From the Editor

In early January I was in the backyard with my 5-year-old, Nick, field-testing his new Red Ryder. It was wonderful to see the serious look on his face as he handled the gun, cocked and loaded it, took careful aim, tried to control his breathing and the waving barrel, and finally squeezed the trigger and sent the BB on its way. Each time the effort was rewarded with a plink and a tipped-over can (which was surprisingly often), his beaming expression of pride was priceless.

After we'd been at it for an hour, I was able to bribe him with hot chocolate to head in from the snow. As we were gathering the perforated cans and pizza boxes, he looked up and said, "Daddy, when I get big enough, do you think I'll be able to go hunting like you?"

Without a second thought, I said, "Of course you will. When you're old enough."

That night I thought about the question and my offhanded response, and I wondered whether I'd spoken too soon. Not that there's an end to hunting in sight, but existing threats to shooting should be considered in any discussion of its future. Too many people simply assume that things will remain as they are five, 10, 15 years from now. In fact, threats to the shooting sports are growing all the time, with fewer young people being introduced to shooting, urban sprawl displacing ranges and hunting lands, schools cutting valuable shooting programs, and the media and entertainment industries negatively influencing attitudes about firearms ownership. Only by anticipating these problems and taking positive steps to counter them can we help protect and preserve shooting.

Enter The NRA Foundation. In 1990 The NRA Foundation (a 501[c] [3] charitable organization) was established with the primary goal of supporting and growing the shooting sports for future generations. For the past 14 years it has done just that by supporting NRA programs and those of thousands of organizations nationwide that educate people in the safe and responsible use of firearms and give them opportunities to participate in firearms-related activities. Since its inception, The Foundation has funded more than $70 million in grants-more than half of which have supported youth programs.

Examples of grants have been those to assist in refurbishing range facilities and build new ranges for public use, fund law-enforcement programs to improve professional skills, and sponsor research on wildlife management and habitat conservation. The Foundation also has supported the NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, an accident-prevention effort that has reached more than 17 million children; as well as the Women On Target and Refuse To Be A Victim programs.

It is able to do all of this through endowments, which are permanent funds that produce investment income. The funds themselves are never touched, but a portion of each fund's interest is used for qualified programs-the balance being reinvested to ensure the particular fund's growth. Because endowment monies may be used only for their stated purposes, donors can be assured that their investments always will be dedicated to the particular programs they designate.

Along these lines, The Foundation has established 17 endowment categories to meet a variety of constituencies and educational needs. They include The NRA Foundation General Endowment, which supports the programs most critically in need of funding at a given time; Women's Programs; NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund; Disabled Shooting Services; Hunting & Wildlife Conservation; Youth Education; Scholarships; Range Facilities & Programs; National Firearms Museum; Gun Collecting; Firearms & Marksmanship Training; Law Enforcement; Gunsmith Training; and Handloading Education. Something for every shooter's interests.

This past fall at The Vintage Cup I had a chance to sit down with Ray Roy, the Northeastern States Representative for The NRA Foundation (a Cup sponsor, by the way), to discuss The Foundation and the many programs it supports. It being an election year, the conversation inevitably turned to politics. Roy made an excellent point when he said: "Whenever I want to put things in perspective, I think about a future election when the kids of today will be voting on a gun issue. If they've never had any exposure to firearms, how do you think they'll vote?"

The answer is up to us.

For more information, contact The NRA Foundation, 11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030; 800-423-6894 or 703-267-1130; nraf@nrahq.org; www.nrafoundation.org/foundation.

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