Initially, there were seven of them: Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Netherlands from Europe, and Argentina from South America.
Seven national Shooting federations that met in Zurich, Switzerland, inside a telegraph office, and established L’Union Internationale des Fédérations et Associations Nationals de Tir, or International Union of National Shooting Federations and Associations, in what is now remembered as the first ISSF General Assembly in history.
The assembly, that according to a record occurred in a room with no chairs, started with a statement: “The purpose of the Union is to establish a bond of friendship between the major Shooting federations of all nations in the world.”
The 55-year old President of the French Shooting Federation, Daniel Mérillon, was elected as the first ISSF President. The same Mérillon, then, appointed Florimond Lermusiaux as the first ISSF Secretary, while Austrian delegate Anton Jelinek became the first ISSF Vice President.
Even with no initial connection to the IOC, the ISSF soon forged a link with the Olympic movement, officially receiving the commitment to govern the Olympic Shooting events in Paris, France, for the 1924 Olympiad.
Nowadays, with more than 150 member federations and 15 Olympic events, the ISSF is still following the original purpose set by its founding members in 1907.