A Few Well-Chosen Words From NSSF Boss Steve Sanetti
When Steve Sanetti was named to head the National Shooting Sports Foundation, he made an immediate and lasting impression by reaching out to shooters and non-shooters alike with two very bold and tasteful appeals.
The NSSF could have gloated when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld gun ownership for residents of Washington, D.C., but instead it sponsored a full-page newspaper advertisement urging gun owners to act safely and responsibly.
That ad was followed up by an op-ed piece called “Hunter Green”, which appeared under Sanetti’s byline in the Washington Post. In it he pointed out that, contrary to what many non-hunters believe, hunters provide the lion’s share of the funding for conservation in the United States.
A lifelong firearms enthusiast who has written many articles and made countless public appearances defending gun ownership, Sanetti took over NSSF in May of 2008. Before that he served three terms on the NSSF board of directors.
Anyone who read Sanetti’s comments after being named president and CEO of the NSSF likely wasn’t surprised by his thoughtful first moves. “The only way we will survive and prosper is to be flexible in our thinking and creative in our problem solving,” he said. “New situations demand novel approaches (to) help preserve, promote and increase the public’s understanding and support for the shooting sports we love.”
What did you learn about the future of hunting and shooting from the research conducted with Responsive Management?
The lessons learned were both sobering and heartening. We now know that over 73 percent of the population either approves or strongly approves of hunting as a legitimate recreational pursuit, even if they themselves do not hunt. The bad news is that outdoor recreation generally has seen a rather dismaying drop over the past decade, largely attributable to the rise of electronic entertainment media for those younger and heartier souls who generally have constituted the entry population for hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation. The decline is less steep for hunting, but still, it is there.
More good news? Most people would go hunting or shooting if asked to do so, particularly by a friend or trusted adult mentor or family member. And as in days past, the most effective recruitment to our sports occurs when that invitation to participate is extended before the age of 12.
So consider—we are about to see a seismic shift in the population of retirees, the “baby boomers,” the healthiest, best educated, most numerous and (believe it or not) the wealthiest generation of retirees in our history.
And we further learned that there are almost 40 million so-called “lapsed” hunters and shooters out there, who have already gone through all the very considerable barriers to entering our sports, such as hunter safety courses, firearms acquisitions, hunting licenses, and the like. So what better match-up than to get grandpa out there for some glorious days outside with his children and grandchildren, teaching the ways of the outdoors and passing down those traditions of fun and sportsmanship which we all cherish from our own experiences?
NSSF’s response to the Supreme Court decision on gun ownership in Washington, DC was very gracious, thoughtful, and eloquent. Where did the idea for the ad originate?
I am a firm believer in that old maxim that it is amazing what an organization can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit. Our ad had many fathers and mothers. Its antecedent was our existing First Shots program, which is designed to get first time shooters out to the range to experience safe, live firing under closely supervised conditions.
We felt that once the US Supreme Court affirmed that it was the right of every law-abiding citizen in the nation to own a firearm, it was incumbent upon us to focus on those of our fellow citizens who had essentially been denied that right by restrictive city governments who favored draconian gun control.
Washington, DC was the logical place to start, as its virtual gun ban virtually assured pent-up demand by citizens now wishing to exercise their Constitutional right to own a firearm to protect their families. As one of the leading organizations promoting safe and responsible firearms ownership, storage, and use, we felt we had to make our safety training available, and the sessions were extremely successful.
We have since extended the First Shots program to Chicago and Los Angeles, with similarly enthusiastic results. We will continue expanding the program so long as the need and the demand for it continues.
Your Washington post op-ed piece “Hunter Green” detailed the many conservation contributions of hunters. Why did you write the piece and who was your intended audience? Is the NSSF trying to reach out more to the general public, not just to hunters and sport shooters?
“I” didn’t write it. Once again, “we” wrote it here, with contributions from many authors who care passionately about both hunting and conservation, in the great tradition of Theodore Roosevelt. We felt very strongly that hunters were being misunderstood as selfish slaughterers of game, with no thought for conservation, which as you know is about as far from the truth as you can get.
And as for reaching non-hunters, how many of them do you think even have a hint that over 80 percent of the monies used for wildlife conservation efforts in this country come from Pittman-Robertson excise taxes on forearms and ammunition paid for by hunters and target shooters?
No, we found out that most non-hunters think these monies come from preservation groups, which is way off the mark. We put our money where our mouth is—hunters ARE conservationists, and this was a key component of this message. While non-hunters needed to know this, we also wanted to remind hunters to stand tall and be proud of their critical role in conservation of both game and non-game species alike.
Are there any other outreach campaigns in the works?
We convened a Shooting Sports Summit last year to study how we might significantly and measurably increase participation in hunting and the shooting sports by 20 percent during the next 5 years. This very ambitious agenda will be the focus of task force 20/20, which is combining the talents of the best minds of about 30 interested groups, who have been meeting to design ways to measurably achieve this goal, and this has to represent our moist significant outreach campaign this year.
What is the future of gun ownership in the United States?
Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed what we already know, that firearms ownership is an individual right, we think there will always be a place for lawful and responsible firearms ownership in this nation, despite increasing pressures as we continue to urbanize.
Just look at recent sales figures and you will see that the demand is unprecedented, despite a weak economy. There are all sorts of legitimate reasons to own firearms, and with the right to own and enjoy firearms comes the constant responsibility to handle them safely and use them wisely. We at the NSSF will continue with our mission “to promote, protect, and preserve hunting and the shooting sports” as effectively and responsibly as we can, since we have all enjoyed those days afield which we so eagerly wish to pass on to future generations
So long as that spark is there, I’d say the future of lawful firearms ownership in the United States is bright!