10 Ways NRA Stands Up For Hunters

1. Primary Purpose—One of NRA's five official objectives is to promote hunter safety and to promote and defend hunting as a shooting sport and as a viable and necessary method of fostering the conservation and wise use of our natural resources.

2. Legislative Action—NRA EVP Wayne LaPierre has stated numerous times, "Without guns there is no hunting." That truth alone covers tremendous ground, but in fact there's more. Every election cycle and in between, NRA-ILA is fully engaged at the federal, state and local levels to put pro-hunting candidates into office and to oppose legislative or bureaucratic moves that would encroach on hunting rights. NRA-ILA has 31 lobbyists at the federal and state levels working full-time on issues critical to hunters, with 5 million NRA members to back them up.

3. American Hunter Media—NRA's official pipeline to the hunting community comes in the form the world's largest hunting magazine (print and digital versions), along with a 24/7 website updated daily and several monthly e-newsletters. The world's best outdoor communicators vie to have their work seen by American Hunter's huge audience.

4. Training and Education—The NRA Hunter Clinic Instructor Program teams beginning and intermediate hunters with experts who teach safety, skills, strategy and more. NRA's 114,000 Certified Marksmanship Instructors annually train over 750,000 beginners in the basic shooting skills necessary to become ethical and successful hunters.

5. Youth Challenge—NRA's Youth Hunter Education Challenge, conducted in communities across the nation as well as in state and national events, takes up where basic hunter education leaves off. YHEC has taught field marksmanship, hunting skills and conservation to more than 1.6 million youngsters since it began in 1985.

6. Mega-Events—NRA Annual Meetings (Nashville, Tenn., April 10-12), Great American Outdoor Show (Harrisburg, Pa., Feb. 7-15): The former is a weekend-long pro-gun celebration that brings the entire firearm/hunting industry together with NRA leaders and members; the latter is a state-fair-sized extravaganza of everything to do with hunting, fishing and the outdoors. The biggest and best events of their kind, the two shows drew nearly 250,000 attendees in 2014.

7. NRA Foundation Grants—Since the mid-1990s, The NRA Foundation has provided nearly 34,000 grants totaling $264 million at the national, state and local levels in support of an array of hunting and conservation programs. Through the generosity of dedicated donors and volunteers, the Foundation has become the leading charity in support of the shooting sports, with primary focus on youth education.

8. National Clearinghouse/Hunters for the Hungry—NRA supports community-based Hunters for the Hungry efforts to collect game meat for distribution to the needy by maintaining an information clearinghouse that puts interested contributors in touch with local donation centers. Hunters for the Hungry helps to dish up about 250 million hot meals every year for those in need.

9. Women's Wilderness Escape—The NRA Women's Wilderness Escape provides women 18 and older with an eight-day getaway opportunity to experience the softer side of firearm education with exposure to a wide variety of shooting sports activities and an array of enticing hunting- and outdoor-related activities.

10. Hunters' Leadership Forum—HLF is building a strong peer group of proven leaders and raising the funds needed to enrich and grow NRA's leadership for hunters and hunting. This diverse group of dedicated hunters who have achieved lifetime success in many endeavors will provide the intellectual horsepower and moral compass to ensure a bright future for America's hunting heritage.