Frank Brownell, President of Brownell's, the Iowa-based gunsmithing supply house, has given an unprecedented personal gift of $253,000 toward The NRA Foundation's Law Enforcement Endowment for the Law Enforcement Patrol Rifle Training Program.
Support from the Brownells is not new. In 2003, the Brownell Family Foundation paid off their earlier pledge of $250,000 and renewed it for another $250,000 to fund NRA's Youth Shooting Sports Camps. The personal gift from Frank Brownell, combined with other gifts from the Brownell family and a giving program for their customers, brings their combined contributions to over $1.3 million.
Sandra Froman, NRA President, told Frank and Pete Brownell, "On behalf of the National Rifle Association and its nearly four million members, let me express our grateful appreciation to you and your family for your generous support of NRA's educational programs, and most of all, for your extraordinary vision and leadership at a time when the concept of funding NRA programs through endowments was just an idea."
The NRA's Law Enforcement Activities Division (LEAD) provides firearms instructor training exclusively to public and private law enforcement officers and military personnel. The Patrol Rifle Instructor School is one of seven disciplines available. In 2005 LEAD trained a record 2,005 police firearm instructors from the ranks of federal, state, and municipal police departments, as well as from the military. According to Ron Kirkland, NRA Director of LEAD, "We have trained over 50,000 Law Enforcement Firearm Instructors since 1960, and over 12,000 NRA Certified Instructors are currently training police officers nationwide." In fact, NRA is the largest private law enforcement training organization in the United States.
"Our law enforcement men and women are near and dear to me," commented Frank Brownell.
"I have many good friends in the profession and I know their training is important to saving their lives and also our own -- those they protect," he added. "I was brought up believing that if you could help, you did. I was brought up to act on what I believed in, to follow my heart, and to put my money where my mouth is."
Established in 1990, The NRA Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization that raises tax-deductible contributions in support of a wide range of firearm-related public interest activities of the National Rifle Association of America and other organizations that defend and foster the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. These activities are designed to promote firearms and hunting safety, to enhance marksmanship skills of those participating in the shooting sports, and to educate the general public about firearms in their historic, technological and artistic context. More information about The NRA Foundation can be found online at www.nrafoundation.org. |