USA Shooting Attends SAAMI Annual Meeting & Receives $23,000 Donation

The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) recently held their 2012 Annual Meeting and Shoot in Little Rock, Ark.  The shoot, held in conjunction with its annual meetings, is an opportunity for members to enjoy a day at the range. For the 12th consecutive year, SAAMI selected USA Shooting as the beneficiary of the annual fundraising event raising over $23,000 in 2012.  Through their efforts, more than $200,000 has been generated by SAAMI and its members to help the Olympic shooting team succeed in international competition.

“We are extremely proud to support USA Shooting and our athletes,” said SAAMI Executive Director Rick Patterson.  ”Working with the USA Shooting staff is always a pleasure—they are both professional and incredibly  dedicated—and the opportunity to interact with the athletes really gets us fired-up.  These are outstanding young Americans.  The shooting sports could not ask for better ambassadors.”

The event held on June 7, featured USA Shooting Team athletes Rachael Heiden (Clinton, Mich.) and Arkansas native Kayle Browning (Wooster, Ark.).  Heiden and Browning are both National Team members for Shotgun and were finalists at the recent 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the Women’s Trap event.  Browning won her first World Cup medal earlier this year while Heiden just earned her second national title in three years at the 2012 USA Shooting National Championships in Colorado Springs.  Both shooters represent the strength and talent of women’s international trap shooting in the U.S.

“USA Shooting appreciates the fantastic support from the many companies in the shooting industry that provided auction items for the fundraiser, making this event so successful,” said Buddy DuVall, Executive Director of the USA Shooting Team Foundation. “We thank SAAMI and its members for their generous contributions and support of USA Shooting over the years and for their support in raising the profile of the shooting sports.”

About SAAMI
Founded in 1926 at the request of the U.S. Federal Government, SAAMI is an association of the nation’s leading manufacturers of sporting firearms, ammunition and components. It publishes voluntary industry standards, coordinates technical data and promotes safe and responsible firearm use. It handles both domestic and international technical and regulatory issues that affect safety and reliability of firearms, ammunition and components. For more information, visit www.saami.org.