Raffle Canceled: Gun Store Cancels Raffle Of AR-15 That Was Meant To Honor Pulse Club Victims

A gun shop in the Chicago suburbs was scheduled to raffle off an AR-15 military-style rifle in the hopes of raising money for the victims of the Pulse Orlando shooting. It has, however, been canceled.

Although it sounds like the subject of a random article in the Onion, there is a gun shop located in McHenry, Illinois that decided to raffle off an AR-15 in honor of the victims killed and injured in the Orlando gay club.

Second Amendment Sports is just about six-years-old and their most purchased item, according to Vic Santi, the director of marketing, is the AR-15. He explained that as the reason the AR-15 was specifically chosen as the prize for the raffle.

The gun store, owned by Bert Irslinger and his son, was selling raffle tickets for $5 each.

Many people were concerned about the semiautomatic AR-15 being the raffle prize.

Although the gun used in the Pulse Orlando shooting was actually a Sig Sauer MCX, the AR-15 is similar in aesthetics. People from both sides of the guns debate came forward to explain why they thought the gun choice for the raffle was a bit like spitting in the face of the Orlando shooting victims.

“I applaud them for wanting to do good,” Jason Mendes-McAllister, a friend of Pulse shooting victim Edward Sotomayor Jr., told the Chicago Tribune. “But what they’re utilizing [for the raffle] is insensitive to those trying to recover or who have lost people. You’re rubbing salt in other people’s wounds.”

“Guns are not toys,” Kathleen Larimer, a woman who lost her son in a movie theater shooting in Colorado (2012), also told the Chicago Tribune. “They should be taken seriously. I’m not saying they should be illegal, but raffling off a gun is not taking its killing power seriously.”

The gun store responded to critics of the raffle through the media.

“Definitely, people have concerns that we are doing this type of firearm,” Santi told the Guardian. “If people don’t like what we’re doing, buy a ticket [for the raffle], win the firearm, we’ll gladly destroy it in public for you.”

As of Saturday, Second Amendment Sports has decided that the raffle would be canceled. It was not, however, canceled because of the backlash.

The reason the raffle was canceled was because they were worried it might be illegal.

According to LGBTQ Nation, the state of Illinois has strict raffle regulations that do not permit them to be held by any company other than those that are non-profit. The raffle laws come from an Illinois’ effort to try to crack down on illegal gambling.

Before the raffle was canceled, William Bogot, an attorney that works with companies that express the desire to hold a raffle, asked the Chicago Tribune how the gun store could possible get away with it. Not due to the prize, however.

“It seems unclear to me how they could be doing a raffle. Even if it’s a bona fide raffle, they still can’t do that…. If this happens, every bar and restaurant could have a mini-casino.”

As it turns out, it’s relatively common for the AR-15 to be the prize of a raffle.

The town I’m staying in has a #4thOfJuly raffle. There are two prizes: A handmade quilt, and an AR-15. This is not a joke. #America #shame

— Jefferson Ferguson (@JeffersonFerg) July 2, 2016

A quick search could show that a gun shop in Las Vegas, Nevada held a raffle with that prize in mind.

Another business, Triple R Pawn, also held a raffle to benefit charity. They gave the winner an AR-15 as well.

https://www.facebook.com/triplerpawn/posts/1351489221534983

Although the raffle has been canceled for the moment, Second Amendment Sports is looking into finding a way to bring it back. They’re hoping to find a non-profit organization to work with that would support the AR-15 Pulse Orlando shooting raffle.

[Image via Shutterstock]