No matter where you live, the joy of the shooting sports should be accessible

December 2012 NRA InSights

Fairfax, Virginia - This month's issue of NRA InSights shows you how sharing your love for the shooting sports can be the biggest gift of all. Read on to learn about one generous firearms enthusiast who brought the shooting sports to the inner-city schools of Memphis, Tennessee and is helping shape a whole new generation of trap and skeet shooters.

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Shoots for 40 years, donates awards to NRA Museum

Around this time last year, 80+ year old Hazel Poole of Indiana donated her 'Scare Jacket' to the NRA National Firearms Museum:

Fairfax, Virginia - The National Firearms Museum receives donations every year — some from within our own NRA family. Today, Museum Director Jim Supica received just that kind of donation from the Hazel Poole of Indiana donates her shotgun Scare Jacket to National Firearms Museum Director Jim Supica family of our very own Bill Poole, the Director of NRA’s Education & Training Division.

It’s no secret to NRA employees that Bill is a wizard when it comes to the game of trapshooting. When you meet his mother Hazel, it’s easy to understand where Bill not only gets his shooting skills, but his sense of humor too.

Hazel flew in from Indiana to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Bill and his family. While here, she made a unique donation to the National Firearms Museum: her “Scare Jacket.”

Many competitive shooters own Scare Jackets (or shooting vests) embellished with the patches, pins, medals, and other awards they collected over the years. And Hazel’s jacket is certainly scary enough to warn other competitive shooters that she was quite the force to be reckoned with on the range.

As an accomplished trap shooter, Hazel is an Indiana State Trap Champion and a Hall of Fame trap shooter in both Indiana and Kentucky. Her Scare Jacket is covered with patches and pins that recognize her accomplishments on the trap field including State Team and Ladies’ Champion titles. The largest patch of all is on the back of the jacket — the Ladies’ Champion at the Dayton Homecoming Grand American in 1970, a major competition for trap shooters.

More on Hazel Poole's shotgun donation to the National Rifle Association ...

College students learn reading, writing, arithmetic and shotguns

A Virginia college student shoots shotgun during trap outing in Virginia
A Virginia college student shoots shotgun during trap outing in Virginia

It appears that our summer intern just can't let go.

After bringing his some friends up from Virginia Commonwealth University for an afternoon of shotgun lessons, our Mister James Poole filed this report with NRAblog.

Centreville, Virginia - As the fog cleared that morning, blazers and bowties were turned in for shooting vests and 12 gauge shells. The students of Virginia Commonwealth University were on “Fall Break. With their new found free time, they took the opportunity to participate in a private Trap Shooting Clinic hosted by NRA Education and Training.

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Raising money for veterans with Patriot's Path

Shotgun Team NRA 1 at the 2009 Patriot's Path fundraiser in Centreville, Virginia

Three years ago this week, staff from NRA Headquarters decided to help out a charity called Patriot's Path. Dedicated to helping veterans make the transition from military to civilian life, Patriot's Path was holding a charity shotgun tournament at the Izaak Walton League range in Centreville, Virginia. Here's another look at that story:

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One of skeet shooting's top stars lets the NRA peek in his bag

Two time Olympic gold medalist and US Army sergeant Vincent Hancock

Fairfax, Virginia - Four years ago US Army sergeant Vincent Hancock won Olympic gold in Beijing at the age of 19. This past summer he took home another gold and became the first skeet shooter to win consecutive Olympic titles. Now 23, Hancock is still substantially younger than the average medal-round qualifier and looks to have a bright future ahead of him.

Barbara Baird of Women's Outdoor News recently caught up with Vincent to ask a very important question for this month's issue of Shooting Sports USA: What's in your range bag?

Vincent Hancock is the first skeet shooter to win consecutive gold medals in the Olympics, winning in Beijing in 2008 and London this year. Hancock, also a sergeant in the United States Army and a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, GA, packs a very small range bag. He keeps spare parts for his Beretta DT10 Trident shotgun in his gun case. He says he has been shooting this Beretta for 10 years and has never had any problems with it. He is so trusting of this gun that he does not even carry a back-up gun to competitions.

More on what's inside Vincent Hancock's range bag...

Learning the shotgun sports with the National Rifle Association

Students from Virginia Commonwealth University shooting shotguns at Izaak Walton League in Centreville, Virginia

Centreville, Virginia - A good month or two into the new school year and things are coming together. Seniors are looking at potential colleges, homecoming dances have come and gone, and the SCTP Regional Competitions are well underway.

SCTP is the Scholastic Clay Target Program. Translation — shotguns.

More on creating collegiate shotgun sport opportunities ...

Fairfax, Virginia - Aaron Lewis is best known as the founding member of the rock group Staind. But on the side he enjoys a little country. A little NRA Country to be exact.

More on Aaron Lewis performing at the National Firearms Museum ...

Generous NRA donation will help Michigan youth keep breaking clays

Upper Peninsula Youth Shotgun Sports Organization receives Friends of NRA grant in Michigan

Two weeks ago Friends of NRA made a very generous donation to the Upper Peninsula Youth Shotgun Sports Organization (UPYSSO) to promote and further the clay target shooting sports in Delta County.

The check, totaling almost $4,400, was presented by NRA Field Rep Al Herman during the Eastern Upper Peninsula Friends of NRA's annual banquet in Brimly, Michigan. This money will go a long way to helping the Delta County Crushers, a Scholastic Clay Target Progam (SCTP) shooting team, and is a great example of funds raised at Friends of NRA events going back into the local community.

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You need to be great with more than pistols to win the National Police Shooting Championships

Police Shotgun Championship at the NRA National Police Shooting Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico - While the National Police Shooting Championships are almost entirely shot with pistols, one leg incorporates another staple of police equipment - the shotgun.

The Shotgun Championship is one of the three main championships that determine the NPSC Overall Championship. It may not be as intense as the Open Championship or even the Service Rifle Championship, but it's an integral part of winning the overall title.

More on NPSC's Shotgun Championship...

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