Rifle/Pistol Nationals Cancelled for 2021 Season

[USA Shooting]

Due to capacity limitations and COVID restrictions on alternative locations, USA Shooting announced today the cancellation of 2021 Rifle and Pistol Nationals originally scheduled to take place October 2021.

After the Tommy Pool International Shooting Complex was ruled out due to recent changes in the Health Protection Condition (HPCON) level at Fort Benning, USA Shooting explored other location options such as the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, which was also deemed unfit due to similar COVID restrictions.

“It’s very unfortunate that we have to make this announcement,” said Breanne Orey, USA Shooting Director of Competitions. We were hoping that after the disruptions in 2020 we would be able to offer some normalcy in 2021, but after exhausting all options to host this match that is not the case. I’d like to extend my gratitude to our members for their patience and understanding while we plan the rest of 2021 and into 2022.”

For those who already registered for the event, please check that you received a full refund to your original payment method. For questions, please contact competitions@usashooting.org

[jhmartin]

I know I've posted my opinion in the near past.
USA Shooting should not be beholden to Ft. Benning to run an outdoor match.
USA Shooting is not wanted at the USOTC in Colorado Springs.

I regularly complain to the board that USAS needs to move out of Colorado - a VERY firearm unfriendly state.
I know they are thinking on it ... again the costs associated are pretty substantial.

Eveyone should send the board an email asking them to try to quickly advance this process. Else we will have the same thing happen next year.
Note: we cannot even host a World Cup at this time.....

[lalka686]

As the communism in this country grows the sport is slowly dying out, the opposite goes for the countries where communism is slowly dying out, the sport is growing rapidly. Look at India, South Korea, EU countries, China etc. Too much politics in the sport! I see it on our own club. We used to have 6 junior pistol shooters, now we have one. On the rifle range, we had to run two relays because 16 target positions was not enough, 20 kids used to show up for weekly practice. Now, we are down to three. What should we expect for the next generation? It was always exciting time to travel for nationals to Fort Benning or Colorado Springs for winter air. I don't think we can blame the pandemic because this decline is happening for few years now.

[PaulB]

I bet someplace like Hillsdale College or Liberty University would love to be the site of a new national shooting center and would help significantly with the funding.

[wasper1]

I have a shooter on LIberty's team and I agree that Liberty University would be the perfect college to join forces with. They already have a handful of shooting teams (and growing), have the space, and have the facilities to house the athletes. There is a lot to do in that part of VA, easy to get to and a beautiful area. Im sure the city and the college would welcome the big competitions - they just need to be approached.

[Dan P]

I have a shooter on LIberty's team and I agree that Liberty University would be the perfect college to join forces with. They already have a handful of shooting teams (and growing), have the space, and have the facilities to house the athletes. There is a lot to do in that part of VA, easy to get to and a beautiful area. Im sure the city and the college would welcome the big competitions - they just need to be approached.

Does Liberty have a 50m range with electronic targets and covering firing points that comes close to meeting ISSF standards?

[Dan P]

As the communism in this country grows the sport is slowly dying out, the opposite goes for the countries where communism is slowly dying out, the sport is growing rapidly. Look at India, South Korea, EU countries, China etc. Too much politics in the sport! I see it on our own club. We used to have 6 junior pistol shooters, now we have one. On the rifle range, we had to run two relays because 16 target positions was not enough, 20 kids used to show up for weekly practice. Now, we are down to three. What should we expect for the next generation? It was always exciting time to travel for nationals to Fort Benning or Colorado Springs for winter air. I don't think we can blame the pandemic because this decline is happening for few years now.

This has nothing to do with politicians trying to kill the sport. Fort Benning's range is owned by the Army. That means that any matches there have to abide by whatever policy the DoD and DA have in place at the time, which could change without notice. The only top level rifle and pistol range we have for outdoor Olympic events is Benning. We had the Olympic range in Atlanta, but USAS, the NRA, and all of the other shooting organizations did little to save it from being converted into something else. Maybe if the CMP would invest in upgrading Perry and/or Talladega for ISSF smallbore, we'd have other options. Same for the NRA and Whittington.
The sport is dying out for a lot of reasons, one of which is the shear number of different shooting events that American kids have to choose from. How many people in the countries you cited are shooting service rifle, 3-gun, IPSC, sporting clays, etc? How many Americans in the Olympic shooting sports are getting the endorsement deals that shooters in non-shooting disciplines get? I know that there are supported shooters out there and the ISSF regs keep them from being walking billboards, but I still don't think we are getting the level of love that the more exciting TV friendly action shooting sports get.

[wasper1]

I have a shooter on LIberty's team and I agree that Liberty University would be the perfect college to join forces with. They already have a handful of shooting teams (and growing), have the space, and have the facilities to house the athletes. There is a lot to do in that part of VA, easy to get to and a beautiful area. Im sure the city and the college would welcome the big competitions - they just need to be approached.

Does Liberty have a 50m range with electronic targets and covering firing points that comes close to meeting ISSF standards?

They had planned a few years ago to build an indoor range but from what a coach (who is no longer there) told me , environmentalists kept pushing them back until it became unreasonable. Right now they have a precision team that uses an outdoor & indoor range without electronic targets, a great shotgun range, archery, action, etc. I do think if they knew what USA Shooting could bring to the area they would find the resources to build a range that meets ISSF standards and could easily be the new go to site.