There was a time, not too long ago, that most police officers were hunters and NRA members. As the country has become more urbanized, there have been fewer officers that have been involved in hunting and the shooting sports. And while the National Rifle Association membership numbers have been climbing, it seems that fewer officers in my region have been actively involved in the NRA.
The NRA offers many great benefits to law enforcement officers and to the agencies we work for. I’ll highlight a few.
In addition to the regular benefits that all NRA members get, individual law enforcement officers also receive access to body armor discounts, access to a scholarship program for dependent children (up to $2,000/year), and $25,000 line-of-duty death benefit.
The NRA also sponsors law enforcement firearms training with instructor development schools for handgun, shotgun, patrol rifle, precision rifle, select-fire firearms, tactical shotgun, and tactical shooting. If you are a firearms instructor, the NRA offers very low cost instructor liability insurance, which is essential if you are offering private training for security and armed citizens outside the scope of your employment.
The NRA sponsors tuition-free armorer schools. In 2008, the NRA hosted armorer schools for Glock, Ruger, Colt, Remington, SIG SAUER and Benelli.
The NRA Law Enforcement Activities Division also sponsors police competitive shooting matches around the country.
For agencies, the NRA offers a grant program, range development program, and a training program review. The grants can be for range development, training, education, and safety. The range development program can help an agency work through all of the hassles associated with building and maintaining a shooting range.
The training review program allows a department to send their firearms lesson plans and qualification programs to the NRA for review. The plans a reviewed by in-house trainers and the NRA Office of General Counsel and returned with suggestions to improve your program as needed. This additional layer of legal review could be very valuable when litigation arises from officer involved shootings.
So, if you are an NRA member, are you taking full advantage of everything your association offers? If you are not yet a member, it is time to join. Help support other gun owners like yourself and get some extremely valuable benefits.
Stay safe!