By Greg Gielczyk and Mark Constance
PHOENIX, Ariz. – It was a once in a lifetime experience for Roscommon’ Kirk Lattimore and Grayling’ Ed Tompkins.
The duo was part of history Nov. 14 at a National Rifle Association (NRA) event at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, Arizona.
1,000 participants lined up to shoot a special Henry Golden Boy Silver rifle twice as part of the event, which was sponsored by Henry Repeating Rifles in support the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states:
‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’
The pair registered for the event more than a year ago, and only found out they were selected to be part of the event three weeks ago.
Lattimore said everyone went through two ‘dry fires’ where everybody got acclimated to the gun. He said the range out in the desert was set up with targets in front of a huge berm and about a half mile back was the base of a mountain.
Lattimore said the firing line stretched a mile and a half long, but actual shooting space was tight.
‘We were 18 inches apart. (When all the shooters were lined up) it was quite a distance. We were right up tight against each other.’
He said that after they became comfortable with handling of the firearm, shooters were instructed to step away from the line, put the cartridge in, then step back up to the line for the actual live fire.
The shooters were given the command and everyone fired simultaneously.
‘It sure put a smile on your face, put it that way,’ Lattimore said. ‘Just to be among a bunch of Second Amendment rights advocates from all walks of life was awesome.’
Henry Repeating Arms CEO Anthony Imperato was pleased with the event. He said a group or friends from the NRA and his team were discussing ways to promoted the amendment when the idea for the shoot originated.
‘The NRA is a great organization to work with,’ he said. ‘This was a way for us to celebrate the amendment and at the say time, raise money for the different NRA safety programs.
Henry supplied the firearms for the event, a special engraved silver edition of the company’s famed ‘Golden Boy.’ .22 caliber Rifle. 1,000 firearms were produced for the event. About 750 were sold to the participants. Imperato donated the rest to the NRA for its firearm education efforts.
‘I’m proud to be part of this tradition,’ he said. ‘To have this many people in one place to celebrate the Second Amendment is awesome. It couldn’t have gone any better.’
Lattimore said he was encouraged by the diversity of the attendees.
‘Very diverse GǪ There were Hispanics, blacks, whites, women, kids, Chinese, Japanese … it was just a whole gamut of people there. GǪ I didn’t really realize there would be such a mix. There’ a lot of supporters.’
Tompkins said the event was awesome.
‘It was pretty neat. Meeting people from different parts of the country,’ he said. ‘Obviously, we’re all Second Amendment supporters, program enthusiasts and that. But it was just neat meeting with everybody.’
He said firing the rifle was ‘pretty neat’ too.
‘Henry makes a fantastic product,’ Tompkins said. ‘The experience very nice. The whole idea of this was just to come together and break a record in the annals of the NRA. They had a range officer up in a tower who gave all the commands.’
About 400 volunteers helped the event to go off without a hitch.
Tompkins, who is into shooting sports but doesn’t hunt, is used to working with groups of 30 or 40 people on one firing line in his role as certified range safety officer.
‘As a safety officer I wondered how exactly the NRA was going to do it as far as what we call Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),’ he said. ‘Once I got there and was instructed on just how things were going to go, I said ‘Okay, that makes sense.’
‘I’ll tell ya, the NRA has a handle on things. They know how to keep things very, very safe.’
Proceeds from the event will support NRA initiatives, including the promotion of firearms safety, youth shooting sports, disabled shooters and the Eddie Eagle child safety programs. Henry expected to raise $1 million dollars from the event.
Officials from the NRA contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, according to Guinness Public Relations Coordinator Sofia Rocher.
‘Guinness World Records does not monitor mass participation records that, each time the record is broken, increase the danger posed to the general public or environment. As the activity proposed by the NRA is not one we feel can be safely monitored on a global basis, we unfortunately are unable to recognize it as a record,’ she said.
Both Lattimore and Tompkins purchased the special edition rifles, which will be delivered to them sometime this month. For people who didn’t want to buy the rifle, there was also an option to just purchase a spot on the firing line to be part of the event.
‘It was the first NRA event I have attended and I’ve never seen an event, especially of that size, the way they handled it,’ Lattimore said. ‘They pounded safety issues into everybody. Everybody followed directions as they should.
‘And the whole experience was awesome.’
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