“I’ve been an NRA member since the earth first cooled,” Board Member Ronnie Barrett told NRAblog with a smile. The southern photographer-turned-firearms inventor made his way to Washington for this past week’s NRA Board Meetings. 

Barrett invented his first gun at the age of 28, the model 82. Twenty some years later, after countless innovations in the big-bore long-range rifle world, he is best described as an advocate for the industry. "We took a lot of good stands," Barrett said of Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc. "I guess I'm looked at as one of the first gun manufacturers who took a pretty heavy stance against the misinformation being told on the gun industry." 

"Before you know it I was asked to run for the NRA board," he said. "There is not a finer board in America." 

Recently named the winner of the 2010 Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award, Barrett has the distinction of being one of a handful of Americans whose small-arms designs have served in an official capacity on battlefields around the world.

In addition to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc., which employes several hundred people, the Barrett family owns what Barrett defines as a "unique" gun shop.  The Outpost Armory is half sandwich shop and half gun shop. “It’s a family business,” he said. 

Barrett is a long time attendee of such shows as the NRA Annual Meeting and the SHOT Show. 

“I’m just proud to be an NRA member,” he said. “Some of the best people in the world are the ones I meet at NRA Annual Meeting."