Junior Shooter Tells Fairfax Board Why She Supports 2A Sanctuaries

Earlier this week, the Fairfax Board of Supervisors heard from a packed room of constituents why Fairfax should be come a 2A Sanctuary Locality. The board unfortunately did not pass a resolution. You can see the entire video of the meeting here and here.  But there was one portion that really stood out to me.  It was a young lady who is a member of her high school Junior ROTC program, and is also a competitive shooter, shooting USPSA, 3Gun and is on her school's Junior ROTC Shooting Team.  In less than two minutes she explained why she supported the resolution.  If Senate Bill 16, introduced by incoming Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw passes and is signed into law, competitors like the one in the below video would no longer be able to compete in their chosen sport and would even have their driving privileges revoked if they were caught with one of the banned firearms, some of which are used in competitions like 3-Gun.  If you know shooters like the young lady in the video, please make sure they are at the Virginia State Capitol on January 20th to let the legislature and the Governor know they responsibly use firearms that would be banned by SB16 and that they oppose the legislation.

VSSA Junior Marksman Jessica Kelley Wins First Place JROTC Service Championship at Camp Perry, Ohio.

On Feb. 20, 2016 Jessica Kelley a Jr. High Power shooter with VSSA, won 1st place for her Precision Air Rifle JROTC Air Force team out of Stafford, Va. The CMP JROTC Service Match is a 3x20 consisting of two days of shooting at Camp Perry, OH (North East Region). She began by scoring a perfect 200-17X in prone and nearly did it again on the second day with a 199- 15 X. She went on to win first place for the Air Force JROTC after completing in the ten shot final round against five Franklin County, VA finalists with an overall score of 1251.4. She will now move on and compete in the CMP JROTC National Matches held at Anniston, AL. There she will compete against 85 other precision shooters representing the best marksman from every JROTC Branch including the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. The competition will occur on Mar. 18 &19, 2016.

Jessica began marksmanship training in 2012 during her freshman year of high school after joining the Jr. Shooters team at American Legion Post 290 in Stafford, Va. She began using a sporter air rifle and was coached by Capt. Nick Roberge (USMC Ret) and Don Cavender of the FBI. She enjoyed marksmanship and soon began expanding her skillset by including High Power after joining the VJMP (Virginia Jr. Marksmanship Program) team sponsored by VSSA and coached by Maj. Mike Darnell (USMC Ret) and Bill Mckaig (Army Ret). She then further expanded her marksmanship capabilities by joining the Mavericks, a precision shooting team, coached by Tom Pike at the IWLA Arlington/Fairfax Chapter (a VSSA affiliated club). This strong foundation of marksmanship and great coaching helped Jessica greatly improve her skills as evidenced by her being invited by USA Shooting to attend the National Jr. Olympics at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this spring.

Jessica is a senior at North Stafford High School. She has applied to the United States Coast Guard Academy and hopes to shoot on their rifle team with Coach Richard Hawkins .

VSSA High Power Juniors Win Spring League

Enough can't be said about VSSA Board Members Mike Jamison and Bill McKaig.  Mike is chairman of the VSSA Highpower program and Bill McKaig is the team coach.  Both have worked hard to build a strong junior high power program.  This group of junior shooters won the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club Spring League.

From left to right:  Christopher Howell, Anne Slota (from the Brooke Point High School JROTC Air Rifle team), Zach Lively, who also took #2 Service rifle Junior, and Jonathan Howell, who won the Marksman class, High Match Rifle Junior, and team member.   Their proud team captain, Mike Jamison, is standing behind them!



Mike Darnell (MAJ, USMC, ret) coaching Anne Slota



Kirk Sawyer, also from Brooke Pointe HS, winning an individual award!



“The Coach”

Great job and keep up the good work.

Virginia Shooters Score at The American Legion's Junior Air Rifle National Championship

VSSA affiliated Lafayette Gun Club can be proud of two of their junior shooters who participated in the American Legion Junior Air Rifle National Championships this past weekend.

Hanna Black of Yorktown, VA, claimed the 2010 sporter champion title after firing a 2312.0 out of 2509.

"I had a fun time with the competition, and it was nice making friends with the other competitors to help ease my nerves," Black said. "Winning the sporter category is a great accomplishment for me."

In the Precision category, Danielle Foster, also with Lafayette Gun Club, shot a 2446.9 to claim a third place finish.

Congratulations to Hanna and Danielle on their great shooting.