A Lincoln County deputy took aim at a national shootingcompetition and scored fourth in the nation.

Capt. Lance Falvey won the county marksman division and othermatches to qualify for the final round and scored fourth in theoverall competition against shooters from across the UnitedStates.

“This is the Super Bowl of competitive shooting for lawenforcement officers,” Falvey said. “It doesn’t get any harder thanthis. Competition was tight. As a rule, only one or two pointswould separate you from the nearest competitor.”

The 43rd Annual National Police Shooting Championships was heldSept. 20-23 in Jackson at the police department shooting range andattracted more than 450 competitive law enforcement officers vyingfor the honor.

The competition is sponsored by the National Rifle Association.To qualify in the championships, officers had to meet stringentrequirements, which included winning or placing highly in stateregional matches.

Falvey’s qualifications came earlier last month when he won thecounty marksman division at the Mississippi NRA Regional held atthe Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy. Morethan 250 law officers competed at that match with approximately 50competing in Falvey’s division.

At the competitions, shooters are broken down into classes, suchas federal, state, county, municipal and industrial; and thenfurther divides them into skill classes. Top shooters are placed inthe high master division with others being placed in the master,expert, sharpshooter or marksman divisions depending on theirscores in previous matches.

Each match lasts around four days and officers compete inseveral smaller events, also called matches, to qualify for theoverall round, which features the winning shooters from eachdivision and class.

“During the four-day period, I shot four different revolvers andtwo semiautomatics,” Falvey said. “There was also one shotgunmatch. The matches are designed around officer training, so itserves as a gauge of your officers’ combat efficiency.”

Falvey is not only an investigator with the sheriff’s office,but he has also been the department’s firearms training officersince 1996.

“My goal is to use what I’ve learned to continue to train ourLincoln County deputies on how to use their firearm skills shouldthey be called upon to use them,” he said. “We train to save lives,not to win trophies or prizes.”

However, he added, he is proud of his accomplishment and itshows their training program is working. He hopes to do even betternext year.

“I’d like to win the overall national championship one year, butthat’ll be a long time coming. There’s a lot of good shooters outthere,” he said.

Falvey said he enjoys the competition or he wouldn’t go. Hiscompetition trips are entirely self-funded and he must use vacationtime to attend the competitions.

“The sheriff is very supportive in allowing me the time off tocompete,” Falvey said. “It’s my personal time, but he has toapprove the request, and he always encourages me.”

With his performance at the championships this year, Falvey saidhe expects to shoot next season as a sharpshooter or expert.