Alright... from a "younger" shooter's perspective... NCOWS L-198
Background first... I am an teacher, a parent, and an Eagle Scout, an NRA Certified instructor, a part time gun sales associate, and otherwise active gogetter.
For all organizations there has been a decline in committed membership (religious, masonic, scouting, and the list goes on...)
Fear is what drives education, not indoctrination... even your most conservative teachers are afraid of offending x and losing our meager salary... I have seen some very poor decisions made, because we were afraid of what someone "might" say. Sure there are those who do believe in disarmament and schools are not fighting that either. I am not allowed a first amendment as a teacher, because I am in a position of authority. With this, I agree with the statement "No action, is an action!" (Sorry, that is as political as I will be, hopefully it was not too much for the forum rules...)
As a younger person money is a barrier... loving my kids comes first, feeding them and giving them life experience and opportunities follows closely behind (I hear some of you saying, "teaching them about firearms is loving them and giving them experience" and I agree)
I would say the number one barrier for new shooter's has always been and always will be TIME... (this is the same problem for other organizations, as well)...
Finding a range, finding equipment, finding accouterments, finding or making ammunition, research, research, research. All to walk up to a match or annual meeting to have some curmudgeon criticize your work, because it isn't correct. (Thankfully, this never happened to me... I have the best Posse!!)
Getting to and from matches isn't always easy and the matches sometimes take all day... not terrible to spend a day out shooting, but then comes the cleaning, the reloading... not to mention my wife at home with the younger ones who won't keep their muffs on. All worth it to the right person!
It isn't "easy" to find NCOWS, SASS,or BP organizations, or the right firearms. It is easy to find modern firearms, and if someone is only going to buy a single firearm, then they will miss out on the fun of CAS.
Reactive targets make the world go 'round
I put forth... (and am going to propose to my posse...)
If a club would have an open range day...
A publicized day (or two) where "other" firearms are welcome with all members helping to run small scenarios, educate on period correctness, shooting style, and the chance to see how fun single actions really can be... (kind of a mini convention) Then awareness would increase, fun with firearms would increase, and membership would increase!
The Scouts were starting to do CAS (your posse might also volunteer some help with that if they are running this at their summer camps)
Knob Creek anyone?
This would increase security needs as it makes people aware of your range, but the awareness of the sport would breath new life into the posses.