2AO Nation Issue 2, August 2014 | Page 10

Making A Difference

Hardly a week goes by when a gun dealer or manufacturer isn’t approached by one organization or another looking for a donation. Guns, ammo, sporting goods…cash!! Youth shooting sports programs are certainly included among these groups.

We all know that introducing young people to the pleasures and responsibilities of shooting is vital to the future of our treasured shooting sports heritage. A wide array of youth programs such as Boy Scouts of America and 4-H support beginner entry into the shooting sports and expose millions of kids to shooting each year.

People and Organizations

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Because of these challenging economic times, many youth programs are struggling to maintain an active shooting sports experience for the kids while keeping the costs within the limits that their resources allow. Sure, we would like to help these programs as much as we can, but the collective scope of needs of youth shooting sports programs is well beyond the industry’s total charitable giving ability to support all of them. How can the industry be assured that their generous donations will translate into an increase in new young shooters and hunters and ultimately an increase in their shooting sports customer base?