32035.

Arizona Gets High School Marksmanship Class

Worth one credit toward diploma - Shooting at target required to pass
by Alan Korwin, Author Gun Laws of America


If you're old enough you remember the days when American high schools had rifle ranges in the basement. The ROTC would practice down there, and students learned about the safe use of firearms. You could even get a varsity letter (remember those?) in shotgun.

In rural areas, kids would bring firearms with them to school, and go hunting for dinner on the way home. I have a friend who brought his father's fully functional full-auto Thompson submachinegun to class, with ammo, for show and tell. That sort of thing screeched to a halt in the 1960s, when left-wing political correctness got the ranges closed and proceeded to vilify guns in every way they could. Arizona is poised to change that.

In April we passed the first law in decades to go back to teaching real gun safety to high school students. The children can get one credit in marksmanship toward their high school diplomas, in this full-semester class. To pass the Arizona Gun Safety Program they must safely discharge a firearm at a target. It all began about six months earlier.

One day, with some idle time on my hands, I wondered, "Why don't we make marksmanship a requirement for a high school diploma?" The people I hang out with thought it was a great idea, so what the hey, I drafted some language, and circulated it electronically.

State Senator Karen Johnson got a hold of a copy, but argued that it would fail as a required course, because legislators would complain about the budget demands. She wisely changed it to an elective, and then amazed us. It went through the Senate unanimously. The House passed it by a veto-proof margin of nearly three to one. Our Governor, Janet Napolitano, not generally recognized as very gun-friendly, had no choice but to sign it into law.

Legislators saw it as a safety bill, not a gun bill, which helped. The Arizona Game and Fish Dept., which licenses the state's hunters, is named to certify this program's instructors. They supported and even expanded the language, which also helped. They wanted to be able to provide clay target practice, and so changed my low-profile ".22 caliber bolt-action rifle" language to "firearm." Works for me.

The biggest concern was that this education bill could be turned into a gun avoidance program, if anti-rights bigots could interpret it their way. That's why I included the must-shoot-safely-to-pass requirement. That had an unexpected fringe benefit of getting the state's ranges onboard, because the law allows students to use "any established shooting range." (See the actual bill in the sidebar.)

Kids will learn gun safety, operation of firearms, shooting techniques and other basics of this time honored, extraordinarily important craft. Marksmanship teaches responsibility, improves concentration, affects national preparedness, and removes some of the ignorance so plentiful about guns.

By far, though, the best part of the program, is that it requires teaching the role of firearms in the preservation of peace and freedom. Students must learn about the constitutional roots of the right to keep an bear arms. It's in the law. There's no way around it.

The main obstacle will be gun haters in the system, and anti-rights teachers and administrators. They're already grumbling about ethics, time, money-any roadblock they can use to keep the kids in the dark. Kids on the other hand, no surprise here, are eager to sign up for the class.

The ethical thing of course is to teach safety, not hide it. Kids take electives like acting and pottery, so this is just an alternative with no extra time required. Legislators demonstrated their support by overwhelmingly passing the law. And there is no budget issue, because the ranges are excited about providing time and supplies for free (they see a significant marketing value). Game and Fish has adequate budget, and teaching is what they're all about.
Classrooms are standing and lit, and teachers are on salary.

So what are you waiting for? Find one sensitive and caring legislator in your state, and get this bill introduced. Even if you imagine there's little chance of passage, think how it will infuriate the intolerant anti-rights crowd who think they're all about education and openness. And who knows, your state just might think gun safety is a good idea too.

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Alan Korwin, well known in the gun-rights community, is the author of the unabridged federal guide, Gun Laws of America, going into its fifth edition. He runs the website gunlaws.com, and can be reached at alan@gunlaws.com. You can download the High School Marksmanship bill from his website.

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Arizona State Senate Bill 1271, Enacted 4/11/05

A.R.S. 15-714.01. Arizona gun safety program course

A. In addition to the voluntary training in the use of bows and firearms prescribed in sections 15-713 and 15-714, each school district and charter school may offer as an elective course a one-semester course in firearm marksmanship that shall be designated as the Arizona Gun Safety Program course.

B. A pupil shall be deemed to have satisfactorily completed the Arizona Gun Safety Program course by demonstrating that the pupil has the ability to safely discharge a firearm.

C. The course of instruction prescribed in this section shall be jointly developed by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, the Department of Public Safety and private firearms organizations and may include materials provided by private youth organizations. At a minimum, the Arizona Gun Safety Program course shall include:

1. Instruction on the rules of gun safety.

2. Instruction on the basic operation of firearms.

3. Instruction on the history of firearms and marksmanship.

4. Instruction on the role of firearms in preserving peace and freedom.

5. Instruction on the constitutional roots of the right to keep and bear arms.

6. Instruction on the use of clay targets.

7. Practice time at a shooting range.

8. Demonstration of competence with a firearm.

D. School districts and charter schools shall arrange for adequate use of shooting range time by pupils in the Arizona Gun Safety Program course at any established shooting range.

E. Pupils who satisfactorily complete the Arizona Gun Safety Program course shall receive a certificate of accomplishment.

F. Instructors shall be certified by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

G. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or expand the liability of any person under other provisions of law.
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Contact:
Alan Korwin
BLOOMFIELD PRESS
"We publish the gun laws."
4718 E. Cactus #440
Phoenix, AZ 85032
602-996-4020 Phone
602-494-0679 FAX
1-800-707-4020 Orders
http://www.gunlaws.com
alan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for a free catalog.

New Edition NMLRA Big Game Record Book

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, with headquarters located in Friendship, Indiana, is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the fourth edition of The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book.

The impressive hard-bound, large-format volume contains current and updated records of North American big game trophy animals taken with all types of muzzleloading firearms. Printed on high-quality paper stock with simulated leather binding, The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book Fourth Edition features the stories and photographs behind the top trophy animals taken using black powder firearms. All trophy animals that have qualified for record book entry since the last edition was released in 2001 are also included in this volume.

In addition to updated records, the NMLRA's new record book includes Boone & Crockett scoring standards and forms, Rules of Fair Chase, as well as species-specific information and geographic boundaries utilized for record-keeping purposes. Where appropriate by species and sub-species, sections are devoted to typical and non-typical scored trophy animals.

Big game categories featured in The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book Fourth Edition include grizzly, polar, and black bear, Alaska brown bear, cougar, American elk, Roosevelt's elk, mule deer, Columbia and Sitka Blacktail deer, Whitetail and Coues' deer, Canada, Alaska-Yukon, and Shiras moose, the four subspecies of caribou, pronghorn antelope, Rocky Mountain goat, muskox, four subspecies of bighorn sheep, and bison.

"There's no doubt that serious muzzleloading hunters who pursue big game animals in North America will want to add this volume to their trophy room library," said Jim Fulmer, NMRLA President. "It is a 'must have' for all shooting enthusiasts who appreciate the thrill of the hunt as much as they enjoy blackpowder firearms."
The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book Fourth Edition is available for immediate shipping. Price is $40.00 per volume, plus $7.50 shipping and handling. Checks made payable to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association may be sent to: Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book, NMLRA, P.O. Box 67, Friendship, IN 47021. Credit card orders will be accepted by phone (812.667.5131).

Since 1933, the NMLRA has worked to preserve, promote and support the rich muzzle-loading heritage through recreational, educational, historical, and cultural venues -- including match competition, hunting, gun-making and safety, historical re-enactments, exhibits, museums, libraries, and other programs.

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association - P.O. Box 67, Friendship, Indiana 47021 (812) 667-5131, www.nmlra.org. Contact: J.R. Absher (jrabsher@psci.net) 812.836.4444