PAULDEN, Ariz. — This past weekend was a celebration of American freedom at Gunsite Academy, where more than 400 contestants took part in the 50th Annual Gunsite Alumni Shoot.
"We are truly blessed. Our 50th anniversary event went off flawlessly," Gunsite Academy Owner and NRA Board Member Buz Mills said. "I am so proud of my folks, our team, the volunteers and our Alumni competitors. We had a spectacular weekend. No one went home, hungry or empty-handed."
The academy was founded in 1976 by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, the Marine officer widely regarded as the father of the Modern Technique of the Pistol. Since Marine veteran Buz Mills and his wife, Sonja Mills, purchased the school in 1999, Gunsite has grown in both the number of students trained each year and the ground it occupies. What began on a little more than 160 acres now covers more than 3,000 acres, with a succession of new ranges built over the 26 years of Mills ownership.
The weekend’s highlights were not limited to the match. Visitors included Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs; U.S. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona; U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona; and U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania’s 14th District. With the midterms approaching, the elected officials and those seeking office used the gathering to urge supporters to get out the vote.
Gunsite CEO Ken Campbell kept the program on schedule, welcomed the crowd, and saw that safety rules were observed with so many shooters on the facility. Meals were well prepared, and the tone throughout was that of a reunion as much as a competition.
The growth at Gunsite has tracked, in its own way, the broader advance of Second Amendment rights that the National Rifle Association has championed for more than 155 years. Cooper served on the NRA Board of Directors for more than 25 years. Buz Mills is a current Board member and has served in that capacity for nearly 20 years. Also on hand were NRA Board members Amanda Suffecool and Brig. Gen. Jack Hagan. Support for the NRA from Gunsite’s leadership has been steady across the academy’s first half-century.
