A 42-year-old man shot and killed himself at a weekend NASCAR auto race in Texas sponsored by the National Rifle Association, the premier US gun rights lobby, local officials said Monday.
The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office ruled the death of Kirk Franklin, 42, in a campground at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth as a suicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
It gave no other details, but local media quoted police as saying Franklin, who lived in a Fort Worth suburb, was found dead inside a truck late Saturday after an argument with other campers, and that alcohol might have been a factor.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) NRA 500 event marked the first time that the NRA — which vigorously opposes tougher gun laws — has attached its name to NASCAR’s top series.
The race took place as President Barack Obama pressed Congress to adopt a suite of new gun laws, including background checks on gun buyers, in the wake of the December 2012 shooting of 20 young children in a Connecticut school.
Race winners at Texas Motor Speedway are often given a pair of revolvers and a cowboy hat before being photographed in the victory lane — although on its website, the venue says firearms are prohibited on its 190,000-seat premises.
The majority of the more than 30,000 gun-related fatalities in the United States every year are suicides, a figure that campaigners attribute in part to relatively easy access to firearms.
Texan kills self with gun at NRA-sponsored auto race
