[tdd]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/04/great_american_outdoor_show_wi.html

This might have potential...if the NRA handles it correctly, and that could be a big "if". Done right, this can be a homerun. Done wrong, it'll be a trainwreck.

 

[schr8er2000]

I am not a member of NRA... use to be YEARS ago but felt that some of their policies and I did not mesh... therefore I left it. I am only wondering that if (down the road ) they will REQUIRE membership into getting into it... I DO understand some peoples views on the NRA and I respect them all... either for or against... and I hope that they WILL not make any stipulation that reduced entry for NRA members is placed on the show. I also believe that this is probably one of the best ideas that they ( the NRA ) has done in years... and KNOW that they will not infringe on the rights for legal, law abiding citizens and make the show what it can and should be... a great time for people to enjoy the outdoors....

 

[Ghost]

I cant see them doing that, it would be real bad for the Outdoors shows business, but I could see them either offering a huge discount to join, or giving away some free memberships.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Here is a chance for the NRA to shine. Whether it actually does will be seen next year. There have been some less than brilliant statements made during the current gun debacle and not all by the Antis.

This is the chance for the NRA to be more than a lobby group. It can show/prove to the general public that it is oriented to family recreation and evangelize a bit.

The average non-member thinks of it only as a gun lobby. It can do so very much to improve it's image to the non-member general public as well as the media. Here is the golden opportunity to reverse much of the bad influences of the past year not with talk, but with actions.

Hopefully, they have more than a few folks working on educational programs for kids to draw new blood into the outdoor sports of hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, etc.

 

[tdd]

Here is a chance for the NRA to shine. Whether it actually does will be seen next year. There have been some less than brilliant statements made during the current gun debacle and not all by the Antis.

This is the chance for the NRA to be more than a lobby group. It can show/prove to the general public that it is oriented to family recreation and evangelize a bit.

The average non-member thinks of it only as a gun lobby. It can do so very much to improve it's image to the non-member general public as well as the media. Here is the golden opportunity to reverse much of the bad influences of the past year not with talk, but with actions.

Hopefully, they have more than a few folks working on educational programs for kids to draw new blood into the outdoor sports of hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, etc.

HUGE +1 on this! Couldn't agree more!

 

[DennyF]

I've helped out at the NRA membership booth for many years at the ESOS and they've long given a "show" discount for new and renewing <span style="font-style: italic">annual</span> NRA memberships: $10 off and a hat or T shirt.

I have no qualms about them taking over the promotion of this show, as they do a pretty good job of staging their own annual conventions, from what I've been told.

Long before the NRA became known in the news media as "the gun lobby", they were promoting shooting competitions, hunting and firearms safety. Those were their initial purposes for being, back in 1871, when the NRA was formed.

Apparently many do not know much about that?

 

[Woods walker]

There are lots of folks here Denny who don't remember the NRA before the ILA. I don't see a down side of an organization who is dedicated to 2nd amendment rights and hunting running the show as opposed to a propoter from a country that decided to allow them selves to be disarmed.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Long before the NRA became known in the news media as "the gun lobby", they were promoting shooting competitions, hunting and firearms safety. Those were their initial purposes for being back in 1871, when the NRA was formed.

Denny, you and I know that, but the average John Q Public doesn't. The NRA has a way of taking the fun out of some types of matches. They pretty much ruined BPCR silhouette matches with rules designed to favor some manufacturers and discriminate against others.

I've been to the SHOT show and found it less than exciting.

Hopefully the NRA will get folks from fishing, archery, camping etc, to have hands on education, demonstrations, etc. I wrote a letter to Cabelas a few years ago suggesting a junior naturalist program in which kids can complete learning and test levels in various outdoor subjects and skills for which they would receive certificates, awards, discounts etc. Sort of a way to cover ecology and biology to wood lore, camping, fishing, hunting, archery and shooting. Never heard anything.

While the NRA's emphasis is firearms, it has enough contacts with other fields to start a wide educational kids program to draw them in.

 

[Asajoe1]

Thye NRA sponsored "Hunter Safety" courses way before the PGC did. I still have my card but Colorado wouldn't recognize it and had to take the "state approved" version.

 

[tdd]

I've helped out at the NRA membership booth for many years at the ESOS and they've long given a "show" discount for new and renewing annual NRA memberships: $10 off and a hat or T shirt.

I have no qualms about them taking over the promotion of this show, as they do a pretty good job of staging their own annual conventions, from what I've been told.

Long before the NRA became known in the news media as "the gun lobby", they were promoting shooting competitions, hunting and firearms safety. Those were their initial purposes for being, back in 1871, when the NRA was formed.

Apparently many do not know much about that?

My main concern is that the media will hyper-focus on this, given the political discussions in the news, and any perceived missteps by the NRA will bring a firestorm of controversy.

If they make it a premier outdoor show, refocus on families and the original intent of the show, and make it a class act, this has a huge "Win" written all over it. While I don't like tiptoeing around the media's crud, in this case, I am hoping the NRA makes a spectacular show of broad interest beyond firearms interests and shows the nation and the world that they are not "just the gun lobby".

 

[grousechaser]

As an aside to tdd's comment on the media, when this was reported on KDKA (CBS) in Pittsburgh yesterday, they botched the story and teased that the NRA was taking over the PA Farm Show next year (which is an interesting concept).

When they actually aired the piece, the text of the story was correct (only a few sentences, which were probably directly from the press release), but they ran video from the Farm Show. There were horse pulls and some kid grooming his 4H steer.

Sad on many fronts, but especially pathetic that a) no one at a major TV station in the state's second-largest city could distinguish between the ESOS and the state Farm Show, and b) no one there ever realized that the Farm Show wasn't actually cancelled this year.

Wonder if the NRA will add a shooting skills requirement to the livestock judging?

 

[Pine-Creek]

grousechaser,
This is the exact reason why anyone watching the evening news is considered a low information voter these days, have not seen CBS (KDKA) do much of a story on the Pittsburgh City Police Chief, that has a Federal warrant out for his arrest, could it be because the former Chief is a certain color, and they do not want to make an issue of him being another political criminal. Biggest story in western Pa and the media will not do aany investigative reporting.
Pine Creek/Dave