News

SEAL who shot bin Laden offers $50K gun outing

by Mark Hensch - 04/24/15 4:13 PM ET

A conservative group is charging donors $50,000 for a day with the Navy SEAL who claims he killed former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

ForAmerica is offering tickets for the outing with Robert O’Neill, according to The Washington Post. The meet-and-greet will take place later this year at the Amangani Resort Hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Event documents the Post obtained said the event is billed as “a historic weekend honoring Navy SEAL hero Robert O’Neill.” It includes a trip to the Jackson Hole Shooting Experience, a privately owned firing range near the resort.

{mosads}“Our event will consist of clay, pistol and ‘machine gun fun’ competitions with Rob O’Neill,” fundraiser documents said.

ForAmerica’s invitation said the weekend’s specific locations and times would remain secret until guests arrived, for security purposes.

A representative for O’Neill added that the ex-soldier had agreed to participate “as a favor to a friend who has been helping him out,” without offering further clarification.

Conservative commentator Brent Bozell III founded ForAmerica in 2009. The Reston, Va., organization claims it “is becoming the new champion of conservatism on the electoral, legislative and public policy arenas” on its website.

Tax records for the group’s parent company, America Inc., show it raised $2.5 million in donations in 2013. It had previously netted $4.9 million in contributions the year before.

The former SEAL Team 6 member publicly took credit for shooting bin Laden last November, drawing controversy.

“The last thing I want to do is endanger anybody,” he said at the time. “I think the good outweighs the bad.”

O’Neill claims he fired three headshots that killed bin Laden during a 2011 raid on his compound in Abottabad, Pakistan.

The terrorist was wanted dead or alive for his role plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

UPDATE:

ForAmerica’s founder on Sunday revealed that details of the event had leaked prematurely.

“Our team got a little ahead of itself in putting out the invitation to enjoy a weekend of sport shooting with American hero Rob O’Neill,” said Bozell in a statement.

“Rob never saw the invitation that was sent out by our staff, something that should have occurred and for which I take full responsibility,” he added.

Bozell clarified that any activities eventually featuring O’Neill would not include machine guns.

Statements to the contrary, he added, were not supposed to appear in any final drafts of the event’s invitations.

“We deeply regret that the invitation described Mr. O’Neill in a way that is inconsistent with the high standards he applies when he characterizes the service of Navy SEALs to our country,” Bozell concluded.

–This report was updated on April 26 at 3:00 p.m.