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1 of 12A fresh target has been stacked on an old one.Thomas Prior -
2 of 12Some participants prepare to use their rental guns.Thomas Prior -
3 of 12Rental weapons are lined up, ready to use.Thomas Prior -
4 of 12Spectators explore the range during an hour-long cease-fire.Thomas Prior -
5 of 12Bleachers are set up near the gun range for the curious.Thomas Prior -
6 of 12A still-smoking car appears during a quieter moment.Thomas Prior -
7 of 12Participants riddled this car window with holes.Thomas Prior -
8 of 12The remains of a washing machine.Thomas Prior -
9 of 12Bullet shells spill across a flooded corner of the range.Thomas Prior -
10 of 12The 350-yard gun range is visible through the remains of a van.Thomas Prior -
11 of 12Fires and tracer rounds light up the night.Thomas Prior -
12 of 12A participant stands in front of a towering fireball.Thomas Prior
Twice a year, thousands of gun enthusiasts descend on West Point, KY for the Knob Creek Range’s Machine Gun Shoot. The event (slogan: “Where the Second Amendment comes first”) features gun dealers and collectors, hunting and weapons classes, competitions, and, of course, many, many guns – “water cooled Brownings, Mini-guns, AK-47s, MG-42s, Tommy Guns, M-16s, Vickers Belt Fed, Uzis, MP5s and many others too numerous to mention,” according to Knob Creek’s website.
But the event’s real draw is the shoot itself. Taking place on a 350-yard outdoor range, the range promises “four rounds of firing at a wide variety of appliances, vehicles, pyramids of tires, and barrels of fuel with pyrotechnic charges attached—creating large and small mushroom clouds and fire balls from hell!!” The website adds, helpfully, “the objective is to destroy everything down range.”
New York City based photographer Thomas Prior documented the shoot in April. “The whole weekend was bizarre,” Thomas recalls, “but it was the three quiet hours down range, milling about with families among the shot-up ruins, that really blew my mind.”
Thomas Prior lives in Brooklyn, New York. More of his work can be seen here.
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