NRA Holding National Police Shooting Championships in Police Shooting Friendly Albuquerque

lapel cam screencap

This year's National Police Shooting Championships will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to the National Rifle Association (NRA), which opens the two-day competition in September to any "eligible law enforcement member."

In April the Department of Justice released the findings of its probe of the Albuquerque Police Department, saying it had found probable cause to believe there was a pattern and practice of excessive force. There had been 24 fatal police shootings between 2010 and the release of the report last month and at least one since, with at least an additional 13 non-fatal police shootings in that time. Albuquerque has a population of just 555,000. Unsurprisingly the conditions have led to protests over police brutality. A group of residents tried to arrest the police chief at a recent city council meeting.

Police violence, and especially questionable shootings, provide a real-world example of why the state shouldn't be granted a monopoly on the use of guns by measures curbing the individual right of self-defense. It also shows what's dangerous about the assumption that state agents are innately more qualified in the use of firearms than civilians looking to exercise their Second Amendment rights. It's a shame the NRA doesn't seem to see it that way.

UPDATE: A commenter notes the NRA has been holding this competition in Albuquerque for some years. Neither, however, are the APD's problems new.

Comments

[Drake]

Live targets?

[BuSab Agent]

It's one way to manage that unsightly homeless population.

[WTF]

Actually I assume they will be stocking up on stray dogs from the local pounds.

[gimmeasammich]

Actually I assume they will be stocking up on "stray" dogs from the local pounds neighborhoods.

FTFY

[antisocial-ist]

I love the peasants, they're my people
PULL.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

So, is that the elephant in the room: the NRA being too cozy with cops?

[Episiarch]

The NRA got burned really hard in the 80s when they stood up for people being able to own certain kinds of "armor-piercing" ammo and got tarred as supporting "cop killer bullets", and the cops went apeshit. The NRA now kisses their asses pretty hard.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Wasn't that a panic in part fueled by the movie Lethal Weapon 3?

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Can't help but laugh at this, but knowing Donner's politics, it's probably a chicken/egg thing.

[Episiarch]

No, it was Lethal Weapon 5.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Ah, yes! The acceptable blackface Mac-face.

[Almanian!]

"Riiiiiiiiiiggs! Cop killers!"

*throws gun to Riggs*

That's not as fun since Mike Riggs left teh REEZUN...

[Brett L]

Which is why I didn't buy the Lifetime Membership. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they aren't. I can walk with them as far as we can down the (obviously unpaved and unmaintained) road to Libertopia.

[Episiarch]

I got a lifetime because every range I wanted to join required an NRA membership and I figured it would save me money in the long run. Then I came out west and no ranges require that and I realized I was stupid. It's fully paid, though, so whatever. If I was doing yearly I'd cancel, because as you say, sometimes they aren't good.

[Brett L]

Yeah, I actually refused to join the good range in town because of that requirement coupled with the only affordable way being a lifetime membership. So I shoot less, because the free gun range turns into the wild west after 9:00am on week-ends. Although, they've put in an outdoor range on the other side of town... I wonder what their rates are like.

[Episiarch]

Back in NY and CT, every single range required an NRA membership. If you didn't join, you didn't get to use a range.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Man, that is slimy. I thought it was bad enough the way they just try to push it on you here, but it's not even a hard sell.

[Episiarch]

I wasn't thrilled about it, let me tell you, but I like to do skeet and trap most of all and I wasn't going to be doing that in my woods. Besides my club in CT was like a country club, had its own bar, and was just really nice.

[UnCivilServant]

MY Range doesn't, but it's been forced to stop accepting new members due to over-enrollment.

[UnCivilServant]

*I didn't mean to emphesise the 'my', it was an accidental double caps.

[Robert]

Why do you suppose that is in NY & CT (and maybe other states nearby)? Is it because the ranges need the protection/cx in this environment?

[Cdr Lytton]

There's a NRA membership requirement at one of the ranges nearby. They get their liability insurance from the NRA or sponsored by the NRA so that's where the 100% requirement comes from for them.

[trig]

Gun range? I just step outside 🙂

[BFawlty]

Going to the woods tomorrow to put first rounds through my Sig P227.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

So, what do you think is going to eventually happen with the members that aren't touchy-feely about cops? Do we suddenly get a splinter group, or internecine fighting?

[Clich? Bandit]

The NRA had a hevy hand in authoring the Brady Bill. They are a spineless and corrupt organization that does not deserve a penny from a 2A supporter. GOA or JPFO are much better.

[Sigivald]

Or not caring about the 'optics' in a way that satisfies Reason poster sensitivities.

Amount of fucks I give about this: Zero.

[Brandon]

If there was an open competition allowing both police and "civilians," would any cops compete?

[BuSab Agent]

Of course they would, because the cops would have a special rule where they shoot first and then a target would be painted around the resulting bullets holes. You know procedures.

[CJR]

Such competitions exist - in fact, they are much more common than police-only competitions. Start with http://www.uspsa.org and http://www.3gunnation.com.

To answer your question, some cops compete in open pistol matches, and a few are very good. Robert Vogel was USPSA Production national champion for several years running, all while working as a full-time police officer in rural Ohio. But that's the exception rather than the rule. Most police officers don't compete at all.

[UnCivilServant]

while working as a full-time police officer in rural Ohio

That might have something to do with it.

[Lucky Jack]

I shoot competitively.

The reason they hold "officer only" shoots is because otherwise they wouldn't get cops to show up, for fear of getting schooled by civilian shooters.

Most cops are notoriously shitty shooters with fragile egos.

Glock holds GSSF matches with a special "guardian" division for mil/law enforcement. At the first one I attended my time was a good 30 seconds faster than the winning guardian time.

[tarran]

I disagree with this.

The problem we are seeing is with law enforcement culture. And rather than insulating them and alienating cops further from the little people, more interaction is better.

Nor is the choice of city particularly relevant. It is as stupid as the demands that the NRA not hold a convention in Colorado in the wake of Columbine.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

That kinda goes to my question. In a "more interaction" scenario, isn't the problem of police power going to have to be dealt with at some point? Not that it's inherently wrong, or anything like that, but I imagine it'll leave a lot of hurt feelings and such, if anyone dares have the conversation.

[sarcasmic]

The only thing interaction with the police will do is show the little people how little the police care about those they supposedly serve and protect. It won't have any effect on police culture.

Police culture is an unsurprising result of a focus on unjust laws. Good people do not seek out to enforce unjust laws. Fix the laws and the culture will fix itself.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Police culture is an unsurprising result of a focus on unjust laws. Good people do not seek out to enforce unjust laws. Fix the laws and the culture will fix itself.

Hmmm...Food for thought.

[R C Dean]

The problem is that the cops have way too much interaction with the public. And they have been getting more and more such interaction all the time.

We don't need more of the same. We need fundamentally different interactions, founded on mutual respect and accountability. Until that happens, interacting with cops will only reinforce the current toxic tribal cop culture.

[dannye]

At the open competitions in my gun club, the plebs smoke the cops every time.

Even with the "elite" cops show up (SWAT, sniper teams) with their overpriced, taxpayer funded gear, their performance is laughable. $5000 AW bolt guns getting 2 inch groups at 100 yards. What a joke.

[UnCivilServant]

$5000 AW bolt guns getting 2 inch groups at 100 yards. What a joke.

My $79 Nagant can manage that, and it doesn't even have a scope. What's the rest of that $$ going to?

[dannye]

The heavy doses of sugar and caffeine don't help, and the large wobbly gut does not make a steady shooting platform.

But hey, nothing like spending peoples' money.

[Sigivald]

Not practicing, that's what.

[R C Dean]

I had a semi-auto shotgun with an off-the shelf slug barrel that was that accurate. If I had a rifle I couldn't get tighter groups out of, I'd get rid of it.

[creech]

Just to show how more accurate long arms have become, I was reading a study of a British brigade in the Revolution.
At Brandywine, about 1000 troops fired nearly 6,000 shots at the Continentals.
Being outnumbered, let's say the Continentals only fired 4,000 in return.
Net result: 1 killed, five wounded.

[Slammer]

I was going to type "self-awareness how does it work?". But then I realized they are totally self-aware. They know they are hated and are out of control, and they are doubling down. After all, they are next to zero repercussions for their actions. Why not a big "Fuck You, America, we do whatever the fuck we want?" It's on purpose, not hypocritical.

[sarcasmic]

Why not a big "Fuck You, America, we do whatever the fuck we want?"

That's no exaggeration.

My stepson's father is a cop, and the kid once said to me "My dad's a cop! He can do whatever he wants!"

I wonder where he got that from?

[gimmeasammich]

My stepson's father is a cop, and the kid once said to me "My dad's a cop! He can do whatever he wants!"

Which is just a short leap to, "My dad's a cop! *I* can do whatever *I* want!"

Or in Richard Daley's case, his nephew, RJ Vanecko, and the killing of David Koschman.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/c.....d=12447231

[Slammer]

I mean the cops, not the NRA.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I imagine the targets are a broad crowd of people spread out with only a few bad guys mixed in.

A medal for shooting the bad guys, a beer for shooting the dogs, and a paid vacation for shooting the civilians.

Accurately reflects the rewards for the real thing, no?

[sarcasmic]

Extra points for punching targets of pregnant women in the face.

[Damien]

Reason seems to have a theme: cops shooting people bad, people shooting cops good. And that the editors seem to stick to the same theme. Kinda suggests unreasonableness.

So let's use the reasonable man test. A reasonable man, packing heat, comes across a camper who threatens them with a machete. Does he:

Use talk defense.
Use the, "retreat to the furthest point, which means he has to run until he is either caught or worn out,
Use the stand his ground defense.

Let's add this: he is responsible for others who are not armed.

This reasonable man gives the intruder the chance to disarm, to surrender, to lie supine. OR most likely, I already capped his sorry ass in a New York minute.

[Clich? Bandit]

RIGHT ON! I haven't had a drink in a while.

Thanks

[DFG]

Where did Reason ever say "people shooting cops good"? Some of the commentators here (after one of the many horrific police shootings or beatings of innocent people) may have said something like that but I've never seen that written by a Reason writer, and I bet you never have either.

[Damien]

And Hitler and company went to great pains never to say directly what the final solution was either. But it wasn't hard to detect.

[Andrew S.]

Pulling a Godwin? Really, Tulpa?

Even for you that's bad. Not even Shriek goes that low.

[Andrew S.]

How ya doin, Tulpa? That Hydra sockpuppet get found out too quickly for ya?

[R C Dean]

Reason seems to have a theme: cops shooting people bad,

All too often, it is.

people shooting cops good.

Give us a link to that article, because I don't recall it.

[R C Dean]

D, that would be a good hypothetical if it bore any resemblance at all to the police shootings that are highlighted on this site.

But it doesn't. Try again.

[PghShyster]

This competition has been held in Albuquerque for something like 10 years. This article makes it sound like it was just awarded to that city. It's not like the NRA just moved it there as some sort of show of support for Albuquerque's lousy police department. And the NRA sponsors way more competitions that are open to all than the small handful that are police-only.

[Andrew S.]

It should've been moved away form Albuquerque as a result.

But the NRA has always been far too cozy with police, so I wouldn't be surprised if they would have moved it there to show support.

[R C Dean]

We have a saying out in the real world of responsibility and accountability:

Acquiescence is support. By continuing this competition in ABQ, the NRA is supporting the ABQ police department and its habit of gunning people down.

Fuck the NRA. I wish I was still a member, so I could quit over this.

[Almanian!]

By continuing this competition in ABQ, the NRA is supporting the ABQ police department and its habit of gunning people down.

I disagree.

And I joined a year ago just to piss of the libtards, so we cancel each other out.

Still don't see that the NRA does a whole lot for me, but neither do I see having their little shooting contest in ABQ as having anything much to do with anything.

Mostly - fuck tha poe lease.

[R C Dean]

neither do I see having their little shooting contest in ABQ as having anything much to do with anything.

By not moving it, the NRA is sending the message that they have no problem with the serial murders committed by the ABQ cops.

And maybe the NRA just doesn't really care, since their mission is gun rights, and not civil rights or otherwise the limitation of State power.

[Juice]

Oh!! For a second I thought it was a Cop Shooting Competition not a shooting competition for cops.

[Robert]

I knew I couldn't've been the only 1.

[The Late P Brooks]

I hope police are considered "varmints" requiring no license, season or bag limits.

[BuSab Agent]

Nope, they're a protected species. So if one accidentally runs into a bullet while fucking with your farm animals, don't tell anyone just quietly bury it in the back forty.

[R C Dean]

For a change of pace:

Mailman kills dog:

http://www.khou.com/news/texas.....92771.html

[Ted S.]

Is he getting a paid vacation and a medal?

[The Late P Brooks]

Kinda suggests unreasonableness.

Close enough. DRINK!

[Devil's Advocate]

Be careful about telling the people of Albuquerque that you are having Police Shooting Championships in their town, as they might think that you said Police-Shooting Championships and turn out in droves.

[Matrix]

Police Shooting Championship? Is that for shooting the police? What does the winner receive?

[Christophe]

Given their terrible aim, getting a ton of cops in the same place to shoot all day may be a cost-effective way to thin the herd. Good thinking NRA.

[Christophe]

Get them all drunk while you're at it.