NEWTOWN, Conn. — With its new “Proud to Be a Firearms Owner” pocket card, the National Shooting Sports Foundation® is arming the nation’s 100 million gun owners with facts they can use to demonstrate they are law-abiding, safe, passionate in their defense of the Second Amendment and major supporters of conservation through their purchases of firearms and ammunition.
“Firearms owners have been misrepresented and even maligned in the ongoing public debate over gun legislation,” said NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti. “Our goal is to remind gun owners they have many reasons to be proud. You should stand tall, and if someone takes an unfriendly shot at you for being a firearm owner, respond with the facts listed in our new pocket card.”
Among the 13 bullet points on the Proud to Be a Firearms Owner card are these:
I am one of 100 Million firearms owners in the U.S.
I am one of 35 Million target shooters and hunters.
I am part of a great American tradition.
I am a conservationist. Excise taxes on firearms and ammunition purchases combined with purchases of hunting licenses contribute more than $1 billion annually to wildlife conservation and firearm safety education.
We hope that you can state another reason listed on the card as a source of pride:
I store my firearms securely when not in use to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
Another bullet point may provide an ideal way to end a challenging exchange:
I respect those who have their reasons for not owning firearms, but insist that they respect my reasons for owning them.
Recognizing there are many more reasons to be proud to be a gun owner than those included in the card, NSSF invites firearms owners to share their own “proud to be a firearms owner” reasons by commenting on its Facebook page and using the #gunpride hashtag on Twitter, Facebook and other sites.
The NSSF “Proud to Be a Firearms Owner” pocket card is available online at http://nssf.org/PDF/FirearmsOwnerPocketCard.pdf. NSSF members can order printed copies of the card from the Safety & Education section of the NSSF member shopping cart.
