NSSF provides $231,796 in grants to shooting ranges, including one in central Ohio

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has awarded grants totaling $231,796 to nine shooting facilities through its Range Partnership Grant Program. New marketing strategies designed to motivate individuals, particularly youth and inactive shooters, to go target shooting and hunting dominated this year's winning proposals.

"With target shooting participation at a record high, this is the perfect time to encourage millions of active shooters to share their passion for our sports with a youngster or adult newcomer," said Steve Sanetti, president of NSSF, trade association for the firearms industry. "Shooting ranges serve as learning and training centers for our sports, and these grants help ranges remind people in their communities that they can get a supervised, safe introduction to shooting close to home."

Said Melissa Schilling, NSSF's manager of recruitment and retention, "We've seen how successful these grants can be in fueling growth at shooting ranges around the country. More people are interested in shooting than ever before, and the proposals NSSF has funded remind them to give shooting a try."

The following shooting facilities received grants:

• The Wyoming Antelope Club, St. Petersburg, Fla., $25,717.50, to fund the "Classic Rimfire Shooting Gallery" for recruiting new, young shooting participants by channeling their attraction for video games into a shooting arcade experience, conducted in a controlled environment that teaches firearms safety and the principles of marksmanship.
• Corry Rod & Gun Club, Corry, Pa., $3,500, for recruiting youth and their parents to shotgun sports, teaching safety and proper gun use. The goal is to make youth and their parents realize that recreational shooting and hunting are safe, fun, family-oriented, lifetime activities.
• Tripoli Triggers Firearms, Williamsport, Pa., $78,750, to introduce new shooters, lapsed shooters and in-home teams such as husbands and wives to training programs for handguns and personal protection, including the laws related to handgun ownership, shooting techniques and responsible firearms ownership. This program works with the region's top businesses and the general public, providing a valuable community partnership.
• Cardinal Shooting Center, Columbus, Ohio, $31,185, for a marketing initiative to attract new shooters with an emphasis on youth and their families. This proposal includes promotion of a new sporting clays and 5-Stand ranges and publicizing the underutilized international bunker trap. Newcomers will be provided quality instruction and a positive experience -- the keys to building lifelong participants. (emphasis added)
• West Coast Armory Indoor Range, Bellevue, Wash., $33,936, for a regional marketing effort to promote shooting in a fun and contemporary manor to new firearms owners, youth and women. The strategy will utilize advertising training seminars and other programs in nontraditional media.
• A&S Indoor Pistol Range, Youngswood, Pa., $29,198.44, for a New Shooter Education Campaign. This multi-faceted marketing campaign will attract new shooters to the facility, with the expectation of increasing female participation by 40 percent and the retention rate of new shooters from 30 to 50 percent.
• Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Lansing, Mich., $16,510.00, to utilize Facebook and Google ads to raise awareness of shooting ranges in the state. The ads will link to DNRE, which is committed to helping grow the shooting sports and improve hunter skills and safety through practice at shooting ranges.
• St. Maries Gun Club, St. Maries, Idaho, $3,000, for a program to introduce youth to the proper safety of firearms and trapshooting while providing an opportunity for first-time adult shooters (parents or mentors) to shoot a round of trap free. This effort is being created to reactivate membership to a dormant club.
• Rushton Gun Club, Inc., West Monroe, La., $10,000, for the "Fathers Afield" program intended to introduce young men and women under the age of 15 to shooting, and then hunting, by working with mentors. The goal also is to recruit inactive hunters and shooters to serve as mentors, encouraging them to do so via a media marketing campaign.

This is the third year that NSSF has distributed funding to qualifying target ranges through its Range Partnership Grant Program. A total of 30 proposals were submitted for consideration.

Learn more about NSSF's yearly Range Partnership Grant Program at www.nssf.org.