Community gathers for yearly NRA event

Sensi Workman holds up a Savage II XP Predator as she went from table to table selling raffle tickets for the hunting rifle.

More than 100 people gathered at the Mountain Home Elks Lodge on Saturday to share their passion for firearms while helping to raise money to support programs aimed at promoting the shooting sports across the nation.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary in Mountain Home, the Friends of the National Rifle Association's banquet featured an assortment of activities geared for people of all ages.

In addition to meeting others passionate about the shooting sports, the family-friendly event gave people a chance to bid on a number of exclusive, limited edition merchandise, firearms, knives, art and jewelry, said local Friends of the NRA representative Mike Mixon.

Seth Brock drops a raffle ticket in a bucket for his parents, who hoped to win a .357 Heritage Roughrider .357.

People could directly bid on items through silent and live auctions with others choosing to buy raffle tickets in hopes of securing a desired item for a bargain. A number of them entered for a chance to earn their pick from a "wall of guns" that included dozens of choices ranging from a Ruger American rifle to a Walther PPX handgun.

Among the other items up for bid was a bust of President Teddy Roosevelt that drew the attention of youngsters like Millee Markham. At another table on the other end of the banquet area, Seth Brock admired a Heritage Roughrider .357 as people next to the three year old dropped raffle tickets in a bucket in hopes of winning the revolver.

Other items that gained a lot of attention was the NRA's gun of the year -- a Kisner Pro Carry II handgun. County coroner Jerry Rost would go on to win that distinctive handgun.

Banquet guests look over an assortment of items up for bid during the Friends of the NRA event on Saturday.

But it was a gleaming white electric guitar that seemed to draw the most gazes that evening. Bearing the signature of signed by heavy metal guitarist Ted Nugent, it wasn't the signature itself that made it so special. Actually, it was an oversight that Nugent made as he went to sign a total of 1,100 of the guitars back in 2014 which the NRA planned to auction off at its events across the United States.

As he went from table to table signing the first group of guitars, Nugent included the number 14 -- short for 2014 -- on the first group of about 78 instruments to indicate when he signed them. But when the NRA officials indicated that the guitars were expected to actually be sold in 2015 versus 2014, Nugent stopped including the date on the remaining instruments, which increased that rarity of those first guitars he signed.

In fact, out of the 20 NRA events held across the state so far this year, the banquet in Mountain Home was the only one in which the "14" mistake was available for auction, said Steve Vreeland, senior field representative with the NRA's field operations division office in Nampa.

Steve Vreeland, senior field representative with the NRA's field operations division office in Nampa, holds up his organization's gun of the year -- a Kisner Pro Carry II handgun. County coroner Jerry Rost would go on to win that handgun.

That guitar sold for $750, which was quite a bargain, according to the local Friends of the NRA group. Similar guitars bearing the same error have sold for up to $3,000.

Nearly every dollar raised at Saturday's banquet will go to support the NRA's efforts "on the ground," Vreeland said. Half of those proceeds remain in the state they were raised.

Since its inception in 1992, the Friends of the NRA group has held more than 16,000 events, reached an estimated 2.8 million attendees and raised more than $230 million for the NRA Foundation. In recent years, this money has allowed the NRA to support a number of initiatives. For example, it's helped build shooting ranges to teach gun safety and marksmanship programs to children across the United States, Vreeland said.

"Recognizing that America's young people represent the future of the shooting sports, state fund committee grants are frequently given to youth programs, allocating more than 50 percent of grant monies to this important area," Mixon said.

Over the past 23 years, the foundation has awarded $2 million in grants in the state of Idaho. On average, the state chapter receives up to $700,000 in grant requests each year and is able to provide nearly $230,000 to support a number of these requests, according to Vreeland.

In recent years, those funds directly supported a request from the Mountain Home Police Department to launch an Eddie Eagle firearms safety program here. Through the NRA's support, the local police department was able to purchase a costume and other materials at no cost to the city, Vreeland said.

"Amongst the fun and fellowship, Friends of NRA banquets boil down to one goal -- fundraising for the future of the shooting sports," Mixon said.