This feature appears in the January '18 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.
In May 4, 1981, Rear Adm. Robert M. Garrick, USNR (Ret.), received the traditional Brooks rifle presented to the banquet speaker at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Denver. As special counselor to President Ronald Reagan, Garrick was standing in for Reagan, who was recovering from an assassination attempt just a few months earlier. During World War II, Garrick served as an enlisted combat correspondent on the staff of Adm. Chester Nimitz in the Pacific. The engraved Brooks rifle and accompanying powder horn were donated to the museum by his son, former California State Assemblyman Martin W. Garrick.
The NRA National Firearms Museum at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo.; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M.; each have fine selections of historic arms on display. Admission to each is free, and donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, visit nramuseums.com, phone (703) 267-1600 or email nfmstaff@nrahq.org.
