United States Practical Shooting Association

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The United States Practical Shooting Assocation (USPSA) is a 501c(3) non-profit Delaware corporation that is currently headquartered in Sedro Woolley, Washington. USPSA is the United States sanctioning body for the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). The USPSA has approximately 20,000 dues-paying members. There are a variety of USPSA affiliated clubs in each US state, most holding matches at least once a month throughout the year. USPSA publishes a member magazine called Front Sight six times a year.

1 Organization
2 History
3 Range Safety / Match Officials
4 National Championship Matches
5 Additional Information
6 External Links

[edit] Organization

USPSA is organized into 8 "Areas", each of which is represented by an Area Director at the board meetings of the organization. Each Area is divided into sections. Each section is represented by a Section Coordinator who is responsible for coordinating the activities of clubs within his/her section, and managing the nationals slot distribution process.

The Board of Directors is comprised of the President and the 8 Area Directors. The President is elected by all of the members to a 4 year term. Each Area Director is elected by the members in that Area to a 3 year term. The Board of Directors' responsibilities include: financial strategy, including budget, planning and investment strategies, membership recruitment and retention strategies, marketing strategies, strategies for the format and location of National Championship matches, strategies for the establishment and/or management of relationships with other shooting organizations, including IPSC, drafting and revising the rules that USPSA matches are conducted under, and review and ratification of National Range Officer Institute (NROI) policies and procedures. Each member of the Board has an equal voice, with the President breaking any ties.

As of 2006, the Board is:

President - Michael Voigt
Area 1 - Bruce Gary
Area 2 - Chris Endersby
Area 3 - Emanuel Bragg
Area 4 - Kenneth Hicks
Area 5 - Gary Stevens
Area 6 - Charles V. Bond
Area 7 - Rob Boudrie
Area 8 - George Jones

[edit] History

[edit] Range Safety / Match Officials

In conjunction with IPSC, USPSA has their own dedicated range offfcials, which is run by the National Range Officers Institute (NROI). John Amidon, a Vice President of USPSA, is the Director of the NROI. The NROI is responsible for the training and certification of the Range Officials, firearm safety, good course design and advising the membership on the application of the rules as determined by the Board of Directors.

There are 5 different types of Range Officials:

1) Range Officer (RO)
2) Chief Range Officer (CRO)
3) Range Master (RM)
4) Tournament Director
5) Range Master Instructor (RMI)

[edit] National Championship Matches

Each year, USPSA holds National Championship matches for Open, Limited, Limited 10, Production, Revolver and 3-Gun (now called Multi Gun). Sometimes, all of the pistol Nationals are held at the same time, other years, they have been broken up between different ranges. The 3-Gun/Multi-Gun Nationals are always held at a separate range and date from the pistol Nationals. In order to attend the one of the pistol Nationals, a competitor usually has to win a "slot", usually by placing well enough at various regional and Area Championship matches held throughout the year. Currently, anyone can participate in the 3-Gun/Multi-Gun Nationals on a first-come, first-serve basis.