By Gabriella Hoffman
I recently had the opportunity to visit the National Shooting Sports Foundation‘s Washington, DC offices to talk with Mark Oliva, the NSSF’s Director of Public Affairs.
The NSSF, the firearms trade association, is often confused for the NRA, Gun Owners of America, or similar advocacy groups. While the organization strongly believes in the Second Amendment, it’s not a gun rights advocacy group per se.
The NSSF puts on the annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas and boasts over 10,000 industry members made up of firearm manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shooting ranges, and members of the outdoor media. The organization works to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.
You can listen to my interview with Mark, which is episode 51 of my podcast, District of Conservation in which we discuss . . .
— His military career and how he landed in public affairs
— His role at NSSF
— How NSSF differs from NRA, GOA, and Second Amendment Foundation
— What NSSF’s platform is and its various programs like Project ChildSafe, Operation Secure Store, +ONE Movement | Target Shooting, FixNICS
— What’s on the docket in Congress and elsewhere
— Pittman-Robertson Act Funds / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “Partner with a Payer” program
Download the episode here: http://bit.ly/MarkOliva or click below to listen now.
Gabriella Hoffman is a media strategist, consultant, and award-winning outdoor writer based in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
Was he part of endorsing Fix NICS and the bump stock ban?
“While the [NSSF] strongly believes in the Second Amendment, it’s not a gun rights advocacy group per se.”
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I think we’re all becoming gun rights advocacy entities now as we enter the 2020 election cycle. It’s kinda hard to have the word “shooting” in your org’s title and say you’re not actually an advocate for gun rights.
They pretty much proved that when they endorsed the nomination of Canterbury for BATFE director despite him pushing for an AWB and Sotomayor on her 2A credentials.
If the NSSF would come out with a statement of No Confidence in Wayne LaPierre, that would be something truly useful.
Instead of parroting Negotiating Rights Away,the NSSF maybe a separate entity however it’s time to fish or cut bait.
The nssf is anti gun. They bragged about expanding prohibited persons. They support gun control. They wanted trump to sign fix nics
https://www.nssfrealsolutions.org/initiative/fixnics/
Thus endeth the lesson.
I almost purchased a Sig 10mm Hunter that had the NSSF “Elk Foundation” benefiting from its sale. Upon researching and finding out how “fuddy” the NSSF is, I passed on the handgun.
The NSSFs primary focus is firearms for hunting, not personal protection.
Seeing how Sig Sauer got caught lying on “end user” docs shortly after I passed on the 10mm H, I felt even better. I’ve purchased a few firearm in Europe, and have done the export/import/end user cert dance. I will not support ANY company that brings added scrutiny and the possibility of MORE limitations and costs to an already tedious process. Even sold the ONLY modern Sig in my safe, a P227. Just own two classic P6s now.