Great first post!
his industry needs a sport that requires the use of firearms which is big enough to be nationally recognized outside of the industry.
The industry as a whole needs to pick a sport and take it to the level of a real professional competition much like X games, motocross, Pro Rodeo, MMA or whatever. We need enough money and resources put into something or anything to make it mainstream. Right now we have companies donating a few $1000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars USPSA, or 3-Gun, or IDPA, or Bianchi, or high power, or SASS or SCSA, or USCA or all of them and everyone else that asks for a handout which is fun but it's not getting any of us noticed outside the industry. Don't even get me started on all the tactical practical commercials I see from companies that don't spend a dollar supporting competitive shooting. In reality the shooting sports right now are all just hobby sports with little or no exposure outside of the local gun clubs website or Facebook page. As an industry we need one competition or sport that is so big, so exciting and so lucrative that the world outside of the industry takes notice. The kids playing video games set down their Call of Duty for 30-60 minutes to watch guys running and gunning for real and for a real payouts. At that point the young guys and gals coming out of high school and college will start to be willing to forgo college or that $30,000-$50,000 a year start to their career to chase their dream as a pro shooter. Most guys that make a living shooting competitively also work for a manufacture as well and there aren't many of those guys and gals out there. Right now the sport that has the most exposure and attention is 3 gun best I can tell. It has a TV show, a Pro Series, a Club Series, uses 3 different types/styles of gun and is being shown or talked about on just about every firearms related TV show I watch. Yet we still have big companies like S&W, Colt, Mossberg, Sig Sauer, Winchester, Benelli, Beretta, Daniel Defense, Bud's Gun Shop etc etc that don't even acknowledge its existence or barely have their feet in the water so to speak in support of the sport. I know several of these companies sponsor shooters and donate to matches which is great and for that are all great full but it's really not enough.
I am not ever going to be a pro in the sense that I make my living off of winning matches or trying to win matches or being paid by companies to try to win matches. But in a few years when I quit it sure would be fun to sit on the couch on Sunday afternoon, turn on Fox Sports and see a young guy like Brian Nelson who just made the Pro Series last weekend shooting for a living every week just like the guys on BASS. Sure we have the big $50,000 payout and the ladies have the ridiculously large $25,000 payout but after those two winners the next guy takes home maybe $10-20,000 a year. After that your talking $5,000 to one or two guys and then after that its barely enough money to pay your way into the matches.
I don't know how much money this will cost but it's a lot more than is being put in right now. Just think about the 2A benefits a nationally recognized sport would have too.
