Membership

NEW MEMBERSHIP

General: AAF&G welcomes new members to the organization. Any person who is not legally restricted from firearms ownership for reasons other than age, and who is 18 years of age or over, and who subscribes to the objectives of this Association without reservation, shall be eligible for consideration. All new members shall, as a condition of membership renewal, join the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Sponsor Requirement: All applicants must be sponsored by an AAF&G member in good standing. If you do not have an AAF&G member to sponsor you, you should try to cultivate one by participating in shooting activities at which non-members are welcome to participate. Please note that all AAF&G members are strongly encouraged to shoot with any potential applicants before agreeing to sponsor them. Such shooting activities include .22rf Bullseye matches conducted Sunday mornings or .22rf/centerfire pistol matches conducted every Thursday afternoon. There are also Cowboy Action shoots conducted on the 3rd Saturday of every month from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., IDPA matches, and AR15 and Vintage Military Rifle matches conducted on the 1st and 2nd Saturdays of the month respectively. For further information about these opportunities to identify a sponsor, go to Page 2 of the current club newsletter (found at the Newsletter section of the AAFG home page – scroll to the bottom of the page) and contact the Range Committee Chairman for the event you would like to participate in.

Once a sponsor has been identified, the process for applying for membership is as described below. Note that this is a new procedure. Unlike the old applicant procedure, you no longer appear at a monthly Board meeting and get voted on at the following General Membership meeting.

Procedure:

1. Download the Membership Application. Either print the blank application or fill it out online using the form filler option and then print it. This is a multipage (single-sided) application so make sure you print all pages.

2. Application. Fill out the application completely. Incomplete applications or applications received without signatures where required will not be accepted. Send the completed application along with a nonrefundable $100 Application Fee (check or money order - no cash) to: AAF&G Secretary, Attn: I&I Committee, PO Box 150, Arnold, MD 21012.

3. Background Check. When the application is received by AAF&G, the applicant's name will be made known to all members by posting in the clubhouse, letters of inquiry will be sent to any other shooting organizations listed by the applicant, and a criminal history background check will be begun.

4. Interview. Applicants will be requested to appear, along with the sponsoring AAF&G member, for a personal interview with members of the Membership Committee's Interview and Inquiry Subcommittee. Applicants will be contacted in the order the applications are received and will be offered the option of a week night or a weekend interview. Interviews are expected to take approximately 45 minutes. Only four applicants per day or eight applicants per month will be interviewed, so there may be a delay in being scheduled for an interview depending on the number of applications received.

5. Review of Interview & Background Information. Once the interview has been completed, the I&I subcommittee will review the substance of the interview, the results of the criminal history check, any responses from other organizations, and any input from current AAF&G members and will then make a determination as to whether or not to recommend to the Board of Directors acceptance of the applicant as a provisional member or to recommend non-acceptance.

6. Recommendation to Board of Directors. The applicant's name will then be forwarded to the Board of Directors with the recommendation of the I&I subcommittee and the Board will then vote at the next Board meeting whether or not to forward the applicant's name to the general membership with a recommendation for acceptance as a provisional member.

7. Recommendation to the Members. The General Membership will be presented at the next General Membership meeting with the applicant names forwarded by the Board of Directors with a recommendation for acceptance as a provisional member. The members present will then be afforded the opportunity to vote for acceptance or non-acceptance of the applicant as a provisional member.

8. If accepted as a provisional member you will be contacted by a representative of the Membership Committee and so advised. Once advised of acceptance as a provisional member and provided with the schedule for the mandatory Orientation and Safety Walk-through. For planning purposes you must advise the Membership Committee of when you will attend your Orientation and Safety Walk-through. However, until the Orientation and Safety Walkthrough is successfully completed, the new provisional member will not be issued a membership card, gate access card, or combination to the clubhouse door.

9. After Acceptance. If accepted into membership, the new provisional member must pay the $200 membership fee prior to attending an Orientation and Safety Walkthrough. If joining mid-year, the dues are prorated (for the first year) at $17/month. Members of the immediate family (over 18 and living in the same household) may join as family members for $50 per year (each family member must also fill out a separate application and go through the same interview process as the primary member). This Family member fee is prorated at $4/month for the first year. The dues & fee schedule is shown below:

Member Category	Initiation/Application Fee	Annual Dues	1stYr Pro-rata dues	Capital Assessment
Individual	$100	$200	$17/mo	$50
Family	Waived	$50	$4/mo	Waived
Student	Waived	$100	$8/mo	$50

Provisional Membership: The provisional member status lasts for a minimum of six months which gives the new member time to complete the appropriate level of "gunschool" as determined by the Board of Directors based on input from the I&I committee. During this period the provisional member will have to take a Firearms Safety class offered on-site at no cost to the member, and may have to participate in a shooting match that is not one of the member's primary disciplines, again, at the direction of the Board of Directors. This “gunschool" is designed to assess the provisional member's degree of firearms competency, support of the objectives of the association, and personal integrity. After the firearms safety course, the completion of any required shooting match(es), and the expiration of at least six months of provisional membership, the provisional member may petition the Board of Directors to convert the provisional membership to a full individual annual membership. The petition must be favorably endorsed by three (3) current Individual or Life Members in good standing. The Board will review all the pertinent facts and vote to recommend or not recommend approval of the petition to the general membership. The general membership will then vote to approve or disapprove the petition.

Download New Member Application

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

2010 Membership Renewal Form

Your 2010 AAF&G renewal form is available on this website (see link above). The renewal instructions (similar to past years) are on the renewal form. If you joined the club after August, 1999 remember to include proof of your NRA membership (copy of your card, address label from your magazine, copy of the letter they sent you saying they’re several weeks behind in processing) with your completed form. EVERYBODY (including Life Members and each card carrying family member) needs to complete a renewal form…this is how we tell if you’ve moved, changed your telephone or email address or just ridden off into the sunset. STUDENT MEMBERS must also enclose a copy of their official full time schedule as well as their form, etc.
The credit card option for paying your dues is NOT AVAILABLE.

Please MAIL your dues and completed forms, etc. back to the club’s Post Office box. (PO BOX 150, Arnold MD 21012) We have a system in place for collecting and processing them.
DO NOT LEAVE THEM IN THE CLUB HOUSE.

The old gate and club house combination will be provided with your 2010 membership card which will be MAILED in a big batch around the middle of February. If you paid, sent your form(s), etc. and don’t have your new
card by the end of February, contact Meg Clarke. You can reach her at marston.clarke@verizon.net or 443-504-9023 (days) or at 410-267-7233 (eves)

Remember that your proximity card access will also be dropped if your dues are not paid before February 1st as
detailed in the by laws.

Newsletters

MPORTANT NOTICE
The SCORE will no longer be mailed out. We will post it on the Web site (www.aafg.org), and we will notify you by e-mail, providing the hyperlink to each issue as they become available. I know that there are a few luddites out there who absolutely, positively have to get a paper copy in their mailbox. I will charge you with the responsibility of notifying us that you wish to continue receiving a paper copy (coming to a meeting might be a good way of doing this). Also, it is incumbent upon each of you to make sure that we have your current e-mail address. Please send an e-mail to William J. Palk at wpalk@verizon.net. Please put “E-mail Address for SCORE” in the subject line.

Newsletters will be posted as they become available