Despite a weak economy and slumping retail sales, firearm sales continued to increase in January, continuing an upswing that began after November's election.

When a target shooter purchases a box of ammunition or a hunter a new deer rifle, wildlife in America benefits.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation strongly encourages the National Park Service to reconsider its policy banning the use of traditional ammunition made with lead components on park lands and points out that neither humans, wildlife populations nor the environment are harmed by the use of such ammunition.

Today, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- applauded Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for introducing legislation to rectify a longstanding inequity in the frequency with which firearms and ammunition manufacturers pay a federal excise tax on the products they sell.

In support of a new youth target shooting initiative, the National Shooting Sports Foundation will contribute $50,000 to the Scholastic Steel Challenge program of the United States Practical Shooting Association and Steel Challenge Shooting Association.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has stepped up in a big way to help save a portion of the nation's most important waterfowl breeding grounds by contributing $285,200 to Ducks Unlimited's "Rescue the Duck Factory" campaign.

In response to an announcement today regarding a National Parks Service program encouraging hunters to voluntarily switch to alternative ammunition, the National Shooting Sports Foundation rejected NPS's categorization of traditional ammunition as a health threat. NSSF is offering to work with the National Park Service to develop measures to educate hunters about steps they can take to prevent scavengers from ingesting lead fragments of spent traditional ammunition.

Firearms Industry Rejects National Park Service Classification of Traditional Ammunition as a Health Threat; Offers to Work with NPS on Hunter Education Efforts

The Task Force 20/20 group, comprising industry leaders from the hunting and shooting sports, is continuing to work toward its goal of increasing participation in hunting and the shooting sports by 20 percent over the next five years. The task force is meeting this week at the Cabela's store in Buda, Texas.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has launched a national media campaign designed to correct widespread misperceptions among gun owners and non-gun owners about AR-15-style rifles, also known as modern sporting rifles.