FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023
Joe Bartozzi: President/CEO National Shooting Sports Foundation

Joe Bartozzi has spent most of his adult life in the firearms industry. After a 32-year career at Mossberg, Bartozzi joined the National Shooting Sports Foundation as President in 2018. He assumed the President/CEO role in January of 2020. It’s safe to say that the “Bartozzi era” of the NSSF has been one of the most non-typical tenures imaginable. Last week, The Outdoor Wire’s Jim Shepherd spoke with Bartozzi for a QA Outdoors.

Q
Joe, you assumed the the head slot at NSSF at the start of 2020, correct?

Joe Bartozzi
Yeah, yeah, it's been, it's been, it's been something else. I mean, to have a once in a generation or once in a century pandemic, hit, the organization hit the world when I was taking over the organization.

We had to really scramble and make adjustments and, and deal with that, as best we could with the information we had at the time.

And I would say I'm very, very proud of the team here. We rallied together, we had to make some serious decisions. And, and, you know, we, I think we came out, okay. I feel like the team supported where my vision was for how we're gonna get through this thing. And our board certainly supported my approach to things.

That made me confident to make the decisions I had to make and to move forward in the way add to it. And the way I had to move.

Q
But it wasn't just the pandemic, was it? You guys have been through an administration change. In Washington, it wasn’t quite a sea change, more of an uncertainty than a change.

Nobody ever really knew what was going to happen with the prior administration. But everybody kind of had a pretty good idea where the new incoming administration would go. And to this point, they’ve been pretty consistent.

But then there have been a lot of other internal issues, just in the industry. How, do you how do you see this past couple of years?

Joe Bartozzi
You know, there's a there's an old saying, “may you live in exciting times” - It was not meant to be a blessing, it was actually meant to be a curse.

And I think you're right, we have already seen so many so-called “exciting times,” not only the political attacks by the administration, and governors and others in the media, but also some upheaval in the industry, some change.

And, you know, I'm, I've kind of always been, I would consider myself a change agent, and I've never been afraid of change. I kind of embrace the excitement of a new adventure.

But, you know, an adventure is a journey with an uncertain ending.

So, trying to see what's, what's going to happen or how you're going to navigate through it is always exciting as an adventure.

But, I always I try to surround myself with really smart people. And I try to take into consideration what their thoughts and experience are, not to mention my nearly 40 years in the industry.

I've seen a lot. I've seen the ups and downs in that nearly 40 years and people on my executive team are have very similar terms of tenure in the industry.

So there's a lot of collected wisdom that I try to I try to marshal or take into consideration.

You know, I will listen, I will consider, but ultimately, I have to make decisions.

And with all this been going on it has been, you know, it's been interesting.

It's been exciting and but I have to say I think our organization has rallied, and we've done a very, very nice job of coming through this whole thing and doing the best we can dealing with the circumstances as they are.

Q
I'm hearing what sounds a lot like a collaborative leadership. But at some point, the leader has to just make the decision.

What's the toughest decision you've had to make? Since you came into the slot?

Joe Bartozzi
Wow, that's a ..that’s a great question. Um, you know, obviously, we had a reduction in force, when we lost the SHOT Show, we had to make some, we had to make some tough decisions about some really good people, people that I admire, and that I have known for years, even before coming to NSSF.

That was a very, very difficult decision - how we're going to get through the lack of a SHOT Show and make sure that our finances remained at least somewhat intact.

That was another difficult decision.

But you know, one of the things that you fall back on is your experience, and you trust your instincts. You know, we put together a three year recovery plan to try and recover from the loss of income and all of the other things, the fallout, I would say, on the loss of a SHOT Show.

And we recovered a year ahead of schedule. Which is good, because we need the resources, we need our heads in the game, to fight the good fight on behalf of our industry.

So while there were definitely tough decisions, and a lot of sleepless nights, and I still have those - because there's all these things coming out of woodwork from all over the world, at our industry.

I do feel pretty secure in the knowledge that our team has the industry's best interest in mind.

Certainly, that's where my heart is, it always has been.

Because I came into the industry directly in 1986.

And even before when I was working as a subcontractor to the industry back in the early 80s. It's kind of a passion for me.

And so yeah, I'm not I'm not a rah, rah, get out in front kind of guy.

But I lead.

And I think I get the good things out of people.

And I'm honest, I mean, I'm an honest guy, sometimes brutally, so. But I think people appreciate and respect that. That's the best.

That's the best I can answer: I just tried to be myself and stay grounded in the mission, the mission is the most important thing to me.

Not about personalities, not about me or my ego or anything else. It's about focusing on the mission. And that's that's what keeps me going.

Q
How do you keep your subordinates’ eyes on-mission? How do you keep them energized and focused? I mean, you say you're, you know, you're big on collaboration, that's hard. Not everybody wants to pull in the same direction all the time.

Joe Bartozzi
You know, when it's hard, but again…how can I put this? I’m not shy about letting people know my expectations, not only for them, but also for myself.

You know, I tell people, “Look, I there are three things that I that I, I value in myself, and in other people, and that's honesty, above all things. Empathy, being able to being able to be with the situation, see the situation for what it is, and appreciate the other person that you're dealing with, or the other organizations you're dealing with. And then gratitude, not gratitude towards me, but a gratitude in life in general in the industry that we can celebrate in the things that we can do - together as a team.

I think grateful people are happier people. And so I try to emulate those examples.

And I think there is an energy in this organization that people people can see and feel. And I try to be as in touch. Now we have a hybrid work format. When we were together in the office, I made it a point every single day to visit everyone who was there. “How you doing?” “How's the family?”

I mean, it may seem like a small thing. but it's not a small thing. It's a humanizing thing. It makes people feel valued. And I think if you make people feel valued, they will do extraordinary things.

And I have been so impressed with the professionalism and the dedication of this team, even though we are a little bit contracted from where we were a couple of years ago. But the people have stepped up. And they're making a difference.

And we're fighting that good fight every single day. And I mean, every single day, including holidays, and weekends, because things pop up all over the place all the time that we are there having to respond to.

So in a long winded way, it's about the human side of the business.

And yes, spreadsheets are great, and, you know, Zoom programs, and all this technology is nice. But if we forget about the people we're not, we're not really embracing our full potential.

Q
OK, we talked about technology, and you mentioned Zooms and all that stuff.

Our industry is not known for being early adopters of very much of anything.

How do you think the pandemic and some of the forced changes have impacted the industry in the long run. You talk to more leaders than probably anyone in the business- what are they telling you?

Joe Bartozzi
You know, I think I think I would say a paradigm has shifted. A paradigm in terms of the way we can communicate, the way we can conduct business has shifted, and the people that are in the CEOs of our industry, whether they be retailers of a small gun shop, or whether they be, you know, publicly traded large firearm manufacturers, they're all pretty smart folks.

And I think maybe they were not early adopters as quickly as maybe some folks were, but they jumped on pretty darn quick.

And we were able to do some pretty impressive things, even in the early days of COVID as a board, as an organization, and as a group with these leaders.

That was pretty darn impressive. It allowed us to in real time, make good decisions, to see to see this thing through.

So So yeah, I mean, they might not have been early adopters in the tech in the traditional sense, but they sure are now. And, you know, I think it's I think it's been good in a lot of ways. OK, no one wants to see a pandemic, don't get me wrong, but it forced people to relook at the business setting the business model.

I mean, we had a 20,000 square foot building, which was very nice.

But we realized that when we were working remotely because of restrictions and the pandemic and all that, we realized that we could actually do what we do, and get things done in a very efficient, very effective manner.

And by the way, on top of that, the folks that had children in daycare that schools were closed, could also have their, you know, take care of their families, or people that had elderly parents to take care of. And they didn't, they didn't really feel comfortable traveling back and forth to an office building every day.

We allowed them to do their jobs remotely. But again, my expectations were very clear.

But we proved to ourselves and to our industry and to our board, that not only could we do it, we could do it and do it darn well.

So I think if we weren't early adopters, then I think we've seen what we can do in this new environment.

Q
Has it changed the industry - permanently? That’s probably not fair to ask you, but do you accept the fact that we're not going back to the way things were?

Joe Bartozzi
I think I think I'll answer it in two ways.

Number one, something like let's take for example, the SHOT Show. Okay, we talked about in 2020. And in late 2020, in early 2021. Well before we canceled the show, there was a lot of talk about having a virtual SHOT Show.

Part of my reluctance, and my pushback was, I'm a shooter and a hunter and a competitive shooter, I have been for 40 years.

You cannot assess a firearm without picking it up and feeling it. Where's the balance point? How does it point? Where are the sights? I mean, how does it fit in your hands? What's the weight? How's it swing?

Those are things that must be done in person, or to that extent, of course, you can't replace a live setting for our type of products.

So, I don't think you can for the majority of our products.

On the other hand, the ability to market…to reach the masses through things like social media, and these types of collaborative zoom calls, you know, whatever you want to call them, whatever the program is you're running, they have meant I don't have to get on a plane every other week, to go to a two-hour meeting.

I mean, that that saves wear and tear on the body, it allows you to be in a in a more relaxed setting in your own environment. So I think there's a lot of good that comes out of it.

So if there's going to be a permanent change, it's more in terms of how we communicate, not in terms of how we actually handle our products and our trade shows.

Q
Okay, I wouldn't quibble with that for a minute. So, the hybrid model is actually pretty darn efficient?

Joe Bartozzi
We find it to be very efficient.

We started the hybrid model, about a year, maybe a little bit more than a year ago, while they were loosening some of the COVID restrictions. We had already been in a in a remote or work-from-home environment that lasted much, much longer than I expected it to last.

But then we shifted to a hybrid model. Then I had made the decision with with our executive team, of course, to say, “why don't we shift to a hybrid model for the foreseeable future, and see how it goes?”

Frankly, like I said, I think there's a lot to this model in what we do, like, I mean, I've worked in a factory most of my life, right? So almost all my career, I've worked in a factory either as a machine operator, as a quality inspector, as an attorney, whatever, I've been in factories, you can't do that remotely, I get that 100%.

But what we do, we advocate on behalf of our industry, we educate our members with compliance training and all that stuff. And we communicate our programs, our safety messages.

And a lot of that can be done remotely, and in a hybrid format.

And we're taking advantage of that by investing in state of the art communication equipment. And in computers that allow us to do this very, very effectively.

So, you know, it’s worked. The people are happy, because they're not getting on the road five days a week, right, to come to an office. Even if they come in three days a week. That's a bit like a bonus to them.

So I think there's a lot to be said about this in our in our particular environment.

It doesn't work for everybody. I understand that.

But for us, it seems to be working very well.

Q
All right, let’s talk about SHOT Show for a minute. Last year I thought the show was   excellent. I think the the first show back was tremendous, even though the crowds weren’t there. Maybe that’s what I thought was most tremendous about it.I didn’t have to feel like a salmon trying to swim upstream for for straight days. But the enthusiasm for SHOT 2023 didn’t wane a bit, did it?

Joe Bartozzi
No. I mean,I've been I've been now to 24 shot shows, you know, mostly as an exhibitor, of course, in my previous life, but this show…. there was something about this show, and I think it was a reunion of sorts, you know, there was the 2022 show, which of course had restrictions by the state of Nevada, you know, we had to have masks and yada yada all that kind of cast a pall over the NDS attendance was down.

But walking into the Shot Show 23 I can't put my finger on it, but there was a tangible excitement, a pulse, and energy that I had never felt before at any SHOT Show.

So I was absolutely thrilled. Of course, you know, me being kind of the guy that that's accountable, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So all week, I was like, Okay, this is going this is really going great. Let's, you know, let's hope it stays.

And from beginning to end, we've had uniformly outstanding responses to our surveys.

Our net promoter scores have increased. I mean, it was just a positive positive event. On Friday afternoon, I made it a point to talk to as many board members as I could find at the show. They were happy, the exhibitors were happy, the buyers were happy. It was just a great event, and I wish I could bottle it so SHOT Show 24 could be could be as good.

Q
Yet there’s still that undercurrent that says, “But blank wasn't there” And and “Joe didn't go to SHOT Show”. How do you answer people who say “I just don't see the value of SHOT Show?”

Joe Bartozzi
Well, you know, I tell people, you got to make decisions based upon your own circumstances.

You know, what I think the value of SHOT Show is, is the collaboration, the celebration of an entire industry coming together and conducting business in a polite, productive, collaborative fashion?

There's a value in that.

Look, I know from working at a manufacturer, you don't always write a lot of orders at the SHOT Show. But there's more to that than writing orders. It is goodwill created with your customers, with your vendors, with the media, it is all other things that go along to SHOT, not just writing orders.

Frankly, for my part, and with all due respect to people who aren't there, my focus on is on who is there making the best experience I possibly can for my attendees, my exhibitors, my buyers, my media folks.

I cannot look back, I never look back, I look forward. And I try to create the best experience. Our team has tried to create the best experience we can for those that are there- the people who have made the investment in time and money to come celebrate the industry together, and to have their business and to meet with their customers, their vendors.

And the people from all around the world. I think we had people from 115 countries there this year. You can't put a price on that. Could I fly it to 115 countries in two years, let alone in four days? No. So there's a value to that, whether people want to acknowledge it or not. If you're just looking at it in terms of dollars and cents, well, you can justify - or not justify - anything.

But you know, I don't know, how I can meet people from on 114-115 countries in four days, anyplace else on earth.

Q
I'm just going to ask this one straight out. Who came up with the idea to try to make a four day marathon fun at night?

Joe Bartozzi
You know, that's Chris Dolnack and his team. We had been hearing from the board that they wanted more opportunities to network. So we took that to heart.

Chris, really, you know, rolled up his sleeves. And he's like, I call him a mad scientist, you know, he comes up with these with these ideas, like “I think we really, really want to try this.”

You know what my style is, I'm a firm believer in trying everything once.

And if it sticks, great. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, okay. We learn, we'll move on, but I'm not looking back.

So I trusted his instincts. Chris knows his stuff. Probably better than anybody in the world.

So those were huge successes, the “Shot After Dark” events were tremendous.

We got great response to our surveys. It gives people a chance to cut loose after after a day of, you know, conducting business and interviews and all the other things that they were doing.

So yeah, I really enjoyed myself, I have to admit.

Q
So… how do you top that?

Joe Bartozzi
That's, you know, it's a good problem to have. People saw value in - and enjoyed - what we did. We are going to continue this model, it's going to look a little bit different.

I don't have specific details at the moment. But I tell people that SHOT Show is a 12 month out of the year event for NSSF.

Even though it's only four days in January, we are already working on SHOT Show 24 And looking at SHOT Show 25.

So how do we top it? we're gonna just offer the best product we can so that our customers can have the best value they can for their for their time and their money.

Q
Well,  while you're looking ahead, let's look down the road at some some trends and and areas that maybe we would rather not look at…like, say, the political climate.

Do you see anything stabilizing? Are we in a day in - day out ideological grudge match? Is this the equivalent of a cage match with with the anti-gun people?

Joe Bartozzi
Yeah, I mean, I tend to be an optimistic person generally. But I'm afraid we've devolved into these into these camps that tend to talk past each other.

I mean, at the end of the day, everybody wants safer communities.

Nobody wants so-called gun violence. Okay, nobody wants that.

But the question is how do we arrive at a solution?

Unfortunately, any productive debate is being tarnished by the political machinery getting in the way. Their rhetoric gets in the way of productive dialogue.

But, I will tell you I, I testified at a hearing in Connecticut just a couple of days ago. And, you know, it's always contentious.

But at the end of the day, there were certain folks that I didn't expect to kind of, at least acknowledge what we were trying to say. That was at least a little glimmer of hope.

On the national front, I think if certain politicians would stop with the rhetoric, we could realize and recognize that there's more that unites us than divides us.

As a nation, we'd be far better off.

Calling the firearm industry “the enemy” is profoundly counterproductive. And it just sets brother against brother, we don't need that. Nobody needs that. The nation does not need that.

Are there things we can do?

Yeah, I mean, look at our Real Solutions Program. You know, our “Don't Lie” and “Fix Nix,” things that are actually keeping guns out of the wrong hands, “Operation Secure Store,” “Project Child Safe.” I mean, the Veterans Administration holds us up as the model by which public private relationships ought to be.

That says a lot to me… even if we're not getting the credit for it in the media. I know there are federal agencies that actually appreciate what we're doing and what we bring to the table.

So again, I try not to despair.

But there are these glimmers of hope, that make me believe that you know, what we we are trying to put together real, not political, but real solutions, that actually will help keep guns out of the wrong hands and ultimately save lives.

And, you know, they don't want to hear it. They don't want to acknowledge it.

But I know it's there. And it is having an effect.

And that's that's what that's what gives me at least some optimism for the future.

Q
Well, there was a recent study from a pentagon commission that suggested putting regulations on soldiers, like being 25 years old to own a private arm and all kinds of silliness. But there were some real, substantive things in that study.

But it tended to gloss over the mental health issue. But the NSSF, and the industry is not sitting back, is it? Not trying to obfuscate the issue. You guys are actually trying to deal substantively with mental health and suicide issues, Are you not?

Joe Bartozzi
Absolutely correct. I mean, anybody that goes, even for a few minutes on our on our website, whether it be real realsolutions.org or whether it be ProjectChildsafe.org

you can see the things that we've published. We aren’t trying to pass ourselves off as mental health experts. But we have partnered with the best in the business on mental health. And they have helped us, and -by the way- we have helped them reach gun owners.

Because, I mean, I don't have to tell you that a lot of gun owners are not going to talk to doctors, or psychologists or VA practitioners about mental health issues. If they're gun owners, because there's an automatic concern, that they're gonna, like, strip me of my rights to own a firearm.

What we're trying to do is to say, look, there is a middle ground here. There is an opportunity to talk to people as gun owners ourselves, to say “look, there are things you need to be thinking about here…. Like the type of storage you ought to be looking into if you own a firearm.”

We're not telling you how to store your guns. We’re not telling you, you know, what to do specifically, but we're giving you ideas to help you identify warning signs. To take precautions to protect yourself and your family.

We are we are strongly against - and I testified in front of Congress about this- we strongly against mandates by the government regarding how people ought to store their firearms.

However, we do advocate very strongly for secure and responsible firearm storage when the guns are not being used. I don't think there's a contradiction there.

We just don't appreciate the government telling you how to do it. I think that's up to each individual family to decide.

So yeah, we're doing an awful lot.

And I mentioned this to our friends at FBI and at the ATF. If we were any other industry we'd be getting a lot of credit for what we're doing… because we're doing substantial things.

But because of who we are, you know, we have to fly a little bit under the radar. Because they won't give us the time of day.

But we’re here. Our resources are being accessed. Every. Single. Day.

That's gratifying to me because it means people are taking an affirmative stance to help themselves and to learn more about our programs.

Q
Two words popped into my mind regarding the ideological fight over guns:  guilt versus responsibility. Law-abiding gun owners are responsible. But I'm sure tired of being told that I’m not.

Joe Bartozzi
Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s their favorite narrative, you know, that we're some type of Neanderthals. That we’re knuckle draggers, whatever you want to call it, that's how they like to portray us.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

In fact, if you look at the recent surveys, in the last two years, the gun owning community looks more like the rest of America than it ever has before.

More African Americans, more Asian Americans, more Latinos, more females, by far.

I mean, it’s is becoming a real melting pot. I always say to people “we have a big tent, there's room for everybody here.”

You want to have your Second Amendment rights, you want to enjoy the outdoors and hunting or target shooting, whatever, personal protection? Welcome.

We don't we don't judge.

You know, all we ask is that you do the right things: secure your firearms when they’re not being used. Use the safety programs that we promote. That's not a heavy lift.

But again, the other side loves to portray us as a bunch of old white guys. And you know, me, I am an old white guy, I'll admit to that.

But the industry, the the world of gun owners, is changing.

And I think it's got to be driving the other side crazy, because they're l losing the culture wars, in terms of people who are buying guns.

Q
If you look at the change in the typical gun owner today: we're getting younger, we're getting fitter, we're getting tan. We’ve got all sorts of looks - but we're getting better looking all the time. That kind of puts the the lie to the the stereotyping that anti gun people use on us. Joe, is it not tempting sometimes, you know, to hammer them with that?

Joe Bartozzi
Well, it is tempting, and we do that every chance we get.

But, unfortunately, the mainstream media, they are entrenched in their position. They’re not going to carry our messaging. Even when we try to buy it - and we've tried. They won't even take our money to run some of our ads.

So it's disturbing in the extreme. It's censorship in the abstract, perhaps.

But I would say, that while they don’t want to acknowledge it….their worldview has been rocked. Their worldview was rocked when the pandemic and the riots started occurring, because people went out instinctively -and bought firearms.

Think about that. It's like somebody flipped the switch. It wasn't some marketing genius on the part of us, or our industry. It was instinctive …on the part of people all over this country. They went out and they learn how to shoot, they got trained up, they bought firearms, to protect themselves, because they see, the unknown is ahead of them, right?

Riots breaking out, places burning down, government restrictions on where you can go and what you could do and who you can talk to. And that's terrifying to people.

So what did they do? They bought firearms. To protect themselves and their families.

That must have blown their minds on the other side, because they think “How could this be?” You know they think, “the government's gonna take care you…don’t worry about it.”

People, people know better. So that that was quite a revelation.

And, again, I think it's hard to take away a positive from a pandemic. But I think that people, the reemergence, or the renaissance for the Second Amendment perhaps, occurred.

People realized, “oh, yeah, this is why the Second Amendment is there not because of hunting, it's because of the ability to protect ourselves during uncertain times.”

And that is that is probably the thing that drives them the most crazy, I would say.

Q
If there's something you want people to take away when they think of Joe Bartozzi, his job and his leadership? How do you want people to know you and remember you in the business?

Joe Bartozzi
You know, I may be a quiet guy. You said it early on in this interview, I'm not, you know, the most verbose, outgoing person. But there's a passion that stems from my own personal history. My grandfather spent 35 years at Winchester Repeating Arms Company. That meant something to me as a young man. It formed my my love for the industry and for my love for firearms early on. And I will take that with me for the rest of my career, the rest of my life…that I'm somehow carrying on, you know, his legacy, such as it was 35 years ago, for a major manufacturer.

I only spent 32 years at a major manufacturers, so I guess I'm a slacker, but I'm still in the industry….still doing what I love to do for an industry that I love. And I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna, I am never ever, ever going to stop fighting the good fight to protect the rights of all Americans.

And so if there's anything I would say, it’s this is this is not just a job for me, this goes deeper than that.

And I and it sounds kind of cliche or corny or, you know, romanticized but my grandfather loved the industry.

And, you know, and I wish he could have seen, you know, where I am, because I'm very, very proud of that fact. And it's, I think it's part of it's part of my legacy that I that I cherish, probably above anything else.

 
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