10 questions with Industry Icons!

Steve Sanetti, National Shooting Sports Foundation

1. YSSA: How were you introduced to the shooting sports?
Sanetti: I grew up in suburban Long Island, NY--not the most "firearms friendly" place, even in the 1950's and 60's. At age 12, I asked my father if I could buy a bb gun from a friend, and found to my surprise that he enjoyed shooting as a teenager, but didn't resume it after the War. So we actually got interested in hunting, shooting, amateur gunsmithing, reloading, and collecting together, during my teenage years. I was actually HIS mentor in many ways.

2. YSSA: What is your most memorable shooting or hunting experience?
Sanetti: The most memorable hunting and shooting experiences came during those early years, when we knew nothing and were learning together. Things like how to freeze in a deer stand, how to field dress a deer while reading instructions, how to turn a fine old gun purple while trying to reblue it in a tank the backyard, and most of all, the genuine camaraderie between all hunters, sharing that special bond we have with the outdoors and the shooting sports.

3. YSSA: Are you concerned about reported declines in participation by youth in the shooting sports?
Sanetti: Youth participation in the shooting sports is vital, not just to grow our sport and to pass on our traditions and our way of life, but for their help to get the Baby Boomers about to enter retirement off the
couch and back into the field, for a glorious day with their children and grandchildren.

4. YSSA: What do you think are our greatest challenges in recruiting and retaining new shooters and hunters?
Sanetti: Pretty clearly, the indoor forms of recreation that consume the younger generations, in the form of TV, computers, video games, and all the other electronic media are cramping not only the shooting sports, but all other forms of outdoor recreation.

5. YSSA: What role does youth shooting sports programs play in your company or organization’s customer/member development process?
Sanetti: The National Shooting Sports Foundation has long been involved with youth shooting programs. Perhaps the most successful of these has been the Scholastic Clay Target Program, which has introduced over 30,000 young people, from junior high to high school and including future Olympic shooters, into the shooting sports. And our Families Afield program has gotten nearly 132,000 new hunters to try out this
activity while under the direct supervision of a licensed adult, in cooperation with the NWTF and the USSA.

6. YSSA: How do you encourage your employees to contribute their time and talent to encourage youth to shoot and hunt?
Sanetti: Most of the NSSF staff are active hunters or shooters, and many are both. We encourage them to continually interest new shooters of all ages to "Step Outside" and enjoy a day doing what we love, and many of their offices are festooned with photographs of their kids, neighbors, friends, and relatives enjoying many different aspects of the shooting sports together.

7. YSSA: What would you encourage individual shooters and hunters to do to ensure our traditions remain viable in the future?
Sanetti: All the studies have shown that the best way to recruit a lifelong shooter or hunter is to have a trusted adult mentor, usually a father, uncle, or grandfather, show them the way and take an active interest in
their development as a shooter. This emphatically is NOT just a one-time deal--quite the contrary, a one-time experience without prompt and consistent follow-up may be fun, but does little to create that sustained interest that is so vital if the novice is to become one of the fold for the long term.

8. YSSA: What must clubs and shooting range facilities do to develop a “family-friendly” shooting atmosphere?
Sanetti: In a phrase, "clean up your act." If we want to attract new shooters in a world where there are so many competing demands on their time, we simply have to provide a positive, visually appealing experience for them. Many ranges function well enough, but are pretty weak in making novices feel comfortable and welcomed.

9. YSSA: What people and/or organizations do you admire most for their contributions in providing pathways for new shooters and hunters?
Sanetti: I'd like to think that the National Shooting Sports Foundation does a pretty good job of this, and I can say that because I have only been its president for about 9 months, and all the hard work and dedicated
efforts of its staffers over the years have preceded me. We have also awarded almost $3 million in Hunting Heritage Partnership Grants to state agencies to increase hunting participation; and our relatively new
Range Partnership Grants are starting to address recruitment of new shooters and reactivation of lapsed shooters.

10. YSSA: Closing thoughts?
Sanetti: Many groups such as the NSSF are continually striving to increase the number of shooters, such as we are doing with our First Shots program. Working together, I am confident that we can reach the goal set by Task Force 20/20, itself an offshoot of last year's Shooting Sports Summit--to increase participation in hunting and the shooting sports by 20% during the next 5 years. But this has to be a focused, cooperative effort by all of us, and we are completely committed to helping all of us to reach that lofty and worthy goal.

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