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President message - December 2007 In the past month we have received letters from members who have let us know that they have signed up junior members of their family in response to SSAA National’s ‘Sign Up a Junior’ campaign. For instance, Ali of New South Wales actually signed up five of his grandchildren with their parents’ support, while Eric of Victoria, whose letter is featured here, reported that his young grandson called in quite excited that his SSAA membership card had turned up in the mail. Our SSAA National Membership office in Sydney has advised that there has indeed been an increase in junior membership sign-ups countrywide. However, it is imperative to our sport’s survival that each adult SSAA member make it their responsibility to sign up at least one junior to bolster our numbers and protect our sport into the future generations. Besides, what better Christmas present is there for your grandchildren, nieces and nephews than a SSAA-sponsored junior membership? In this issue of Australian Shooter, click here for the ‘Sponsor a Junior and Save your Sport’ form. Then, turn to the next page to read a fascinating story about 15-year-old Western Australian shooter Adriana Talajic, who unwittingly became the subject of an outrageous slur on both her and the shooting sports by The West Australian newspaper. The article was in fact a response to my editorial in the October issue of Australian Shooter, in which I called on members to sign up a junior and save their sport and indeed wipe the smile off the anti-gun lobby’s face. However, the story had a mix of inaccuracies, misquotes, bias and plain poor reporting. Headlined ‘Gun clubs have kindy kids in their sights’, it featured a photograph of Adriana and then went on to explain in the words of anti-gun lobbyist John Crook that “teaching a child to shoot, is teaching a child to kill. It’s what guns are used for”. This is the sort of claptrap that we as shooters have to face from those against us and from the ill-informed media.
From myself and all at SSAA National, we wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy festive season. Bob Green |
While we can write all the letters to the editor that we like, the only true answer for safeguarding our sport is to sign up the younger generation to the sport. The solution is in your hands.