GOP raffle raises funds, anti-gun ire

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GOP raffle raises funds, anti-gun ire
$16,000 is collected for Carroll party amid criticism; Another one is planned; Republicans call it a victory for rights; critics decry event
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The Carroll County Republican Central Committee drew the winning ticket yesterday in one of its most lucrative fund-raisers ever -- a gun raffle that fueled a fiery debate over gun rights, caused a rift among party leaders and attracted television crews from as far as Norway.

"We wanted to do something that would get people's attention," said Scott Hollenbeck, a committee member. He organized the raffle, he said, to protest what he called extreme gun control proposals by Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. "We didn't realize how much attention this would bring," he said.

About 250 people were on hand when a 66-year-old Carroll woman, who was not in attendance, was proclaimed the grand-prize winner. She opted for the handgun and shooting classes over the alternative first prize of $500.

"These people who are so against guns, if some of them would have had guns, the crime would have got stopped before it started," said winner Helen Roop, who lives near Keymar. She must pass a background check before getting the pistol.

The raffle organizers were thrilled by the response.

"There's usually no more than 100 people at the breakfast," said Hollenbeck of the group's annual event. "The last time we got a lot of people, it was because the General Assembly was looking at the vehicle emissions inspection program [in 1995]."

Since then, the committee has tried to raise money -- with minimal success -- with a bull roast and direct mail. After the attorney general called for stricter gun control laws, including a ban on private ownership of handguns, the committee decided last November to try a more provocative approach.

It announced it would raffle a 9 mm Beretta handgun, worth about $500, and a copy of "More Guns, Less Crime," written by John R. Lott Jr., a research scholar at Yale Law School. Lott was the keynote speaker at yesterday's breakfast.

The raffle raised about $16,000 for the local Republican Party.

Contestants began arriving for the drawing shortly before 7 a.m., an hour before the breakfast. Groups of six or seven gathered around folding tables, devoured scrambled eggs, hash browns and sausage, and tried to judge their odds of winning the grand prize.

The com-

mittee sold about 3,200 tickets at $5 each -- six times as many as it anticipated -- so the odds of winning were fair at best. No one seemed to mind yesterday.

Committee members circulated through the room selling last-minute raffle tickets as the county's elected officials declared their support for the Second Amendment.

"We're not going to let anyone shame us into anything," said state Sen. Larry E. Haines, chairman of the county delegation in Annapolis. "I think what we've done here is very, very honorable. I think it's been handled in a good way and above board."

In his remarks, Haines quoted Scripture and gave thanks to God. Sen. Timothy R. Ferguson and Del. Nancy R. Stocksdale also addressed the crowd.

As the contestants sipped coffee inside the Wilhelm Ltd. Caterers hall in Westminster, a handful of protesters stood outside in the fog.

Southbound motorists on busy Route 140 caught a quick glimpse of their signs: "Support Senate Bill 341" and "God Bless the Republicans." Photos of two teen-agers who were killed by handguns also were on display.

"I think they need a little help from God," said John Price, 38, as he held up his handmade sign blessing the Republicans. "There's something seriously wrong with what they're doing. Our children are dying every day because of handguns."

His 13-year-old son, John Joseph Price, was fatally shot in August 1998 while visiting friends in White Marsh. The 9-year-old boy who fired the gun was not charged.

"We have to get handguns off the street," said Fran Block, 46, of Reisterstown. Her son, 18-year-old Aaron David Goodrich, was one of three people killed at a Starbucks coffee shop in Washington in July 1997.

The Carroll event prompted a Maryland Democratic senator to sponsor a bill to outlaw such raffles. The fund-raiser also drew criticism from some of the state's Republican leaders, including two-time gubernatorial candidate Ellen R. Sauerbrey and U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

"I think the handgun raffle was inappropriate," said Curran in a telephone interview yesterday. "The committee, instead of promoting handguns, should be working with us and the state police and their own law enforcement officials to reduce handgun violence."

Betty L. Smith, former vice chairwoman of the county central committee, voiced similar thoughts when she resigned from the organization last month. She called the raffle "insensitive and irresponsible."

Despite such criticism, committee chairman W. David Blair said yesterday's fund-raiser was the group's "first annual gun raffle."

Added Hollenbeck, organizer of the event, "We'll probably hold another one some time after the presidential election, but before the gubernatorial election" in 2002.

Why the delay?

"You can't keep milking the same people time and again," Hollenbeck said.

State Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, a Baltimore Democrat, has proposed Senate Bill 341 to prohibit the use of handguns as prizes in such drawings. In response, a Baltimore gun owners group plans to raffle a semiautomatic pistol this summer, and has named the event after Hoffman.

Her bill is one of several gun-related measures due to come before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's "smart gun" legislation, scheduled for a hearing March 15, is among them. It would require handguns sold in Maryland to be equipped with safety locks and eventually high-tech devices that would prevent anyone but an authorized user from firing them.

Ferguson told the crowd the gun control legislation would be thwarted by a filibuster if it made it to the Senate floor. His comments were greeted with cheers.

But the most enthusiastic applause was reserved for Lott. As TV crews from Baltimore, Washington and Norway recorded his speech, he spoke of the need for citizens to arm themselves .

He pointed to statistics on accidental gun deaths and youth suicides to support his position that such incidents are rare. Between 1992 and 1996, two children in Maryland age 15 or younger died from accidental gunshots and 12 committed suicide with a gun, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"It would be nice if those numbers were zero, but that's not realistic," Lott said. "So we have to weigh the cost against the benefit On net, the presence of guns saves lives. I think that's the bottom line."

The 41-year-old economist used more than a dozen poster-size graphs to illustrate his theory that if larger numbers of law-abiding citizens were armed, criminals would be persuaded to lay down their weapons. Lott's black-and-white graphs compared the rape, robbery and homicide rates in counties that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons with those that do not.

Lott's critics say his conclusions are flawed because he does not prove that barriers to gun ownership cause people to become more vulnerable to violent crime.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.


Originally published on Feb 27 2000
 
These are the kind of things we need more of around the country. When our government stops playing on people's emotions to drive us into a state of slavery, and starts standing up for what is right, we are going to be a lot better off.

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"Freedom has always existed in a very percurious balance. And when buildings stop blowing up, people’s priorities tend to change..." Enemy of the State
 
Oh My Gosh!! A handgun in the hands of a 66-year older lady?!? I sure hope she doesn't shoot up my school....

People that say guns cause crime are blatantly stupid/

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"Those that give up essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
 
This is great and now they are going to hurry up and pass a law against raffles to stop this from happening again.
I hope to see more raffles like this :)

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The great body of our citizens shoot less as time goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step- in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come- is to teach men to shoot!
Theodore Roosevelt, President
 
Maryland State Senator Barbara Hoffman has initiated Senate Bill 341 which would ban raffles that offer handguns as prizes. The answer to this is of course, another raffle.

Sponsored by the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, Inc. the tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. Prize is a Les Baer Premier II .45ACP Competition Pistol. Drawing to be held June 6, 2000. E-Mail: AGCBALTO@BCPL.NET.
I picked my ticket up Saturday at the AGC range.
 
They have a gentleman here in IL raffling off a 50 cal rifle and calling it the "Rod Blagoyovich Raffle" He's running for Assistant States attorney or perhaps State Senate. I bought a ticket and I'll see if I can find it around here somewhere. Semper Fi...
 
Good for them! Glad to hear it went so well.

IMHO, this is precisely what needs to be done. No reticence at all about standing up to the anti-self defense movement, and rubbing their noses in their own hypocrisy and lies.

I quite enjoyed a few unintentional barbs in the article:

1. "Since then, the committee has tried to raise money -- with minimal success -- with a bull roast and direct mail." - well, from the sound of things, this was quite a 'bull roast' in its own right. ;)

2. "As the contestants sipped coffee inside the Wilhelm Ltd. Caterers hall in Westminster, a handful of protesters stood outside in the fog." - too bad they didn't slip, and indicate the truth - that the anti-self defense gun bigots stood outside in a fog. It is a shame these folks lost their children in these tragedies, but would they be working to eliminate cars if autos had been involved?

God bless these Republicans, indeed. And, for that matter, I wonder what Constitutional basis there would be for regulating raffles to allow this prize, but not that one. How bizarre.

Regards from AZ


[This message has been edited by Jeff Thomas (edited February 27, 2000).]
 
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