Spencer Hutchins calls guns just another tool. As did nearly everyone I talked to at the competition.
Spencer Hutchings calls guns "just another tool." As did nearly everyone I talked to at the competition. RS

Over the weekend, about 70 amateur target shooters showed up at Paul Bunyan Rifle & Sportsman’s Club down in Puyallup to compete in American Marksman's Northwest Regional Championship. They came from Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and from as far away as Alaska. The winner in each category—Men's, Women's, Junior (12-16 years old), and Military/Law Enforcement—would continue on to the national competition in Talladega, AL for a chance to win $50,000.

Mark Curtis, President of the NRA-affiliated, 71-year old Paul Bunyan Sportsman's Club, told me that gigantic, chest-hollowing blast sound I kept hearing was a bullet fired from a .223 rifle hitting a "gong," a steel plate hanging within a giant truck tire. The tire amplifies the sound of the bullet hitting the plate. By comparison, the 9mm pistol and short-range rifle shooting courses sounded like air gun pellets pinging off tin cans.

The event contained all the thrill of a carnie game: People shooting at 10-inch steel plates and large pieces of paper as the hot August sun glared off white gravel and spent bullet casings. The only difference is that the "tool," as many of the shooters I talked to called it, that they use to shoot the targets kill about 11,000 Americans per year on average.

A few light camera crews filmed the competition, as American Marksman is due to become a television show. Curtis told me American Marksman will return to the shooting range next year for another installment of the series.

I interviewed a few of the shooters, and these people seemed much nicer than the guns rights activists I see on social media. The shooters and I came to a few points of agreement. Monique Hutchings, who won second place in the women's competition and who also happened to be the wife of Spencer Hutchings, said that she'd like to see a more robust mental health institution. But otherwise, we couldn't agree on which statistics to trust, and we mostly talked passed each other as the sound of gunfire blotted our words.

Spencer Hutchings, who won second place in the Men's category, identified as a Trump supporter.


James Spencer, who did not place this year's competition, is a member of the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho.