Guess who came to dinner? Camo Mom and Jessie Duff meet again

Camo Mom

Jessie and Matt Duff, hosts of the “Friends of the NRA” TV show, visited with the huge crowd of Friends of the NRA at the Mid-Missouri FNRA banquet this past weekend in Columbia, Mo. What a spectacular event, with featured speaker Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, and several other NRA VIPs.

During the silent auction and bucket raffle segment, I was able to have a short visit with Jessie. She’s such a down-to-earth, easy person to talk to, I felt like I could talk for hours. But knowing she had a busy evening in store, I wanted to keep my interview short.

I had been thinking for several days what I would ask her if I had the opportunity.

I thought it would be interesting to find out what has been the most defining accomplishment in her career. When I posed the question to her, she wanted to know if I meant in her shooting career or her personally. I told her it didn’t matter, just whatever stood out the most in her mind.

Jessie has won 22 National and 19 World Champion titles, not to mention many regional and state champion titles, so the answer to this could be in any one of these disciplines. But after giving the question some careful consideration, even stating that that was probably the best question she’s ever been asked, Jessie told me that it’s not really a moment, but has been the last couple of years where she has started to stand on her own two feet and find who she is and what she’s all about.

Jessie Duff and Camo Mom at FNRA banquet. Photo courtesy Tammy Ballew.

I, for one, idolize the professional women shooters and always think that everything is grand for them, but it was heartening to realize that they have some of the same struggles as any of us when trying to achieve goals.

Jessie has recently signed on with Taurus as their Shooting Team Captain. She’s very excited about this endeavor and knows that it will be a win-win situation for them both.

The champion shooter will be back in the Mid-Missouri area in a few months at the world renowned Bianchi Cup. I’m looking forward to another occasion to visit with this very special lady in the shooting industry, and to watch her in action with her new Taurus.