Industry Notes

Due to overwhelming grassroots opposition from law-abiding gun owners and California’s firearms industry members, SB 249 was pulled from the Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing calendar for Thursday, Aug. 16. This means that the bill is dead for the year.

NSSF reports that overall U.S. imports (in units) in six sporting arms and ammunition categories increased 41.0 percent in June 2012 compared to June 2011. June 2012 imported units in tracked categories totaled 203.2 million, up from 144.2 million reported in June 2011.

Freedom Group, Inc. (FGI), which owns Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS, Marlin, and others, has named Scott Blackwell as president. Blackwell served as chief sales and marketing officer since 2010. As president, Blackwell will oversee all revenue, branding, marketing and communications for FGI.

(GunReports.com) — To encourage collegiate target shooting at both varsity and club levels, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is inviting schools to apply for a total of $300,000 in grants to be awarded through its Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative.NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, has awarded more than $650,000 to 75 colleges to help establish, expand and sustain shooting clubs and teams. Grant applications are available at…

You may recently have seen some in the Internet rumor mill feverishly stirring up fear about recent acquisitions of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and a number of smaller agencies. The mildest writers have questioned why seemingly mundane agencies would need ammunition at all; more incendiary authors wrongly suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people, NRA-ILA comments.

Charter Arms has added a new 9mm Rimless Revolver to the company’s popular Pitbull series.

The National Rifle Association is now accepting entries for the 2012 George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest. Running annually since 1987, the contest is open to students in grades 1 through 12, including home-schooled children. NRA membership is not required. The deadline to enter is November 5, 2012.

(GunReports.com) — The National Rifle Association is auctioning a one-of-a-kind Browning Citori Gran Lightning XS NRA Edition 4 barrel set, available for a limited time through Friends of NRA at www.GunBroker.com. The skeet set is made possible through a partnership with The NRA Foundation, Browning Arms Co. and Baron Technology, Inc.

Brownells has launched a new reloading line that features dies, presses and tools from RCBS, Lee Precision, Lyman, Redding, Sinclair International, and other manufacturers, as well as components from major manufacturers including Hornady, Nosler, Sierra, Hodgdon, Remington, Winchester, and others.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has teamed up with state Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco and anti-gun state legislative leaders in Sacramento to ban and confiscate the firearms owned by hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Californians, the NRA-ILA reports.

Here are current 2012 shooting-event results from the London Olympic Games, with finishes for U.S. shooters.

There has been no significant change in public views on the issue of gun control and gun rights following the July 20th shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, a Pew Research Center poll released on July 30, shows.