F-Class 101

Read a bit about the F-class basics here

Northern Virginia Friends of NRA Dinner

Northern Virginia Friends of NRA Committee Chairman Michael Sacks took a few minutes to answer some questions on what it means to chair a Friends of NRA dinner.

“It’s definitely living up to my expectations,” he said. “It’s a learning experience.” Sacks first became involved in the Friends event when he responded to an e-mail from his state’s field representative asking for volunteers.

Finding dedicated volunteers is the biggest hurdle his committee is facing, Sacks said. “It’s a challenge to try to recruit people to join the committee, to get people involved.”

Sacks has found his work with the committee very rewarding. “We’re able to give back to the NRA for all the support they’ve given us in defending our Second Amendment rights,” Sacks said. He emphasizes that the purpose of the banquet is fundraising for programs, and that the banquets are not political. “The fundraising helps us to promote firearms safety, and to educate children, specifically through the grant program.”

Sacks expects this year’s Northern Virginia Friends of NRA Dinner will raise around $20,000 with something like 250 attendees.

“The benefit is actually kind of selfish. I’m proud to be able to do this. It truly makes me feel good to be able to help.”

If you’re in the northern Virginia area and would like to attend the banquet, tickets can be purchased at the door. The event is this Friday, Oct. 3 at the Waterford in Fairfax, Virginia (next to Fair Oaks Mall). E-mail michael@alecian.com with questions.

To get involved in your community's next Friends banquet, use this map to find local events and your NRA Field Representative.

Board of Director profile #4: Allen

Board member Bill Allen started his law enforcement career in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in 1975. “I worked in several different division, working on the SWAT team for ten years and then the training division and then I went back to patrol as a field commander,” he says. “From there I took over the firearms training unit.”Allen was then promoted to Commander of the County’s patrol division. “I was also in the detective division for a few years, before I moved again and was Commander of the Special Operations division, which included narcotics, bomb team, gang unit, home defense and security.”

During his time in Special Operations Allen estimates he and his crew documented around 8,000 gang members in the greater Memphis area. “That’s just the ones we documented,” he says, “not including any who hadn’t been arrested.”

Allen is currently with the Shelby County’s uniformed patrol operations.

Throughout the years, promotions, and division transfers, Allen has made a point to shoot the National Police Shooting Championship.

Allen has been to NPSC since 1983 except for 1993 when he was at an FBI National Academy.

“I did really well shooting during recruitment and some of the guys on the pistol team got me involved.”

When asked if Allen has any particular NPSC he considers particularly important or successful, he says he doesn’t keep track of his scores. “They told me one time, ‘don’t ever fix on one score, because you should always strive to do better,’” he says, “so I don’t really remember.”

Allen has been an NRA member “since forever ago,” he says. “They asked me to be on the Law Enforcement committee. I never really thought about being on the Board of Directors before, and I never truly knew the depth of the NRA.”

“One of the biggest things I noticed (during Law Enforcement committee meetings) was how professional everyone was.”

After serving on the LE committee for four years, Allen considered running for the Board of Directors. “Several other competitive shooters talked to me about it,” he says. And he was successful during his first bid, although he says he feels overwhelmed with the starpower around him.

“Here I am in the Board of Directors’ room, sitting in there with Senators and Congressmen and war heroes,” he says, “and I’m a Deputy Sherriff from Memphis, Tennessee.”

Board of Director profile #3: Gaines

NRA Board member Tom Gaines doesn't remember too much about his first National Police Shooting Championships in 1964. But he says he did okay.

"I had been a bullseye shooter, doing very well in bullseye, and the transition to PPC was not all that difficult," he says. At that point Gaines was a law enforcement official within the U.S. Border Patrol, which had just gotten involved in PPC in the early 60s.

Over the years, Gaines and other Border Patrol veterans have watched their teams improve and dominate the playing field in several areas of police pistol combat. In addition to that transition, Gaines has a few interesting stories about the technology he used in the 1960s as a recent graduate of the Border Patrol Academy--including a 12-pound radio.

His career is one of many promotions, but it is centered on the west coast, where he still resides.

"I went through the Academy in El Paso, Texas, in 1960 and then was assigned to central California, 120 miles east of San Diego. I was there for 10 years and transferred over to the check point for six or seven years," he says. "I started getting promoted and went down to Chula Vista, right on the U.S.-Mexico border, just south of San Diego."

Gaines was then appointed Assistant Chief of the Border Patrol Academy. He returned to Chula Vista as an Assistant Chief and served in that capacity until 1985. Gaines then became Assistant Director of Criminal Investigations in Central California. He served a year as the Deputy Director for all immigration activities in the Los Angelos district. "I retired in 1990 as the Assistant Director for Anti-Smuggling in the Los Angelos district."

But what about the beginning of Gaines' career? How did he become interested in serving in the Border Patrol?

It was something he had always wanted to do, he says. "I had taken the Border Patrol exam in 1958 and passed the exam but with a low score. They weren't hiring many people," he explains. "And then Castro had the revolution in Cuba, and that's what really was the impetus for hiring a lot of people because we opened up sectors and assigned persennel down in Florida."

"I finally got hired in 1960, and the rest is history."

Gaines' Border Patrol career spanned almost three decades. He has a unique analysis about the relationship Border Patrol agents have with the agency: "It's worse than a marriage. There is absolutely no divorce. Once you're in the Border Patrol you're there forever and ever and ever. It's a brother and sisterhood that evolves from the camaraderie you have," he says. Gaines also notes he is part of the Border Patrol's "very active retired association."

Does the current Border Patrol pistol team consider him a mentor? "I don't think they listen to me," he says with a laugh.

"I was on the Law Enforcement committe of the NRA in the mid 80s," he says. "When I retired I was asked if I would run for the board, and I was elected my first time out. I came on the Board in 2000."

Gaines serves as the Chair of the Law Enforcement Committee; as Vice Chair of the Silhouette Committee; on the Education and Training Committee; the Jeanne Bray Scholarship Committee; and the Committee on Committees.

As a member of all these committees, Gaines' priority is keeping NRA members at the forefront of the leadership's mind. "If you look at the very top of our organization chart, at the very top is the membership."

"The members are at the top of the heap. Those are the people we're here to serve — their interests, their objectives."

Gaines wouldn't mention his NPSC history until prompted. "I had a few very successful years," he says. He is actually a two-time police pistol champion, 1969 and 1970.

"In the broader spectrum of the law enforcement community, it really is a pretty tight-knit group, because we're all out there trying to serve and protect," he says. "It's what we do. It's the oath we take."

Board member profile #2: Pawol

For Pennsylvania-based attorney Tim Pawol, the third time was the charm in getting nominated and elected to the NRA's Board of Directors. Now in his fourth year of service, Pawol serves on the following four committees: Finance; Protest; Pistol; and Action Pistol.

Serving as a knowledgable member of the Protest committe during the 46th National Police Shooting Championships, Pawol took the time to answer some questions. (He has shot NPSC as a non-competitor, by the way, as only law enforcement officials are able to compete.)

Pawol has seen a lot of challenges in his time as a volunteer at both NPSC and Camp Perry and he reports that this year's NPSC is average in the level of challenges submitted.

"When you have this many people—and this is important—there are prizes. They're here to compete. They want to know they're competing on level ground," he says. "And that's really what our job is, to make sure everyone's playing by the rules and that they are all competing on a level playing field."

"Yes, we do get challenges," he continues. "But when it's all said and done, and agree or disagree (with the competitor's challenge) everyone shakes hand and gets back to competing."

Resolving conflict is part of what Pawol does by trade. He does some pro bono work for individuals with disabilities and is involved with civil rights litigation. Thankfully, he says, he sees his daytime work as compatible with his service on the NRA's Board of Directors.

"A lot of people don't see people who work in Human Services as aligned with the NRA," he says. "The company I work for has the idea that if we're for the idea of the individuals we work with having their civil rights, you'd better protect all civil rights. So that's a good thing."

Pawol says his fascination with firearms began young—under the diligent supervision of his parents. "Starting out, I received my mother's shotgun when I was in third grade. I wasn't allowed to shoot it without my parents being present, but that was my gun," he says. "From there, I was in Boy Scouts and did that kind of shooting and a lot of hunting with my family growing up. My father was an NRA life member and I wanted to be an NRA life member as part of our family tradition."

Pawol was asked to attend Camp Perry one year "when they came up short on personnel. They knew I could at least talk from the tower without stumbling too much," he says humbly. Pawol's 14 consecutive years at Perry's pistol phase have allowed him to perfect his "tower talk," among other things.

So how exactly did Pawol come to run for the NRA's Board? "Through Perry, I met the referee who was John Sigler. He and I were talking because we're both attorneys and have similar interests and he suggested that I consider running for the Board of Directors."
"The first time I ran I was not nominated and then I was nominated and came in 26th. Then I ran again and came in 26th and I felt like the woman on the soap operas who never gets the Emmy, I think. Then I actually got elected and was on the Board."

Pawol sees his fellow Board members as confidants, firearms experts, public servants, colleagues—and friends. "We have a lot of fun. They can take a joke. If they couldn't take a joke I'd probably be pounded into the ground by now," he says. "There is a commonality of interest. I mean, a wide variance of background from all over the United States but we do have this commonality."

Pawol doesn't hesitate when asked what exactly serving on the NRA's Board means to him. "The biggest responsibility that we all have—and we all have our own individual interests, whether it's gun collecting, competitive shooting, or any of our over 100 programs—the major thing has to be protecting the 2nd Amendment," he says. "That's really a horrible thing to have to say."

"It's not that we are attacking or that we are aggressive; it's that we are under attack. A lot of our resources have to go to that. It's not something we would choose, and it's not something we want."

"It's what we have to do."

NPSC in the news

The Shooting Wire ran the press release announcing the winner of the 46th National Championship.