SCI Title Sponsor of 9th NASC Annual Sportsman-Legislator Summit
Safari Club International 11.26.12
The National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC) 9th Annual Sportsman-Legislator Summit begins today in Myrtle Beach, SC with Safari Club International (SCI) as the 2012 Title Sponsor. SCI has been a sponsor for NASC since its inception in the early 2000s.
“SCI has invested heavily with the Washington, DC-based Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus because of its bi-partisan, bi-cameral role. SCI believes that building relationships with and supporting pro-hunting state legislators is equally important,” said SCI president John Whipple. “Without the leadership of each state’s sportsmen’s caucus, our hunting heritage would be eroded by anti-hunting organizations in a more piecemeal approach.”
The NASC Annual Summit is the preeminent national forum where pro-hunting state legislators, hunter-led organizations like SCI, and outdoor industry partners build a roadmap for establishing state level legislative polices to improve hunting, hunter access, game species populations, and protecting our hunting traditions.
Safari Club International will be hosting a presentation for the attending legislators on ways to increase access to hunter education programs in their states by adapting to modern technology. The improvements recommended by SCI and the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS) are intended to increase the availability of hunter education programs to more young hunters, without whom the future of the sport would be ever diminishing. SCI is a sitting board member of the CAHSS.
If you are a chapter member of Safari Club International and are interested in becoming more involved with legislation effecting hunters in your state, please contact the Washington, DC office at 202-543-8733.
The NASC Annual Sportsman-Legislator Summit begins today and runs through November 30, 2012 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses is active in over 40 states across the U.S. working with all legislators supportive of enhancing our American heritage of hunting, trapping, and fishing.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
