The most recent Big Sandy Shoot took place Oct. 20-21. It’s a biannual event held near the town of Wikieup, Arizona, over the course of a weekend.
For a small entrance fee, spectators can camp in the lower parking lot and spend two days checking out an impressive assortment of guns on the firing line. They can also rent select-fire guns. Shooters pay a slightly higher fee to camp out right on the firing line and shoot their own guns at reactive targets, moving airplanes, and the highlight: participating in the world-famous night shoot.
People come from around the world to witness the machine gun shoot. Most countries don't allow their citizens to own and operate select-fire guns, making an event like Big Sandy a truly unique American experience.
At this year’s event, we spoke to Harald Rausch and his two friends who traveled all the way from Germany. They had a wonderful time, and Rausch was kind enough to tell us what he enjoyed the most.
“We are interested in shooting,” said Rausch. “We are ourselves sport shooters and hunters. Since such an event is impossible in Germany, we had the only chance to see a machine gun and a real-life machine gun shoot.”
Laws regarding guns are much more strict in Germany than most states in the U.S., but Rausch has seen some changes recently regarding black rifles in Germany. “We have of course a lot of sport shooters, and recently black rifles are more common for the normal sport shooter. We have a magazine capacity of 10 rounds. But I’m organizing a championship in Germany, and most people have black rifles,” he said.
In 2020, we spoke to Jakob Lefevre, who volunteers every year at the Big Sandy Shoot. He hails from Belgium. “There’s a few countries in Europe where people actually still have a right to keep and bear arms. Where I live in Belgium, it’s more like a privilege. You have to jump through a lot of hoops before you’re allowed to own any type of firearm,” he said.
We also met a tourist from Australia named Mal Gregg at the 2020 shoot. He, too, was attending Big Sandy out of pure enjoyment of firearms. “The rules are way more strict in Australia. They want to get rid of all of our guns. And I say to you, guys in the U.S., if you can keep this, just go for your life. Don’t let them take your guns,” he said.
And lastly, we spoke to one of the co-organizers of the Big Sandy Shoot in 2020, Kenton Tucker. He didn’t mince his words when it came to the Second Amendment.
“The anti-gunners and what have you will always come after your guns no matter what you do. When you lose a right to own something, you will never get it back, ever. So if anybody out there thinks, 'Oh, let’s pass another gun control law, it’s for the best.' It doesn’t work that way. They always add something to the bill, or whatever they’re trying to get through Congress. Then you end up with nothing. You end up with your guns going away,” said Tucker.
