In 1979 the NRA consolidated the various law enforcement-related programs into the NRA Police Activities Division, today known as the Law Enforcement Division. The ultimate goal was essentially the same as before: train instructors and promote competitions for qualified law enforcement personnel as an extension of training. Provide law enforcement the tools needed to win armed confrontations. By this time NRA-certified instructors had collectively trained more than a million law-enforcement officers, and LED continued to grow.

As an expansion of its 1978 Gunsmithing Schools, the NRA offered a new Law Enforcement Armorers School to assigned department armorers in 1979. The classes covered the assembly, disassembly and repair of Colt, Ruger, and Smith & Wesson revolvers, as well as Ithaca, Remington and Winchester pump shotguns. The semi-automatics hadn’t quite taken the law-enforcement community by storm then, but by 1987 LED was hosting seminars on Beretta, Glock, Heckler & Koch, SIG Arms and Smith & Wesson pistols to aid the transition from wheelguns to autoloaders in 9 mm Luger. Today NRA hosts tuition-free armorer schools at its headquarters in Fairfax, Va.

Firearm Instructor Development Schools were also adapting. Training had been available to private security instructors as early as 1967, but the NRA created a new Security Firearms Program in 1976 to address particular training, materials and instruction most relevant to private security needs. The new Rifle Instructor School helped swell the ranks of active NRA instructors to 10,208 by 1986. The following year, the Long Range Rifle Instructor program was created to address law enforcement’s trend toward incorporating snipers into its departments.

A new Submachine Gun School was conducted in 1987 to accommodate the growing popularity of H&K’s MP5 for tactical applications. Recognizing the need for advanced training to subdue violent criminals and minimize police casualties, the law enforcement community was overcoming its prior shortcomings, and the NRA LED was right there to help provide officers with the tools needed to effectively get the job done.

From The 1990s To Today
As the training and competition programs continued to flourish, LED started expanding benefits and recognition of individual law enforcement officers. As Glen Hoyer, director of LED summarized, “Although we are still very focused on what we were founded on—training and competition—we’ve branched out into other areas, such as tuition-free armorer schools and information seminars to help law enforcement officers and agencies. We will continue to look at new opportunities to help our fellow law enforcement and military personnel.”

Any NRA member and public law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty receives a $25,000 life insurance benefit, in addition to his dependents being eligible for college tuition scholarships. Millions of dollars have gone to the grieving families of some of the country’s most courageous officers. Dependents of retired and active police who are NRA members are also eligible for tuition assistance.

In 1993, NRA began recognizing an Officer of the Year who exhibits “exceptional valor, public service, and dedication to the principles of our Constitutional heritage.” And the award is not given lightly.

The 2005 Officer of the Year was awarded to NRA member and Officer James D. Niggemeyer of the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police. On Dec. 8, 2004, a band was playing at a nightclub in Columbus when an armed and obsessed paranoid schizophrenic stormed the stage and began opening fire. Panicked nightclub patrons flooded the police switchboard with reports of an armed madman unloading round after round into musicians, employees and fans. Niggemeyer was patrolling nearby and entered a back door within three minutes of the first call. He maneuvered to the stage to get a clear view of the attacker, only to find the lunatic 20 feet away with a hostage in a headlock, pressing a handgun to the man’s temple. With no other option, Niggemeyer waited for his moment of opportunity, and in a professional display of precision, shot the man in the face with a 12-gauge Remington 870. At his death, the assailant still had 35 rounds of ammunition.

Today LED has trained more than 50,000 instructors, with about 2,000 new instructors trained each year as the program continues to expand. With such a multitude of applicants, instructor classes are dispersed throughout the country and are held on a regular basis. Classes today include Handgun, Handgun/Shotgun, Tactical Shooting (pistol/long gun), Tactical Shotgun, Patrol Rifle, Select-Fire, and Precision (Scoped) Rifle Instructor.

LED maintains one of only a few nationally recognized firearm training classes as confirmed by a number of court decisions. Some states, such as Pennsylvania, have officially recognized the NRA as an acceptable standard, as have the military and agencies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

NRA’s LED has been to Afghanistan, Japan and other countries to help train our military. In fact, just before the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, a major in the Marine Corps came to LED to train his troops because he knew that today’s wars are different from past wars. Nowadays, our troops are heavily involved in urban warfare and must focus more on protecting the innocent as well as eliminating the enemy, just as our police officers do on a daily basis here in the United States—and the major knew that LED has been hosting this type of training for a long time. “Who better to train us than the NRA?” he asked.

A few years ago LED added a new breed of competitions to its standard PPC. The Tactical Police Competition (TPC) is essentially a 3-gun-type match consisting of pistol, rifle and shotgun shooting in timed events. Competitors often transition from one gun to another, depending on the nature of the course. The events are divided into skill-based and scenario-based courses, with the former focusing on officers’ “abilities in handling, accuracy and overall proficiency with a given firearm system under set conditions.” Scenario-based courses are hypothetical law-enforcement encounters in which officers must use their own tactics and skills to resolve situations. TPC is open to law enforcement officers, members of the U.S. military and private-sector law enforcement officers.

The Eddie Eagle program was recently incorporated into LED as well, and today has reached more than 23 million children, teaching them how to safely react if they come across a firearm. “Stop, Don’t Touch, Leave the Area, Tell an Adult” has been ingrained into the minds of children all across the country.

Preserving and bettering the American way of life for future generations is one of society’s highest duties. Protecting their right to life, liberty and property as our Founding Fathers envisioned depends on remaining vigilant and prepared today. With a half-century under its belt and millions of the finest military and law enforcement personnel continually benefiting from its training and services, it appears the NRA Law Enforcement Division will continue to lead the country as one of the premier law enforcement firearm training organizations for generations to come.

For more information on instructor development courses, competitions, Eddie Eagle, law enforcement benefits and other related information, visit http://www.nrahq.org/law/ or call (703) 267-1640.