In applying for approved club status, prospective sports shooting clubs are required by Weapons Licensing Branch in Queensland to prove affiliation with a state or national body. The whole purpose of a shooting club, in their view, is to conduct approved matches and only matches approved by a state, national or international body with whom the prospective club is affiliated can be shot by the prospective club.
Shooters Union of Qld, at its inauguration, was affiliated with the Australian Service Rifle Association and the International Metallic Silhouette Shooting Union (IMSSU), so we were able to shoot the matches of those two organisations, namely rifle and pistol silhouette. However, due to the focus of these two associations, members found that we didn’t have many approved matches and they wanted more.
We decided to approach the NRA for affiliation as an external club, because as they offer the largest range of accredited matches, thus meeting the Queensland Weapons Licencing requirements and fulfilling the needs of our members.