AR-15 Raffle Held Days After Las Vegas Massacre
On October 7, a church in Oxford Missouri set up two tables in a local Walmart for a raffle. The church plans on giving away the prize of two AR-15 rifles. Tickets for the raffle were being sold at ten dollars for one ticket or twenty dollars for three. The raffle was sponsored by the Oasis Church of All Nations. Matt Sessums, a resident of Oxford, noted the raffle and decided to talk to the Washington Post.
Would Jesus Own A Gun? Church Holds Gun Raffle [/tweetthis]
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“I see this one little girl, in particular, you know, pointing to the thing about the AR-15 raffle and getting people to buy tickets,” Sessums told The Washington Post. “It just kind of blew my mind that little kids were participating in something like that.” Sessums reacted to the raffle due to the recent shooting in Las Vegas.
The shooting saw fifty-eight Americans lose their lives and hundreds injured. During the investigation, the shooter’s room was found to have an AR-15 rifle, one of the twenty-three guns used during the attack.
When asked to review the timing of the raffle, Pastor Danny Budd responded on Facebook saying, “We understand your concern, however, we’ve had a very positive response to the Ticket sell and no negative response.”
The raffle was meant to promote fall fish fry and the guns to raise money for a discipleship program for drug addicts. The move by the church has received severe criticism. Although the initiative was okay, the timing of the raffle seemed too soon.
Gun raffles have been looked down upon in the past. After the shooting in Orlando, a pastor at Oregon bought an AR-15 rifle being raffled by a softball team. The pastor bought the gun for three thousand dollars, destroyed it and reused the parts for gardening.
Though the Oasis Church of All Nations refuses to admit its fault, they should consider what reaction they would give to a mosque that did the same thing.