The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is an organization that governs international shooting sports.[citation needed] While far from the only such organization, it is the one that is a member of the International Olympic Committee and so it is in charge of the Olympic shooting events. Not all ISSF shooting events are Olympic, however. The organization, with 154 national member federations, has its headquarters in Munich, Germany.
International shooting competitions had begun already with Shooting at the 1896 Summer Olympics, and the first World Championships were held in 1897. However, there was no governing body until 1907, when eight national federations founded the union, soon to be called Union International de Tir (UIT) (French for the International Shooting Union and sometimes referred to in English as the ISU). This was the name until the current name was adapted in 1998.
Over the years, the ISSF has distanced itself from connotations of non-sportive uses of guns. This has included changing over from human-shaped targets to circular ones. The only official ISSF target still depicting a live creature is the wild boar image used in 50 metre running target. Following this path, in 2000 the ISSF issued a decree, prohibiting any ISSF members from "cooperating" with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and from participating in any practical shooting activities. Regarding, contrary to the IPSC's own view, practical shooting as closer to combat training than actual shooting sports, the ISSF has also discouraged accepting the IPSC into the Olympic movement.
The ISSF recognizes the following competitions as ISSF Championships:
- The Olympic Games every four years (Olympic events only).
- The ISSF World Shooting Championships every four years, plus every other year for shotgun events.
- The ISSF World Cup four times a year plus a final (Olympic events only).
- Regional championships, such as the European Championships or the Pan-American Games, with regularity that is decided on the regional level.
These are the only competitions that have direct supervision from ISSF committees, and the only competitions where world records can be set. This leads to many national records in fact being higher than the world records.
