SSAA NSW

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 3 From Diana's Desk The recent SSAA SHOT Expo and HuntFest are perfect examples of events that provide an opportunity for the shooting and hunting fraternity to showcase our sport. It was very interesting to see the feedback from members who participated in last year's SSAA NSW Membership Survey and this year's Focus Groups. There was an overwhelming call for more positive interaction with the general community, media and politicians to improve the profi le and acceptance of our sport. Especially the desire to have our sport 'normalised' and have us as law abiding fi rearms owners (LAFOs) clearly differentiated from the criminals using illegal guns. SSAA NSW along with its Branches, has been very active over the past couple of years working to educate the community at large as well as inform the decision makers that affect the shooting sports. We're in a catch 22 situation; we need to increase awareness and acceptance of our sport, especially that of our highly regulated environment and strong safety culture, amongst the general public as well as educate and inform the media; who in turn then infl uence the general public through their reporting. The politicians and decision makers often take into account the perception of their voters, the general public who are often infl uenced by what they read, see and hear from the media – and so the cycle continues. So, our best approach is to target all of these areas and hopefully each will infl uence the other in a positive way, eventually… Try Shooting Days are an excellent way of getting people to come along and try the sport for themselves. Successful days have been held at many Branch ranges as well as St Marys. The SSAA NSW Mobile Range is another great tool that we're using extensively as part of our focus on promoting our sport. It's popularity is increasing and the Range has operated at numerous events around the State including AgQuip in Gunnedah, Riverina Field Days in Griffi th, the 4WD & Camping Show in Coffs Harbour as well as school fetes, community fairs and other promotional events. These types of events give newcomers the chance to try shooting for themselves and see fi rsthand just how safe and responsible we are. Even if they're not converted, at least they've tried it and with any luck are less likely to believe the misleading information circulated so freely by the anti-shooting groups. As I've often said before, SSAA NSW will take every opportunity it can to promote the sport and differentiate between us as LAFOs and the criminals using illegally acquired fi rearms to commit their crimes. Often the media is not interested in publishing our comments, however recently we had the opportunity to show our support for Operation Unifi cation, the national initiative coordinated by the State and Territory Police Forces which encouraged the general public to 'dob in an Illegal fi rearm'. In an interview with Channel 7 news we affi rmed our position that as "law abiding fi rearms owners we want illegal fi rearms off the streets and out of the hands of criminals" and that we are 100% behind any initiative that achieves that. We're now working on projects that will enable us to proactively attract favourable media coverage, as opposed to only reacting to negative stories on fi rearms. To that end we're currently planning a 'Girls Night In – Try Shooting' event in October that will enable us to promote positive engagement with the community to raise money for a worthy cause whilst also showcasing the safe, fun and unique sport of shooting. A number of our Branches have successfully hosted fundraising events which have been very positively accepted by their communities. Practically everything we do comes back to our volunteers and members who, as part of communities everywhere, can play a huge part in promoting our sport. It's not just the roles they play in participating and assisting with the various activities, but the image of our sport and those that participate in it that is vital to gaining that increased acceptance and awareness amongst the general public. Our own behaviour and attitudes can be our best advocate and equally our worst nightmare. We all have a responsibility to represent our sport and our fellow LAFOs in a positive light and I'm pleased to say that in my experience, SSAA NSW members and volunteers are leading the way in this area. Diana Melham Executive Director - SSAA (NSW) Inc. The NSW Shooter is published by the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc Disclaimer: Please note that the views expressed are not necessarily those of SSAA (NSW) Inc. Attention: Branch Secretaries/Publicity Offi cers Editorial deadline for the August 2014 issue of the NSW Shooter is Thursday 31 July 2014. Editor: Diana Melham Graphic Designer: Craig Rogers Post all correspondence and contributions to: Newsletter PO Box 1001 ST MARYS NSW 1790 or email nswshooter@nsw.ssaa.org.au Cover: Highlights from the 2014 Shot Expo Sydney

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