From the time you pick up a firearm, you become part of a system over which you have complete control. You are the only part of the system that can make a gun safe — or unsafe.
Here are 10 basics of gun handling that you must know, courtesy of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF):
1. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
2. Firearms should be unloaded when not actually in use.
3. Don’t rely on your gun’s “Safety.”
4. Be sure of your target and what’s beyond it.
5. Use correct ammunition.
6. If your gun fails to fire when the trigger is pulled, handle with care!
7. Always wear eye and ear protection when shooting.
8. Be sure the barrel is clear of obstructions before shooting.
9. Don’t alter or modify your gun, and have guns serviced regularly.
10. Learn the mechanical and handling characteristics of the firearm you are using.
A new version of SSSF’s online SHOT registration and scoring system is now online, and if you haven’t yet activated your team in the system, you should do so soon.
Start by clicking on the Coaches Login link to reach the registration page. Then look for this:
That’s where you start the registration process. You will only have to do this once. Once you’ve registered, you can simply login with the credentials you set up.
Coaches who have previously had multiple logins for multiple teams will now have just one login, to simplify team management.
On the registration page, you’ll find a list of tutorials on using the SHOT system. If you run into problems, we’re ready to help. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the link to SHOT support.
The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation is implementing some changes in how the organization conducts background checks on participating volunteers. Individuals registering with the SSSF as a volunteer (i.e., head coach, assistant coach, or other adult volunteer) must now conduct a secure background check that includes local county checks for a seven-year address history.
In the past, SSSF has conducted checks only with the National Criminal Database (NCD). However, due to the variability of information across states, the NCD may or may not reveal all pertinent criminal history concerning eligibility of a volunteer. Thus, the new county-level background check will be used in addition to the national check.
With the changes in screening comes a price increase. Starting December 12, 2014 volunteers will be required to pay a portion of the cost directly to our background check provider, Intellicorp, when they submit to a check. Volunteer fees paid to SSSF will remain at $30. SSSF volunteer registration is not considered complete until background checks are completed.
The SSSF wants to ensure it upholds the highest standards in youth protection on behalf of its programs and young athletes. The SSSF also must ensure that all of its volunteers are screened with the same level of background check, regardless of their state of residence or past residence history.
This week, Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation made a donation of $246,500 to the MidwayUSA Foundation, Inc. The funds were deposited into the endowment accounts of 75 member teams of the Scholastic Clay Target Program and Scholastic Pistol Program representing 26 states.
The money was earned by the teams through participation in recent SCTP and SPP regional shoots. Of the total contribution, $216,500 was deposited into SCTP teams’ accounts and $30,000 went to SPP teams’ accounts.
This week’s donation brought SSSF’s total MidwayUSA Foundation contributions for 2014 to $1,751,645. SSSF has funded accounts for 273 teams in 40 states this year.
The purpose of the MidwayUSA Foundation endowment program is to provide sustained financial support for youth shooting teams. Teams with an endowment account are able to draw a grant each year to use for team expenses. SSSF regularly makes endowment funds available for SCTP and SPP events and contributes them to participating teams’ endowment accounts at the MidwayUSA Foundation. Since 2011, SSSF has donated funding to several hundred team endowment accounts across 48 states.
You’ve just finished an afternoon at the range, and you and your squad mates decide to stop off at your favorite hangout for a burger. Wearing your team shirts and caps, you leave your car in the parking lot, guns locked safely in their cases in the trunk. On the back window is a logo for your favorite gun brand, and empty ammo boxes are scattered in the backseat.
When you emerge an hour later to go home, you find that your car’s trunk has been popped opened, and your guns are gone! How could this happen?
Sportsman’s Insurance Agency, Inc. tells us that the vast majority of gun thefts are from vehicles. Shooters leave their vehicles in parking lots with guns and other equipment stored inside, and even with the firearms out of sight, it often isn’t hard for the bad guys to know which vehicles in the parking lot to hit.
Put yourself in the thief’s shoes: one or more persons are walking across the parking lot looking like they just left the shooting range, possibly wearing a shooting shirt, gun company cap, maybe even a vest or shooting glasses. When he takes a look at the vehicle you just left, he sees the bumper sticker, ammo boxes or shooting vest in the seat, and he knows there’s a good chance he’ll find a gun in the trunk.
Consider these pointers after a trip to the range or while traveling to a shoot:
When you get out of the car, do you look like you just left the range? What are you wearing? Does anything about your clothing or accessories say you have been shooting? If so, take it off or cover it up. If necessary, take along another shirt to change into before leaving your vehicle in a parking lot.
Does your vehicle look like a shooter’s vehicle? Are there bumper stickers or decals from gun companies or other equipment brands? If so, remove them.
Is anything visible through your vehicle windows that suggests you’ve been shooting? If so, put it in the trunk, and don’t give a thief any reason to break in.
Whenever possible, don’t leave firearms unattended in your vehicle, even in the trunk. If gun storage is offered at an event you are attending, use it. If you’re near home, take the gun home to your gun safe before going elsewhere.
Be especially mindful when you travel to a major shoot, like the National Championships in Sparta, when any bad guys in the area might be aware that lots of shooters will be around town, patronizing restaurants and other businesses. Unfortunately, every area has a bad element that is tempted by shooters who don’t have a gun safe accessible and may leave firearms in their vehicle.
Make sure your guns and expensive equipment are insured. If all else fails and you are the victim of a theft, at least you will be able to replace the lost items if you are properly insured.
Volunteer coaches are the backbone of the programs of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, as we couldn’t have teams or events without them. They largely determine what kind of experience our student athletes will have in the shooting sports, and their work with teams often goes far beyond shooting instruction and conducting shoots. One way that SSSF promotes a positive coaching environment for our teams is by providing PCA Double-Goal Coach training for all our coaches.
We know there are many coaches out there who deserve to be recognized for their extraordinary work in developing better athletes and better people. We would like to share a way for athletes and parents to reward these exceptional coaches — the PCA National Double-Goal Coach Award.
Each year PCA selects and publicizes 75 finalists. The 25 winners of this prestigious national award receive $250, a trophy, recognition in PCA’s website, newsletters, and media campaigns, and the chance to accept the honor in California during PCA’s National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Auction Presented by Deloitte. The award also recognizes the organizations and schools of the award-winning coaches.
You can show your appreciation for a coach who deserves a big “thank you!” Nominate your coach for PCA’s National Double-Goal Coach Award. Click here to learn more and nominate a coach.
The SHOT registration and scoring system will be shut down from Thursday, November 6 at 9:00 a.m. CST until Monday, November 10 at 9:00 a.m. CST.
The current SHOT V.4 system will be shut down as we begin the conversion to the SHOT V.5 upgrade. Taking the system offline temporarily will ensure that we do not lose any information or records that you may have input during the conversion process.
When you attempt to log into the system for the first time on or after Monday, November 10, existing teams will be asked to “Activate” your team. Through this activation process, we will ask you for your existing SHOT V.4 username, so please take note of your username. You will have the chance to reset your password and establish some other settings to re-initiate your team.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but these steps are necessary to ensure as seamless a transition as possible to the new SHOT V.5. Video tutorials and other resources will be available after activation on the login page.
When the system is reactivated, we ask for your patience as we make this transition to the new version. Please remember that the system is young, and you will possibly encounter errors. Please report any errors you encounter as soon as possible so we can make sure they are fixed.
Amazon isn’t just a seller of books and music any more; it’s the world’s largest online retailer and a source to purchase an endless array of items. Now, when you’re making a purchase from Amazon, you can support the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation as well. Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase price on eligible purchases to SSSF when you designate us as your charitable organization of choice and access the site through a special URL, smile.amazon.com.
The donation costs you nothing; Amazon makes the contribution through its AmazonSmile program.
If you are an Amazon Prime member, don’t worry; logging in through smile.amazon.com will not affect your benefits or your access to Prime links. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you are accustomed to.
The first time you use AmazonSmile, you’ll have the opportunity to choose the charity you wish to support. If SSSF doesn’t appear in the list of choices offered, just type in “SSSF” and the name comes up for you to click on.
To help you remember to use the AmazonSmile link, Amazon offers an optional toolbar button, as well as a Chrome extension called Smile Always that automatically routes you to the right place. Or, just enter it when you wish.
Even if you are making a small purchase, remember that many small purchases from our supporters add up! Every amount supports the SSSF mission and is appreciated.
Among the uninitiated, there is a common misconception that where there are guns, there must be accidental discharges and deaths as a result. But the facts could not be further from the truth! Findings of the National Safety Council show that unintentional firearms fatalities remain at historically low levels. In fact, the number of unintentional firearms-related fatalities has declined by 57 percent over the past two decades. The statistics prove that firearm safety training is effective.
Some of the interesting findings in the 2014 Edition of Firearms-Related Injury Statistics, compiled by the NSSF, include:
Firearms are involved in fewer than 1⁄2-percent of all unintentional fatalities in the United States. In a side-by-side comparison, firearms rank among the lowest causes of injury.
Firearms are involved in less than 1.8 percent of unintentional fatalities among children 14 years of age and under and are among the least likely causes of unintentional fatality.
As firearms safety education programs have increased, the number of unintentional firearms-related fatalities has decreased.
Over the past 10 years, the unintentional firearm fatality rate per 100,000 population has declined by 33 percent; since the beginning of record-keeping in 1903, this rate has declined by 94 percent!
Among fatal accidents at home, firearms rate well below poisoning, falls, natural heat and cold, mechanical suffocation, and many other categories.
NSSF has compiled statistics from agencies independent of the gun industry, such as the National Safety Council, to demonstrate the relative safety of firearms ownership and the effectiveness of firearms safety training as a deterrent to accidental discharges. We suggest that you download and print the report to keep handy for those times when you need facts to support your assertions about firearms safety training.
If your team has an endowment account with a balance of any amount with the MidwayUSA Foundation and you haven’t yet received a grant this year, you have until December 15 to apply for a grant for up to 5% of your account balance.
Grant funds can be used for team expenses such as ammunition, travel, uniforms, range fees, and more. The funds cannot be used for firearms purchases or political lobbying.
SSSF regularly makes endowment funds available for SCTP and SPP events and contributes them to participating teams’ endowment accounts at the MidwayUSA Foundation. Since 2011, SSSF has donated funding to several hundred team endowment accounts across 48 states. This year to date, we have already contributed over $1.5 million to MidwayUSA Foundation accounts.
The goal of the MidwayUSA Foundation is to provide permanent financial support for shooting programs. Grants are the vehicle that makes this goal possible.
Even if you have a small account balance earned at a shooting event or through your own deposits, you can draw a grant. If the funds are not needed, you can put it back into your team endowment account to have matching funds applied.
Teams may apply to receive up to 5% of their account balance once per calendar year. MidwayUSA Foundation accepts grant applications in June and December, and applications are reviewed and decided upon by its Board of Directors at January and July board meetings. If you did not apply for a grant in June, you are eligible to apply by December 15.
From the time you pick up a firearm, you become part of a system over which you have complete control. You are the only part of the system that can make a gun safe — or unsafe.
