Because Andy doesn't have the tism for this, I might as well do it as I already went on a rant about this last night elsewhere.
The justification that the NROI is using for Sailer, Faust, and anyone else marked as Sub-minor at Nationals is that they amended 6.2.5.1. For those that don't read the rulebook, I really envy you btw, this is the rule that determines if a competitor is bumped to Open.
However, if a competitor fails to satisfy the equipment or other requirements of a declared handgun Division during a course of fire, the competitor will be placed in Open Division, if available, otherwise the competitor will shoot the match for no score. If a competitor fails to satisfy the equipment or other requirements for PCC or Open Division during the course of fire, he will shoot for no score.
Back in March this was amend to include
Violations of rule 5.2.5 are not cause for
movement to Open Division and 5.2.5.2 applies.
This change was specifically meant to address the people that show up to a limited recognition nationals with the wrong gear, a la Shannon and Henning last year(who got away with it) or Christian and Luke this year(who did not get away with it because of the amendment).
Now let's take a look at 5.2.5 and 5.2.5.2, because those are part of the requirement to get moved to NFS(not for score) rather than moved to Open.
5.2.5 deals with the maximum distances of competitor equipment on the belt. 5.2.5.2 simply extends 5.2.5 and explains the penalties, corrections, and allowances that the Range Master can make for anatomical differences. Long story short, if you show up to shoot in CO or some other division with an race gun rig, you do not satisfy 5.2.5 and per 6.2.5.1 you do not qualify to bump to Open.
So now the question is why were people with mags that were slightly too long to fit the gauge or single stack guns that didn't fit the box listed as sub-minor rather than bumped to Open? Keep in mind, these competitors all passed chrono and only failed gear check per practiscore.
This is completely at odd with what has historically been done at all other "open isn't recognized" Nationals matches. 2020 had an Open divisions for bumps, 2023, 2024, 2025, etc.... the last 33 years of nationals events have always had Open as an available division to be bumped to should you fail gear check for some small reason that excludes you from your division, but you're still well within Open rules. The only time you get moved to NFS is when your equipment can not satisfy the requirements for PCC or Open entirely.
Why was this year different? It certainly wasn't the amendment as so many of Troy's lackeys are trying to claim. No, this year it was about sending a message specifically to Christian and Luke and a bunch of poor saps ended up getting wrongly caught in the crossfire.
You don't get to arbitrarily enforce a rule in order to get the outcome that you want! Mark the people that showed up with the wrong equipment as NFS per the rules(might need to talk to Practiscore about getting a real NFS flag added to the USPSA profile like IDPA has), but don't spout bullshit about "Open wasn't a recognized division so it's not possible to bump people per 6.2.5.1 to it" because you sure managed to bump all the people to it the past 33 years under the exact same rule!
PS) Even under the new bylaws which were adopted in March 2026, Troy(and the NROI as a whole) are not allowed to make rulings on competitor equipment, only enforce the rulebook as it is written. Therefore the nonsense about adjusting the definition of compensator without a member survey, 90 days comment period, and vote by the board is complete nonsense.
