The Youth Shooting Sports Alliance (YSSA), in cooperation with Gander Mountain, a leading outdoor specialty retailer, is making selected shooting sports equipment items available on loan to qualified youth shooting sports programs.
“The majority of the shooting sports equipment needed by the youth programs are for limited or seasonal use” said Steve Miller, Executive Director of YSSA. “Equipment may be intensively used during selected seasons and languish in storage for the remainder of the year. In that regard, the YSSA wanted to provide more efficient support of youth shooting sports programs by developing a practical plan to organize and administer a shooting sports equipment loan program for supporting youth programs.”
The Gander Mountain store in Kenosha, WI offered to serve as the centralized repository for the firearms inventory acquired for this program. Under the guidelines of this partnership, the YSSA has the responsibility for overall coordination of the program including promotion; review and approval of youth program requests for loaned equipment; and coordination with Gander Mountain on the distribution and return of the loaned firearms. Gander Mountain will maintain and store the firearms between loan disbursements.
The items available for loan during this inaugural phase of the program are as follows:
* Savage Mark I-G .22LR rifles
* Mossberg 510 Mini Super Bantam 20 ga. shotguns
* BB Gun Units consisting of ten Daisy Model 840B Grizzly BB guns; ten Bob Allen 540T canvas gun sleeves; and ten pairs of Daisy shooting glasses.
* Archery Units consisting of five Genesis bows; five soft padded bowcases; five dozen arrows; an archery repair kit; and five arrow totes.
The YSSA will administer distribution of the BB Gun Units and Archery Units from its headquarters in Nags Head, NC.
The youth shooting sports program receiving this loaned equipment will be responsible for normal cleaning, storage and security while the equipment is in its possession.
The Greene County 4-H Shooting Sports Project in Paragould, AR has received five rifles and 5 shotguns on loan for the summer and has requested the same number of firearms plus an archery unit for the spring of 2011. Lance Blythe, Greene County Extension Agent 4-H, says “The firearms that are being provided will be utilized by many young shooting enthusiasts. You are all really helping our program expand to give more youth an opportunity to get involved in this great program.”
Peter Johnson, National Capital Area Council, Boy Scout of America, says that the shooting sports equipment loan program will play an essential role in their shooting sports program by providing rifles, BB guns and shotguns. “As shooting sports are always among the most popular Scouting activities, we can count on the majority of our campers spending at least some time on the shooting ranges” stated Mr. Johnson. He added “We expect over 6,000 Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to camp at our Goshen Scout Reservation in Goshen, VA this summer and over 3,000 Cub Scouts to attend various day camps that will be held through our council’s territory. Additionally, to celebrate the Centennial of the Boy Scouts of America, we are holding a Council Camporee over Memorial Day weekend where we expect over 7,500 attendees of all ages.”
