Rio Ammunition is wearing its heart on its sleeve. Its latest packaging promotion includes a message to join the NRA and it is launching a two-pronged effort to back the mission financially. The visual change to its boxes comes in what Rio is calling its Patriot Pack of 100 wingshooting and target 12-gauge shotgun cartridges.
In conjunction with the design change, the company is pledging to donate $1 for every Patriot Pack sold between now and June 15. The money will fund various NRA programs that promote the Second Amendment. Through the donation program, “Rio is helping to ensure that the qualities of discipline, respect, good sportsmanship and loyalty, all key aspects of the shooting sports, are carried forward to the next generation of collectors, hunters and competitors,” according to Darrell Morrow, national sales director for Rio.
The second part of its commitment to the cause is that the company has teamed up with the NRA to allow people who sign up for membership in the nation’s oldest civil rights organization to save up to $40 in dues. “We are grateful for Rio’s commitment to the Second Amendment.” said Todd Grable, the NRA’s executive director of membership. “[It’s] critical to have partners who stand with all of us in protecting our Second Amendment rights and preserving America’s shooting sports heritage.”
Rio has been around since 1896, but is a relative newcomer to the U.S. market, first becoming available in the States in 2002. In the intervening years, as name recognition grew, the company opened a manufacturing plant in Marshall, Texas, where it can produce some 300 million shot shells annually.
