Submissions for the 2025 Caliber Awards & New Product Showcase are Now Open

NASGW is now accepting submissions for the 2025 New Product Showcase and the NASGW-POMA Caliber Awards. This is your opportunity to highlight the latest and most innovative products from your company at the NASGW Expo. NASGW-POMA Caliber Awards will honor the highest caliber new products in seven product categories, including the best new rifle, handgun, shotgun, ammunition, optic, best new accessory, and best new suppressor. We’ll also select an overall best new product award chosen from the finalists of all seven categories. The Caliber Awards are chosen by an independent panel of 18 industry professionals, encompassing hundreds of years of experience in the Shooting Sports Industry.

New Product Showcase Video Features

New this year, NASGW manufacturer members can boost their visibility with the New Product Showcase Video Features—10–15 second 360° product videos that will be displayed on massive video walls at the Expo and in the SCOPE Lounge. These videos are also available for use in your future marketing efforts. 

WEBINAR: AI in Firearms: Transforming Data into Decisions

Rhode Island State Assault Weapons Ban Imminent

On May 14, 2025, “The State Assault Weapons Ban Act” (S. 359) was heard by the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee. A companion bill (H. 5436) had previously mirrored this path in its respective chamber earlier this year. This sweeping anti-firearm package would impact commonly owned rifles, shotguns and handguns with significant penalties and redundant safe storage mandates but granting a “grandfather clause.” This egregious overreach will also have negative implications on conservation funding as we know it.

Highlights:

• Both S. 359 and H. 5436 had debate halted by using a procedural movement “to be held for further study”, allowing for Rhode Island leadership to schedule a vote but stopping any further committee discussions.
• This ban identifies “assault weapons” by using a single cosmetic feature definition for semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic shotguns with detachable magazines.
• The “grandfather clause” to register targeted firearms have a one-year registration window.

Rhode Island’s legislature is trying to be added to the list of states implementing “feel good” firearm prohibitions under the guise of public safety with laws to impact commonly owned firearms used by law-abiding hunters and recreational shooters, but rarely used by criminals, by targeting so-called “assault weapons”.

NSSF Statement on the Denials of Cert by the U.S. Supreme Court

The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision this morning not to hear the appeals in Snope v. Brown and in the NSSF-funded Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island cases challenging on Second Amendment grounds Maryland’s ban on Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and Rhode Island’s ban on standard sized magazines, respectively.

We respectfully disagree with Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s statement respecting the denial of cert in the Snope case that the Court should wait a “Term or two” before taking action to stop the lower courts from misapplying the Court’s holding Heller and Bruen to deny the Second Amendment rights of millions of law-abiding Americans living in the states that have enacted laws banning MSRs and magazines.

What You Need to Know About VAULT: A Smarter Way to Manage Product Data

Have You Downloaded the 2025 Q1 SCOPE Report 

NASGW Welcomes Clay Halla to the Board of Directors

With legislation like the State Assault Weapons Ban Act (S. 359) currently under consideration, it’s more important than ever for shooting sports businesses to stay ahead of policy developments. The NASGW Bill Tracker is your go-to resource for monitoring Federal and State legislation that could impact our industry. From proposed restrictions to regulatory changes, NASGW members can quickly access and sort relevant bills to understand where things stand—and what may be coming next. Stay informed, stay prepared.