Sharing Shooting at the Club Level
On Saturday I attended my local club’s Friends of NRA Banquet. Friends of NRA events are not only a fun way to connect with fellow shooting enthusiasts, but the banquets also raise significant funds for local programs. For our event, Pioneer Gun Club President Ty Markle asked me to talk about the importance of our youth shooting programs and the shooting sports.
“As a professional shooter, I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the country and even the world. In fact, I’ve been able to travel to 6 continents competing, literally, with a gun on my hip. How did I get here? Well, it all started at a club a lot like this one.”
I shared my story of how I got started in practical shooting as a young girl in upstate New York. I talked about the challenges we faced as a family. It was a tough time for gun owners with the ineffective assault weapons ban in place and an anti-gun president. At the hometown level, my high school leadership did not support my aspirations in the shooting sports.
When I grew up no one had cell phones and Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet! (Ba-dum-bump.) Now the world wide web and social media make it easy to share our passions. That
Most of the members of the audience were what I call “super users.” They are a passionate group that’s all-in. This is GREAT but sometimes we as super users lose valuable perspective. We love our shooting sport so much we just don’t understand how someone could want just a small taste. In order to grow our sports, clubs must be willing to ask tough questions.
- Do our monthly matches, events, and programs sell out? If not, why?
- Do we provide effective, simple and fun entry-level opportunities?
- Are we truly connecting with the gun owners in our immediate area?
Simply put, we must continue to offer programs that welcome, encourage and educate people of all ages. With that, we also must understand that we need to continually evolve because the shooting sports compete with EVERYTHING. Things like our children’s sports, grocery shopping, meal planning, special events, family time, time with friends, studies, weekend chores, Netflix and more all demand our attention. We live in a world where you can ask Siri or simply Google info on anything and everything. With all those distractions I listed, those who show interest in the shooting sports aren’t likely to take our common recommendation:
“Just head to the range. Someone will help you!”
We want newcomers to take the time and money to drive to the range to spend hours of their limited time with strangers, watching something they are not even sure about? Unfortunately, it’s a recommendation few will take.
What if instead, we point them to a 5-minute welcome video about our club? What if we provided virtual tours with tips on what they can expect if they come to one of our matches? What if we showcased members of the club of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities? After watching these resources, that prospect might click on links to our web pages that explain step-by-step how to get started in our programs. After that, they might be inspired to jump in the car to head to the
One thing I know from all my travels, we as gun owners and shooters are great “in the room.” What do I mean by that? Well, when we have the opportunity to talk with others face-to-face and show the kind of people we are, it breaks down barriers and all those negative thoughts about gun owners. Whether it’s youth programs or gun rights, we need to get people in the room. It’s essential for our shooting sports and our way of life.
