Image Is Key To Firearm Industry’s Future

Image is everything. And some observers believe the firearm industry has some work to do to build customers for the future. Surveys show a majority of today’s Americans support hunting, shooting, and Second Amendment freedoms. But our society is changing, warns business-growth expert Steven S.

Little in a recent press release from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). "The perception of sportsmen and sportswomen among the nonshooting and non-hunting public’or bluntly stated, overcoming the "Bubba factor""will play a big part in attracting tomorrow’s new hunters and shooters," Little said. Little delivered his message to an audience of the shooting industry’s future leaders at the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show.

Little, a senior consultant for Inc. magazine and a non-hunter and non-shooter, said spotlighting hunters and shooters as conservationists is one way to reach the mainstream. "It was news tome that hunters and shooters consider themselves to be conservationists. I did not know that. And whose fault is that? Is it my fault for not knowing it, or is it your fault for not telling me? he asked. "The people who care about the wetlands are the ones who are in them every day.

The city people who say they care about the wetlands, they’re not there. You are. Let them know that you are the ones doing what’s right, said Little. Another strategy for the firearms industry is to create an image appealing to women and minorities, whose influence in American society will continue to grow. Little used NASCAR as an example of achieving monumental growth through restructuring its image.

In the last 10 years, NASCAR has reached out to minorities, women, and others outside its majority fan base, and its popularity and sales have skyrocketed as a result he said. "In 10 years, they took NASCAR from redneck to chic," Little said. As a longtime NASCAR fan and former driver of the Passport Holsters/American Gunsmith Chevrolet, I think that what Little has to say about our industry makes a lot of sense. Image is everything.

And anything we can do to promote the positive image of the shooting sports is worth doing’including, perhaps, encouraging the Vice President to take up golf. Editor Keith Lawrence Technical