In this issue, I would like to comment on our political process, remind you of our upcoming board of directors meeting, and concentrate on our youth, our future.

I have gained a great deal of respect for the patience displayed by those who support and drive our legislative process. In January, my son and I thought we could help Senator Nugent by attending the committee hearing on Senate Bill 11. This bill was introduced by Senator Nugent and he had been told by the committee chairman that it would be the first bill to be heard on that particular day. We were delighted to see many of our friends there, including Ashley Varner from the NRA headquarters, our Indiana State NRA field representative, John Crone, Jim and Margie Tomes from the Second Amendment Patriots, Bob Lusk, the local NRA ILA coordinator, Bill Dowden our own ISRPA legislative director and Sue Mogle, one of our ISRPA Highpower Shooting leaders. Much to our surprise, when the agenda for the day was announced, SB11 was moved to last on the agenda with little hope of even being discussed for the day. My son and I had to return to our jobs, but we learned that bill eventually was heard, passed from committee and approved by the senate; however, the House leadership is apparently not going to permit any good gun legislation to move forward. If you would be willing to write or call your state senators and representatives or attend legislative sessions in support of bills important to gun owners in Indiana, please respond to me or Bill Dowden to get on our email list. While we will focus on issues of importance at the state and local level, the next few years will be extremely important at the national level. Please participate to maintain and improve our second amendment rights at the national level as well.

The ISRPA board of directors currently meets two times per year. The fall meeting is immediately before the awards banquet where last year, Sherry White from Salem gave an inspiring talk on how she and her husband provide firearm safety classes within the local school system. The spring meeting will be May 2 at the Oaken Barrel in Greenwood. The meeting space is a bit tight so we would like to know in advance if you plan to participate, but we welcome all members of ISRPA to join us as we discuss plans for the upcoming year.

Youth are our future, and based on my experiences thus far in 2009, we have a bright future. The USA shooting junior Olympic competition was well attended at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, and at least two juniors received invitations to compete at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs for positions on the Olympic development team. Tom Lorenzen with his new fiancé and Gary Reinking and daughters Megan and Ashley ran a great junior NRA rifle match at Purdue at the same time that Erin Lorenzen was demonstrating the quality of NCAA shooting as she represented Texas Christian University.

My own Hancock County 4-H shooting group has stepped forward to staff the NRA/ISRPA recruiting booth on Saturdays and Sundays at the Indy 1500 gun show. They will receive money to support match competition for every member they sign up and gain valuable experience in the process. Please stop and visit them if you are at the Indy 1500 or consider setting up similar recruiting efforts in your own areas.

Similarly, we are frequently asked about training and shooting range locations throughout the state. We are updating our range listing and would like to include not only range information and training opportunities, but also 4-H shooting sports contact information for every available county. Please send your range/training contact information to ranges@isrpa.org so that we can share with others.

Bill Jordan