Mayor Tim Keller: NRA Shooting Competition a Bad Fit for Albuquerque

September 14, 2018

Today, Mayor Tim Keller announced that after this year, the City of Albuquerque will no longer host the NRA shooting competition. Under a contract entered into by the previous administration, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was required to help host and pay for the NRA National Police Shooting Championship. The City will stop hosting it in the coming years due to cost and resource burdens to the city.

The cost of hosting the event far outweighs its revenues. The contract requires the City to provide at least 60 APD employees as well as other resources to host the event, including some items that must be supplied year-round.  With an understaffed police department and a significant crime problem, it is not appropriate for the City to allocate such a large amount of resources in support of the NRA event.

“The NRA shooting competition is a bad fit for Albuquerque,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “We may have been obligated as a City to host the event this year, but the NRA will have to find a different venue moving forward. We simply can’t afford to spend police resources on the NRA that are needed to fight crime, especially gun violence, in our city. Furthermore, we can find better community oriented ways for law enforcement to train and hone their skills such as bringing back the law enforcement games. We’ll be looking at other events for our officers that are a better fit with our goal to be a safe, innovative, and inclusive city.”