The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia has reached a huge milestone of 200,000 members and in the past few months our Association has welcomed more than 2500 new faces, demonstrating once again how sporting shooters and hunters band together during difficult times.
At 200,900 members, the SSAA is rapidly growing to form a strong national community of like-minded people with National President Geoff Jones saying it’s wonderful to see the community pull together during a particularly challenging time for many.
“It’s great that in difficult times (COVID-19) firearms owners are pulling together to support one another,” Geoff said.
“While we are proud to celebrate a combined membership of 200,000 participating members as a wonderful milestone in the growth of any Australian sport, the fact is that the SSAA is now the strongest representative shooting association per capita in the world.”
What’s equally impressive is the massive rise in female members as the Association showcases inspiring shooters in its Women Who Shoot campaign.
“We are particularly proud to see such a significant increase in female and family membership in our fun, fair, family sport,” Geoff said.
“It is not insignificant that 200,000 firearms owners have chosen to join the SSAA and participate in our great sport. Clearly this is a strong endorsement of the responsible representation, programs and services that the Association offers to its members.”
As the SSAA reaches its milestone figure of 200,000 members, Federal Member for Bonner in Queensland and SSAA Brisbane Branch patron Ross Vasta has acknowledged the important role the Association plays in the community.
“This is a wonderful milestone for the SSAA and we’re seeing increasing numbers of young people wanting to become licensed firearms owners, joining recreational shooting and getting involved in competitions,” Ross said.
“This is great for our sport and the Australian way of life and I encourage more young people to take up the sport because it’s a wonderful sport to get involved in.”
Our 200,000th member was 58-year-old Marie Wheeler who has recently taken up shooting to spend more time with her son.
As congratulations for helping us reach this special milestone, the Queenslanders membership number will change to 200000 and she’ll receive a paid life SSAA membership, our Great Australian Outdoor magazines and Field to Fork cookbooks, and a $200 voucher to spend on official SSAA merchandise.