Today begins our 2011 Year in Review. Throughout the week, Kerrin, Kyle and I will dig through our archives to find the stories that meant the most to us this year. An event, a championship or an individual encounter that made an impression. As the work week is short, we're combining numbers 4 & 5 today and wrap it up with the top stories on Friday. With that quick disclaimer in hand, here we go:

Lars' Story #5 from 2011 - Top Shot

#5 on my list for top stories in 2011 is Top Shot.

I didn't start watching Top Shot until season number 2. The only reason I did (thankfully) was because of a few run-ins with season 1 winner Iain Harrison. Soon enough I was hooked. Then came the Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. That's when I met Ashley Spurlin, George Reinas and season 2 winner Chris Reed. Great guys all. A couple of months later, I ran into George again at a charity Sporting Clays event in Los Angeles. No Ashley or Chris, but Joe Serafini was there to do some damage to the clays. Then came season 3.

As with season 2, I tweeted during the show (via @NRAblog) and posted updates here on the blog. During that time, Chris Reed was nice enough to share his thoughts on the new season and eventual winner Dustin Ellerman provided pictures and quotes for my updates. To top it all off, Top Shot runner up Mike Hughes came by headquarters to meet with the Education & Training Department.

Not only is this one of the top firearm related shows, but the people involved have been great about sharing their experience at the drop of a hat. That's why I choose Top Shot as my #5 story of the year.

I start off #4 with an apology to Robert Vadasz, but fourth on my top stories of 2011 list is Law Enforcement Competitions ... both the National Police Shooting Championships (NPSC) and the Tactical Police Competitions (TPC).

There's no reason why Robert Vadasz winning his 3rd NPSC title in four years can't stand on it's own two feet as a top five story. Heck, he even stuck around after all was said and done so I could get a closeup look at his guns (see his 1911 9mm and Bob Jones .38 Special Revolver.)

Unfortunately for Robert, there were too many good stories at this year's Law Enforcement competitions to let any one competitor take top billing. Good people too. There's Dan from San Antonio, Mike from Lewisville, Rob from Fairfax and Sean from ICE to name a few. Each are more then willing to set aside a little time to review the matches, talk about their firearms and walk the beats to protect those of us who make man the civilian ranks.

Now if you're like me, your main interaction with law enforcement has been after you did something wrong – speeding, blowing through a stop sign or hosting a party that's just a little too loud. So the idea of covering NRA's Law Enforcement Division wasn't that high on my list. But these people are some of the best that America has to offer – not to exclude our international competitors who are pretty great too. Their continued display of excellence, both on the street and at the matches, is why Law Enforcement Competitions is my #4 story of the year.