United by their passion for firearms civilian gun owners and their counterparts in the discipline forces will this week go head-to-head.
The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA)African Championships is set to go down in Kiambu County this Easter weekend where over 250 shooters from 13 countries will compete. The tournament is being hosted by the NGAO Kenya Defensive Pistol Federation at their Kirigiti shooting range.
The championships kicked off at a high note on 4th April 2023 with the Chief & Safety Officer’s shooting. Wednesday, 5th April and Thursday 6th April, will involve the Safety Officer’s Shooting while Friday has been set as the rest day and set up for Shabaha Hustler Village et al Sponsored by the Ministry Of Youth Affairs, The Arts & Sports. The event will climax on Saturday and Sunday (8th & 9th April) with all other shooters participating.
“We have been travelling internationally participating in the sport for the last 6 years but we are now hosting this competition here thanks to Government support.” Chairman of the NGAO Kenya Defensive Pistol Federation Martin Chengo said. “Our association consists of both civilian gun owners and members of the discipline forces.”
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as handguns, rifles and shotguns. Among the faces that welcome this great fete in the country is Nairobi Area-based, Inspector Aden Mohammed.
According to him, the sport has bridged the gap between civilians and the police killing many stereotypes about guns. He reveals that IDPA was started in 2012 by civilians who saw the need to train and enjoy the sport together thus forming the association. Since then they have done a lot of local and International matches together,” he reveals.
“I was one of the first uniformed police to arrive at Dusit during the terrorist attack in 2019. When I got on the ground I found a lot of familiar faces, from our shooting club. Civilians are always first on sight during an incident so if we train more of them to handle guns safely our country will be safer.”
Because they use live ammunition, shooting is inherently a hazardous sport. For that reason, safety officers SO’s play a critical role in the tournament, long before any shot is fired, they go through the whole course. This helps them not only grade the competition but also identify any gaps that could lead to incidents.
The SOs enforce very strict gun discipline, loaded on not a gun must never be pointed in any other direction except down range and the finger is always off the trigger unless when firing. Gun owners must also practice strict discipline in public, always concealing their weapons and drawing them only when they are in danger.
“We are a community of safe firearm handlers and our motto is to ensure safe firearm handling across the nation and we envisage to be advocating the same across Africa.