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Interesting development re: Harrisburg show

1887 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Pine-Creek
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.
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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.
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.
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