JULY-SEPTEMBER, 2001

We extend our condolences and express our sorrow at the tragic loss of human life which occurred on September 11, 2001. Terrorist activities have no place in civilized society and certainly no sanctuary should be given those who advocate such activities. Now is the time to pull together, and redouble our efforts to make this Country the safest place in the world, and the Country where individual freedom is experienced to fullest. Fly the flag of the United States of America with pride. Our forefathers sacrificed their all to make this Country a desirable place to live and raise our families. Let us ensure that they did not do so in vain by doing all in our power to support our Nation’s leaders. Our prayers are with them as they decide the course of action this Nation should follow.

You can rest assured that this State will experience heightened security as the final arrangements are made for the 2002 Olympic Games. Each of us must be vigilant to ensure that the freedoms we presently enjoy are not forever eroded in the name of safety. The first line of defense remains with each of us.

The Utah Shooting Sports Council display at the Utah State Fair depicted pistol marksmanship and gun collecting. Although fair participation was not as great as prior years, may people commented on and encouraged our continued legislative activities. We thank all of those who volunteered their time to staff the booth.

We will be watching carefully the bills that will be filed for consideration by the 2002 legislature. We will be pushing a bill to reduce the time period to qualify an initiative proposal from the current two election cycle (4 years) to one election cycle (2 years). Our Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, will be assisting with drafting the legislative language to make this change.

Your State Association will be sponsoring a high and middle school essay contest, the subject of which is the Olympic biathlon competitions. Craig Johnson, our smallbore chairman, will oversee this effort. We hope to obtain the participation of 50 area high and middle schools. The author of the best essay from each participating high and middle school with receive two free tickets to an Olympic biathlon event this February. The overall essay winner among all of the participants will have the tickets presented to them at a SLOC recognition event just before the commencement of the games. This should generate some much needed publicity about competitive marksmanship in this State. This is funded in part by the Civilian Marksmanship Program and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Work is progressing on the Wendover range. We have scheduled October 20, 2001 as a work day to set up the target carriers. Please contact either myself or Will Smith for further details.

I am asking each of you to forward your e-mail address to Darlene Benard. Her e-mail address is We are hoping to convert our newsletter to electronic format this next year. It will be sent to each e-mail address we receive. This is being done to further reduce the average $400.00 per issue newsletter publication and distribution costs.

Our thanks also go out to those who diligently help us with membership recruitment at each gun show. Keep up the good work.

With the hunting season commencing, I wish a very enjoyable and successful experience.

Woody