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01/08/07.
Jim Supica for NRA Board of Directors
Supica background Why vote for Jim? NRA Collector Programs NRA Legislative issues
I'm running for a third term on the NRA Board of Directors. I'm proud & honored to have served on the Board for the past six year, and hope to be able to continue to make contributions to the success of the NRA. I'd appreciate your vote. -- Jim
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION – JIM SUPICA
WHY VOTE FOR JIM?
I believe the NRA is the last, best hope of firearms owners to preserve our 2nd Amendment rights, and is doing an excellent job.
I believe that the 2nd Amendment is the keystone that protects the rest of the Bill of Rights, and our constitution. I believe it protects an individual right. I support CCW.
I'd like to continue to help the NRA to provide and enhance programs for gun collectors, and to work to encourage new collectors, shooters & gun collectors. I think I've been helpful in this regard, & would like to continue my work.
I'd like to help NRA significantly improve its website & internet presence, with more substantive content on firearms, higher search engine visibility, and more successful online member recruitment.
The Board is an impressive and diverse group of folks, and I've been honored to serve on it. All the current and former members I've met seem to have a passionate commitment to the organization and to the preservation of firearms rights, and a special appreciation of the genius of the Second Amendment in protecting our personal and collective freedom. Frankly, I don't think you could go wrong voting for any of the nominees.
Part of the strength of the Board is that it is composed of folks that represent many diverse aspects of firearms ownership, political activism, and the shooting sports. Many of these fine folks have a high level of national visibility. They include national entertainment, sports and media celebrities lending their visibility to our cause such as Tom Selleck, Charlton Heston, Ted Nugent, actress Susan Howard, sports greats Karl Malone and David Butz, Oliver North, and director John Milius. There are current and former elected political leaders such as Sen. Larry Craig, Rep. Bob Barr, Rep. Bill Brewster, Rep. Barbara Cubin, and Rep. Harold Volkmer. There are national shooting champions such as Edie Reynolds, shooting icons such as the late Jeff Cooper and Soldier of Fortune publisher Bob Brown, and political activists like Marion Hammer and Roy Innis of CORE.
I think it’s also important to have folks on the Board who may not be household names, but who contribute special expertise and understanding to particular concerns within the NRA. I have tried to bring a first hand understanding of and advocacy for the unique concerns and issues of gun collectors and gun shows.
I’ve served on the Gun Collector Committee for the past six years, and feel I’ve had an impact. I’ve chaired the sub-committee on revising the NRA gun show display judging standards, and am currently chairing a special sub-committee on attracting youth and new collectors to gun collecting. I stay vigilant on keeping regulatory reform important to collectors in the ILA’s agenda.
Previously, I’ve had significant impact on reorganizing display competitions to open up new categories for modern and classic firearms, and recognizing the importance of education and historic firearms in display award programs.
Thanks for your consideration! – Jim
NRA GUN COLLECTOR PROGRAMS
Most of us are probably aware of the national leadership role NRA has in protecting Second Amendment rights, teaching and promoting gun safety, firearms training, and competitive shooting coordination. However, not all collectors are aware of the tremendous strides NRA has made in promoting gun collecting and serving gun collectors over the past ten years or so.
* The NRA now sponsors an annual National Gun Show, including a display competition with national level awards. The 8th annual show is Nov. 13 & 14 in Houston. The NRA has also compiled & published a guide to producing quality gun shows.
* The National Firearms Museum is a fantastic showplace, with the outstanding NRA collection finally receiving the type of public display that it deserves. The visitor sees great guns such as a musket that came over on the Mayflower, and arms owned and used by Presidents and generals, in addition to displays such as a working vintage amusement park shooting gallery and a 1950’s era “boy’s bedroom” replete with bb-guns, Cowboy & Indian toys & decor, and Boy Scout merit badge handbooks.
* The Museum & collecting staff are getting a lot of earned media attention and positive portrayal of firearms. Most notably perhaps have been the appearances on television series such as “Tales of the Gun”.
* Gun Collector Seminar -- these annual meetings have been a source of training and information for collectors and collecting clubs for many years.
* NRA’s publications seem to me to be improving coverage of gun collecting & firearms history, with more articles on old guns in A/R, and an historic gun centerfold in each issue of First Freedom.
* All this takes money. Good strides are being made in the NRA Foundation for a sustaining endowment for the museum.
* A long-standing NRA collector program that continues to run strong is the collector club display program at the NRA Annual Members Meeting (April 16-18, 2004, in Pittsburg).
NRA LEGISLATIVE ISSUES – Of course most of us know that the NRA Institute for Legislative Action has had a tremendous impact on national and state elections the past few years, and is the national leader on pro-gun issues. Vital successes in recent years include federal protection of gun manufacturers against harassing lawsuits based on criminal misuse of firearms, and the termination of the Clinton Gun Ban on semi-autos. NRA was the key player in fighting back the many assaults on gun shows during the bad-old-days. And of course, NRA ILA has been the key national player in promoting and passing "shall issue" concealed carry self-protection legislation in the individual states.
COLLECTOR ISSUES - Less well known are NRA’s efforts for regulatory reform on many of the “smaller” issues that are nonetheless vitally important to collectors and gun show enthusiasts. Some of the areas where a little reform can go a long way include:
* Permitting face to face transfers of firearms between federally licensed dealers.
* Use of U.S. mail to send C&R firearms to federally licensed collectors.
* Open registration or amnesty period for registration of previously unregistered NFA firearms, and designation of the National Firearms Museum as an approved depository.
* Reform of confusing and restrictive limitation on numbers of firearms allowed as checked luggage on airlines.