10 Ways to Celebrate NSSF National Shooting Sports Month

It’s August, and the National Shooting Sports Month is in full swing.

1. Introduce someone to the time-honored sport of shooting. This is a chance to bring a child or grandchild into the world of recreational shooting.It isn’t limited to young people either. Wives, and husbands, are fair game, as are friends and co-workers, or maybe your own parent or younger or older relative. Groups like the Y or service organizations may also welcome volunteers who want to pass along safe shooting practices, and kindle a spark of enthusiasm for the sport. (The video, Range Safety and Etiquette, can help you with what you need to know.) 
2. Your firearm of choice a shotgun? Try a handgun to open new ways of seeing the shooting sports. A handgun? Give a rifle a chance. For every firearm, and every discipline, there is qualified instruction available. As an example, sign up for an International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) match and learn the right techniques for gun handling. For where to look for the best information on something new, rel="noopener noreferrer" start with the videos on LetsGoShooting.org.
3. Your firearms growing cobwebs? Take that shotgun out of hiding in the gun safe and get a friend to head to the range with you. If all you ever shot before was trap, step onto the skeet field. Or make the big jump to the excitement of sporting clays. The same for your rifle or handgun: If you’re used to punching paper, switch it up with metallic silhouettes. Or see how you do on that 400-yard gong.
4. A shooting range is nearer to you than you think. Your old range is probably still a going concern, but even if you’ve never been to one, LetsGoShooting.org can help you find one closeby. Your range, or even your local firearms retailer, will have events taking place especially for this month. Check in with either, and get out with your guns.
5. There was an old slogan for motorcycles that said you met the nicest people on a Honda, and at the shooting range it is much the same. Turn a day, or an evening, at the shooting range into a date. For one thing, it’s probably cheaper than popcorn and a movie. But more importantly it let’s someone you care about, or whom you would like to get to know better, learn what interests you, and see a big portion of who you are. And if they outshoot you the first time out, don’t hold it against them.
6. Happiness may be a warm puppy, but a new handgun, rifle, or shotgun–or even a shooting vest, gun rest, or other piece of vital equipment–comes close.In recognition of this shooting-sports month, retailers are offering some very attractive deals for shooters, as are ranges. Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy a new over-and-under or a case of Winchester shells. (Once again, look on LetsGoShooting.org for offers.)
7. There’s a famous old British poem for young and novice shooters that starts out, “Never, never let your gun. Pointed be at anyone.” True then, and just as true now. The range-video listed above can help you reinforce your ingrained safety practices, and there is nothing more important whether you are introducing someone to shooting, or even shooting with the range all to yourself. And safety is not only for when we are shooting, but when we are transporting or storing our firearms, too. And it’s not just for this August, but is a practice for all seasons.
8. Too much of the rest of world does not understand what firearms mean to the fabric of America and Americans’s status as a free people. Even for fellow citizens, the 2nd Amendment is a source of embarrassment and apprehension for too many. The answer to these people is not heat but the light that we, as safe, dedicated gun owners and shooters, can shine on the issue. Know the facts, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation's Proud to be a Firearms Owner pocket card can help you to understand them so you can explain them.
9. This month is an ideal time to share the word with people other than those of us who are already in the choir. As much as we enjoy conversations with like-minded individuals, we need to accept the challenge of talking to non-shooters and even anti-gun persons. We can begin by sharing the hashtag, #LetsGoShooting, on social media. Every new member added to the shooting fraternity can be part of a much-needed multiplier effect.
10. What would a national month be without a sweepstakes? And the National Shooting Sports Month has one of the best. Check out the Trigger rel="noopener noreferrer" Time Sweepstakes at LetsGoShooting.org for a chance at firearms, ammunition, and optics. Then take your new gear out to the range near you.

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