The German Shooting Sport and Archery Federation (german: Deutscher Schützenbund, DSB) is the largest umbrella organization for sport shooters in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was founded in 1861 in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

and re-founded in 1951 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

/ Main. DSB was Germany's fourth-largest sports association in 2008, with 1,095,071 male and 357,400 female shooters. Besides the well-known Olympic disciplines of

Rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

Pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

Shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

and

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

the German Shooting and Archery Federation also looks after the disciplines of

Running Target Running target shooting refers to a number of target shooting sports and events involving a shooting target—sometimes called a boar, moose, or deer—that is made to move as if it is a running animal. Competitions are shot at known target dis ...

Muzzle-loader A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...

, Field Archery,

Crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...

and Summer

Biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

. The senior administrative body of the German Shooting and Archery Federation is the biannual General Meeting of Members. Executive bodies are the Managing Committee and the Executive Committee, the latter has nine members (president, five vice-presidents, national treasurer, national head of sports and national head of junior sports). Since 1994 Josef Ambacher from

Starnberg Starnberg is a German town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the " Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg. Recording a disposable per-capi ...

is president. The German Shooting and Archery Federation’s objects are to support and supervise sport shooting according to standardized rules, to regulate training, to establish national leagues, to promote the shooting tradition, to represent its members nationally and internationally, to advocate the interests and needs of all young people especially those organised in shooting sports, to realize the "Deutschen Schuetzentag", to represent sport shooting and the general shooting tradition in the public uniformly. The head office is located in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

-Klarenthal under the direction of Secretary General Joerg Brokamp. The DSB’s monthly published official paper is named “Deutsche SchuetzenZeitung”.

Sports regulation

The German Shooting and Archery Federation’s sports regulation regulates the shooting in the various disciplines in over 1,500 shooting clubs of this federation. The DSB’s guidelines of shooting ranges and the regulations of shooting ranges bindingly regulate the equipment of shooting ranges and the behaviour while performing the sport. The German Shooting and Archery Federation is a member of the

Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund The German Olympic Sports Confederation (german: Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund or DOSB) was founded on 20 May 2006 by a merger of the ''Deutscher Sportbund'' (DSB), and the ''Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland'' (NOK) which dates ...

(DOSB), the

International Shooting Sport Federation The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the Olympic shooting events in rifle, pistol and shotgun (clay target) disciplines, and of several non-Olympic shooting sport events. ISSF's activities include regula ...

(ISSF), the

International Archery Federation The World Archery Federation (WA, also and formerly known as FITA from the French ''Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc'') is the governing body of the sport of archery. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is composed of 156 nation ...

(FITA), the European and Mediterranean Archery Union ( EMAU), the

International Crossbow Shooting Union Match crossbow is a target shooting sport using crossbows. Unlike field crossbow, match crossbow is quite similar to the Olympic rifle. The International Crossbow Shooting Union (Internationale Armbrustschutzen Union-IAU) is the world gover ...

(IAU), the

European Shooting Confederation The European Shooting Confederation (ESC) is an association of the International Shooting Sport Federation's member federations from Europe, the Caucasus, Cyprus, Israel, and Turkey. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ISSF banned ...

(ESC) and the

Muzzle Loading Associations International Committee The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC) is the world governing body for competition with muzzle-loading firearms. Both originals (made prior to 1900) and replica's thereof. MLAIC organises World Championships on even-numb ...

(MLAIC).

Regional federations

Twenty regional federations are members of the German Shooting and Archery Federation. Their boundaries are not identical with the borders of the federal states. * BD – ''Badischer Sportschützenverband'' (

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

) * BL – ''Schützenverband Berlin-Brandenburg'' (

Berlin-Brandenburg The Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Berlin-Brandenburg) or capital region (german: Hauptstadtregion Berlin-Brandenburg) is one of eleven metropolitan regions of Germany, consisting of the entire territories of the s ...

) * BR – ''Brandenburgischer Schützenbund'' (

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

) * BY – ''Bayerischer Sportschützenbund'' (

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) * HH – ''Schützenverband Hamburg und Umgegend'' (

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and surrounding area) * HS – ''Hessischer Schützenverband'' (

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

) * MV – ''Landesschützenverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'' (

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

) * ND – ''Norddeutscher Schützenbund'' (North Germany) * NS – ''Niedersächsischer Sportschützenverband'' (

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

) * NW – '' Nordwestdeutscher Schützenbund'' (Northwest Germany) * OP – '' Oberpfälzer Schützenbund'' (

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

) * PF – '' Pfälzischer Sportschützenbund'' ( Palatinate) * RH – '' Rheinischer Schützenbund'' (

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

) * SA – ''Schützenverband Saar'' (

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

) * SB – ''Südbadischer Sportschützenverband'' (

South Baden South Baden (german: Südbaden; ), formed in December 1945 from the southern half of the former Republic of Baden, was a subdivision of the French occupation zone of post-World War II Germany. The state was later renamed to Baden and became a fou ...

) * SC – ''Sächsischer Schützenbund'' (

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

) * ST – ''Landesschützenverband Sachsen-Anhalt'' (

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

) * TH – ''Thüringer Schützenbund'' (

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

) * WF – ''Westfälischer Schützenbund'' (

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

) * WT – ''Württembergischer Schützenverband'' (

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

)

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

1861 establishments in Germany National members of the European and Mediterranean Archery Union