Lolo, MT—The International Hunter Education Association-USA announced last week that it will be putting together a new Firearms Fundamentals course for state Fish & Wildlife Agencies to conduct.

With support from the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), the IHEA-USA is taking the first step toward an official, nationwide course that individual states can use to ensure that their citizens have the training to be safe gun owners. The IHEA-USA Firearms Fundamentals Course is designed to improve the awareness, understanding, and beginner uses and practices of new firearm possession. This online course will be available for executional use by all 50 states and territories through their respective wildlife and natural resource agencies later this year.

“We’ve seen 17 million people purchase a firearm since 2019, many of which are first-time gun owners,” stated Alex Baer, Executive Director of the IHEA-USA. “As the leading governing body for safe hunting, it makes sense that we could and should address safe shooting and firearms ownership. We have the infrastructure to execute this program widely, and we are highly motivated to ensure that all first-time gun owners, like first-time hunters, have easy access to professional training from a trusted source.”

The IHEA-USA has delivered safe hunting messages for the last 50 years through partnerships with state Fish & Wildlife Agencies. As United States experts on hunter safety, they now seek to enhance their services to the industry by adding this timely yet critical course on firearm safety covering storage, transport, and general handling topics. Additionally, this online course will succinctly inform and raise awareness about the importance of how excise taxes from manufacturers’ firearms, archery, and ammunition sales directly contribute to all states’ wildlife conservation and management efforts. These efforts include wildlife research, restoration and management projects, land acquisition and operations and maintenance, opportunities to hunt, hunter education, target shooting programs, and construction and renovations to firearms and archery ranges.