Shooting Range Development, Marketing & Operations Toolkit

With passage of the Target Practice Marksmanship Training and Support Act (Tarmarc) of 2019, states can now apply a larger percent of their annual Wildlife Restoration (WR) funds to range development, improvement, expansion, operations and marketing. Several multi-state grant-funded resources have become available since then to help states and shooting range NGOs understand where new ranges are needed most, the types of shooting activities consumers prefer, case studies to assist in range design and operations, how to attract more non-traditional participants, available funding and partnering sources, and more. The NSSF and other NGOs also have additional range development resources available to states. However, these grant, and privately funded range-support resources are scattered, and conversations with states indicate many are not aware of them. The result is limited application in states’ efforts to increase shooting range development efforts, lower target shooting participation and lower returns on PR investments in range design, development, operational and marketing activities. To help more states benefit from grant-funded and industry shooting research and development tools, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) will combine these resources into easy-to-use toolkits with a focus on brevity and accessibility, and then most importantly, share them with public and private ranges directly (the beneficiaries), via regular NSSF and shooting NGOs’ communications, and through a detailed series of recorded webinars and in-person presentations, both regionally and nationally. The results will help improve states and NGOs’ ability to build new ranges, improve current ranges, maximize participation and achieve greater results from future WR-based range investments.