Accessing Arizona

May 8, 2010: Ben Avery Shooting Facility, Phoenix, AZ

The National Rifle Association sponsored the 2nd Annual Open Range Day in Phoenix this weekend.  Held at the Ben Avery Shooting Range, people with disabilities were invited to come learn about and shoot all types of firearms.  The free event attracted approximately twenty-five shooters. Most used wheelchairs, and there were a few scooters and slow walkers. Of the participants, it was nice to see many females who often had the best looking targets.

NRA’s Disabled Shooter Service Manager, Vanessa Ross was running the show this year again.  This year she upped the fun a little.  Aside from the shotguns at trap field, the pistols, the small caliber rifles and pellet guns, she brought along some AR-15′s for everyone to enjoy semi-auto style.  To the surprise of many new shooters, the semi-auto version of’ the military’s M-16, is actually pretty easy to shoot because of the minimal recoil. [Note to Vanessa: Please bring some belt-fed fun next year]

In typical fashion, this NRA event was well planned,  The four vans that shuttled shooters about were from the Arizona Spinal Cord Injury Association, and volunteers prepared a nice lunch for everyone. Many of the shooters this year knew each other which made the all day event even more fun as there was a bit of competitive nature in the air. With temperatures in the high 90′s,  shooters were looking for shade.  This made the indoor air conditioned air-gun range ever more popular.

For more info, check out Art Merril’s blog entry at www.NRABlog.com.

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