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Prevent Gun Theft with These Common Sense Tips

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.

Nominate Your Coach for PCA Double-Goal Coaching Award

PCA Double-Goal Coaching Award 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.

SHOT Registration and Scoring System Is Offline November 6-10

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.

Learn more about the new SHOT system.

Support SSSF Through Your Amazon Purchases

Amazon Smile Button

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.

NSSF Report: Unintentional Firearms Fatalities at Historic Low

Firearm Safety Stats
Click on image to view report

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.

View and download the NSSF report.

Apply for MidwayUSA Foundation Grant by December 15

MidwayUSA Foundation logoIf 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.

Learn more about applying for a MidwayUSA Foundation grant for your team.

SHOT V.5 Registration and Scoring System Set for November 10 Launch

SHOT V5 SCREEN

The latest version of our SHOT online registration and scoring system is set to launch on November 10, giving teams more control over their own records management, providing new capabilities as event hosts, and paving the way for an upcoming paperless system.

Scholastic Pistol Program participants, who previously have not used the SHOT system for event registration and scoring, will now be able to manage these functions electronically. For coaches with multiple teams in either program, the new SHOT V.5 will simplify access by allowing one login to be used for all teams, rather than a separate one for each team.

Another important benefit of SHOT V.5 will be competition management tools for teams to host and manage shoots, leagues, and conferences. Plus, every team will be able to have its own website hosted on our system.

SHOT V.5 will be a user-controlled environment that will allow coaches to register online, setting your own login information and controlling the information stored there. If you lose your login information, you will no longer need to contact us to retrieve or reset it; you will be able to reset it immediately yourself.

The first time you access the system on or after November 10, you will be prompted to create new login information. This will be very similar to many other sites where you set up your own login and use it each time you shop or manage your account.

For now, head coaches will continue to have forms completed by athletes and parents and will enter the information collected into the SHOT system. It will be the head coach’s responsibility to make sure each person is properly registered online. Because this system is designed for user management, our staff will no longer be entering registration information into the SHOT system on behalf of coaches and athletes.

Since this is the first time many SPP coaches have registered on the SHOT system, these coaches are reminded that you will now need to register on the site, complete your background check, and take the Double Goal Course. If you need help, you may contact Tammy Mowry.

Don’t worry about the need to learn something new and complex. While we don’t think you’ll find it difficult to use, we have created some video tutorials to walk you through the system’s functions, and we’ll remind you of the steps you’ll need to follow to fully operate in the new environment. You can view the tutorials here.

When the paperless environment is in place in 2015, coaches and teams will realize some immediate benefits. Athletes, parents, and other volunteers will register themselves in the system. Coaches will no longer need to collect paper forms and juggle duplicate records, sending copies to SSSF and maintaining copies for themselves. That will mean no more time and expense of copying and mailing records to SSSF. Instead, all records will be stored online. Likewise, SSSF will save money, space, and staff time that is now spent on records management — resources that can be spent on your SCTP or SPP team instead!

Congratulations to Prize Winners Who Completed Our Nationals Survey

We recently closed our National Championships survey after several hundred of you gave us your feedback on our year’s big events. As promised, we have drawn the names of eight (8) respondents to win a prize from SCTP or SPP. Congratulations to these winners:

    Aiden Belongia – SPP shooter from Wisconsin
    SPP water bottle, patch, and pin

    Houston Unsell – SPP shooter from Alabama
    SPP water bottle, patch, and pin

    Darin Bruski – SPP and SCTP shooter from Wisconsin
    SPP water bottle, patch, and pin

    William M. Seifert – SCTP shooter from Michigan
    Case of Nobel Sport ammo

    Dakota Bishop – SCTP shooter from Texas
    Case of Fiocchi ammo

    John Michael Baggett – SCTP shooter from Tennessee
    SCTP hat and t-shirt

    Edward Rowland – SCTP coach from Tennessee
    Weather Writer System

    Terry Brookman – SCTP coach from Missouri
    SCTP lanyard, coffee mug, and hot/cold pack

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey and provide us with valuable information that we will use to make future events even better.

Watch for These Upcoming SPP Events

Southeast Regional Fall Match


The SPP Southeast Regional Fall Match in Huntingdon, Tennessee is fast approaching. The match date will be November 8 at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park. It is open to all Junior, Senior, and Collegiate SPP teams.

Both Centerfire and Rimfire (JV) Divisions will be recognized. Endowment funds will be available.

Match fee is $25 per shooter.

Download the match flyer for more details, or contact Tammy Mowry for registration information.

Washington State Scrimmage Match

Custer Sportsmen’s Club in Custer, Washington will host the Washington State Scrimmage Match on November 15. The match is open to all Junior, Senior, and Collegiate SPP teams. It will include all four SPP stages, plus two fun stages for a total of six.

The local team will run a free new-competitor orientation the morning of the match. No experience is necessary. Loaner guns will be available for those who need them.

The Washington Scrimmage is an informal kick-off event for Northwest shooters interested in SPP. Look for a full-fledged Washington State Championship in 2015.

Download the event flyer for more details.

Florida Law Enforcement Explorer Shooting League Inaugural Match

The Florida Law Enforcement Explorer Shooting League Inaugural Match will take place on November 15 at the Talon Range in Midway, Florida. The match is being hosted by the Leon County Sheriff’s Explorer Post and The Rifle Association at the Florida State University.

Contact Tammy Mowry for registration information.

Crew 51 Maine Local Match

Crew 51 in Maine will host a local match on November 22, 2014, at Camp Hinds BSA Camp in Raymond, Maine. For registration information, contact Annie Tarbox, annie.tarbox@gmail.com, or 207-200-6814.

SSSF Donates $44,000 to MidwayUSA Foundation Endowment Accounts for 14 SPP Teams

SSSF made contributions totaling $44,000 this week to the MidwayUSA Foundation, Inc. endowment accounts of 14 Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) teams. The teams earned the endowment funds while competing in the Massachusetts State Match on September 13 and the Northeast Fall Regional Match on October 4.

The contributions for September and October bring SPP’s total donations to $407,150 to date in 2014. SPP expects to contribute at least $480,000 in total for 2014 through state, regional, and national championship events.

SSSF contributes the funds on behalf of the teams to the MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment Account Program, which was created to provide sustained financial support for youth shooting teams. SPP teams are awarded endowment funds through participation in sanctioned shoots. Teams with an endowment account can draw an annual grant to help offset team expenses, such as registration fees, equipment costs, and travel.

“The MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment Account Program has been a great asset in building youth shooting teams,” said Scott Moore, SPP Director. “This program also requires the athletes to work toward goals, which is part of the great character-building aspect of the Scholastic Pistol Program and Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation.”

The teams whose endowment accounts received funds for September and October are:

Massachusetts State Match

United States Military Academy – Pistol ProgramNY
Venturing Crew 556NH
University of New Hampshire – Main CampusNH
Fin, Fur And Feather ClubMA
Holyoke Revolver Club Steel ShootersMA

Northeast Fall Regional Match

United States Military Academy – Pistol ProgramNY
Crew 70ME
Crew 357ME
Crew 51ME
University of VermontVT
University of New Hampshire – Main CampusNH
Crew 401ME
Crew 1675ME
Crew 556NH
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