JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi Highway Patrol veteran Philip Hemphill will be shooting for his sixth individual championship during this week’s National Police Shooting Championships here.
The five-day National Rifle Association-sponsored competition opened Monday at the Jackson Police Department’s firing range. More than 400 shooters from the U.S., Canada, the Czech Republic and Germany are competing.
“It’s not easy to win,” said Hemphill, 51, who won championships in 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996. “The competition has gotten stiffer and harder. The young kids, their eyesight is better and they don’t shake as much.”
Practice competition was held Saturday at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Rankin County. Competitors shot handguns standing, kneeling on one knee, lying on their stomachs and from a sitting position 25 and 50 feet away from their targets.