Sunday, Sept. 16 marked the beginning of another season for the award-winning Tri-State University Handgun Team, as its members headed to the shooting practice range to take aim at another year of American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA) competition.

Thirty-four students in the fields of criminal justice, forensic science, and psychology started training with some really big guns in the field of law enforcement—the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department—before turning their sights on the practice range at the Angola Conservation Club.

All members of the Tao Alpha Omicron chapter of the ACJA, they began the session learning the proper stance, holding, loading and unloading, and breakdown of a firearm, in addition to safety measures, from the sheriff’s department veterans.

Then they moved to the shooting range to focus on a variety of skills designed to help the team uphold its tradition of excellence as the year moves toward competition season and the ACJA Region 6 Conference in Big Rapids, Mich. Nov. 2-4.

Thirteen TSU students will join co-advisers and TSU professors Craig Laker and John Milliken at the regional conference. But it’s not all about firing guns. Students will form three-person teams to compete in written, crime scene investigation, physical agility, and firearms competition over the three-day weekend. Seminars on criminal law, police management, corrections, juvenile justice, and ACJA/Lambda Alpha Epsilon bylaws, rules, and history will be given by national experts.

The spoils taken at these competitions fill a display case in the office of Laker, chair of the TSU Criminal Justice, Psychology, and Social Science Department. Typically, six or so TSU Handgun Team members move on to compete in the national competition, which will be in Kansas City, Mo. from April 6-11, 2008.

Corey Cox of Angola serves TSU’s ACJA Tao chapter as president, while Jason White of Fremont is vice president. Alison Bonham of Columbus, Ind., is secretary.

The practice not only hones shooting skills, but refines the group as a team. “John Milliken and I enjoy getting the students off-campus and learning more about them,” Laker said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be involved in competition.”