AUGUST IS NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS MONTH

While many of us practice our Second Amendment right through regular shooting, hunting, reloading and other gun-related fun each month, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) established August as National Shooting Sports Month in 2016.

Originally created as a promotion for retailers and ranges to attract new customers during the traditional summer slump, it’s become a celebration among gun owners with an emphasis on introducing new shooters to the industry, teaching firearms safety and sharing a collective love of shooting sports.

Partnering with ranges to schedule events throughout National Shooting Sports Month, the NSSF encourages shooters to participate in the +One Challenge and take someone new shooting, further growing the shooting sports community.

“Shooting and hunting are part of the American fabric that binds tens of millions of us together,” said American Handgunner and GUNS Magazine Contributing Editor Dave Workman. Having grown up in a hunting family, Workman has passed the tradition onto his own family and enjoys getting others hooked on shooting.

“I can’t quite explain to people just how much fun it is to shoot bottle caps or tin cans, so I’ve got to show them,” said Workman. “There’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a new shooter hold up a target with a bunch of holes in the center!”

Like shooting tin cans, watching new shooters plink never gets old.

With the influx of new gun owners this year, the NSSF also preaches the importance of gun safety and firearms training during National Shooting Sports Month. For Shooting Industry Editor Jade Moldae, who learned how to shoot from his father, safety has — and will — always come first.

“Firearms safety was always of utmost importance,” said Moldae. “Whether it was just my dad and I or a group of 50 eager high school students from a church youth group, we’d have a safety briefing before guns were loaded.

“My 2-year-old son is still a couple years away from his first firearms experience, but I can’t wait to have that first safety briefing with him and his Gramps,” added Moldae.

Sharing a passion for shooting with someone young, like Moldae’s son, can spawn a lifelong love for firearms and is another goal of National Shooting Sports Month. FMG Publications Publisher and certified guncrank Roy Huntington can still remember his dad’s reaction to his first shot some 55 years later.

“I was 5 years old when my dad got me a cheap BB gun,” Huntington recalled. “We went out back and I hit the bottom of a tin can on my first shot. My dad beamed, shook my hand and said, ‘Great shot, my son!’”

But learning how to shoot is not limited by age. For Shari LeGate, FMG Publications video producer and champion skeet shooter, that passion didn’t start until later in life.

“I was 31 years old when I picked up my first shotgun, and it was a defining moment in my life. My shooting journey has spanned decades and it’s been an amazing time,” said LeGate. “It’s never too late to learn how to shoot.”

The passion for shooting sports can strike at any time and lead to more than just a new hobby.

Whether you’re a seasoned shooter, first-time gun owner or have never stepped foot on a range, National Shooting Sports Month is for you! Find local events in your area and take someone shooting, learn something new or simply share your love for everything firearms with others.

“Guns can transcend a single lifetime while tying us to the past, the present and the future,” said GUNS Magazine Editor Brent T. Wheat. “Not too shabby for a simple steel tube.”