Raffle Off an AR-15? A N.Y. Fire Department Reconsiders

KENT, N.Y. — It was a small-town raffle intended to raise money for the local fire department here, with a Windham AR-15 semi-automatic rifle as one of the prizes.

But after the high school shooting rampage last week in Parkland, Florida, the fundraiser suddenly took on much larger implications, and thrust the town, about 50 miles north of New York City, into the national debate over gun control.

The debate occurred in New York, a true-blue state with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. But there are broad swaths of New York — indeed, most of the state — where hunting is a favorite pastime and gun enthusiasts are proud members of the community. This town of 13,000 in Putnam County is one of them.

The raffle, planned before the Florida shooting, had seemed like a good idea to the organizers. The 40-member Kent Volunteer Fire Department had struck out with previous fundraisers, from a pancake breakfast to sales of T-shirts and chocolate-covered pretzels. None sold like hot cakes, especially the breakfast, which drew three families.

But the $20 raffle tickets for a 20-gauge shotgun and an AR-15, a semi-automatic weapon similar to the ones used in recent mass shootings, were a different story.

“This has been the most successful fundraiser we have ever done,” said Gladys Bolbrock, a firefighter and president of the volunteer department. “We have been selling tickets for over a month. We put our heads together and found something that people wanted, that they were interested in it. We have hunters everywhere.”

But the Florida shooting suddenly cast the raffle in a new light and parents protested. Some firefighters dug in their heels, vowing to proceed with the fundraiser. It all came to a head over the last two days, culminating in an angry meeting of the fire district Monday night, in which parents turned out in force.

In different parts of the nation, guns have been a popular raffle item — even, or perhaps especially, AR-15s. A group of elementary schoolchildren in Missouri has received national attention for raffling an AR-15 weapon to raise money for their baseball team, while a suburb in Sacramento, California, has apologized for including an AR-15 rifle at a fundraiser over the weekend for its fire department.

New York state enacted stringent gun-control measures after the massacre in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It imposed universal background checks, created a database of people who are dangerously mentally ill and banned the sale of certain assault weapons, as well as magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.

The AR-15 that the Kent fire department was raffling off complied with New York state law. Semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 can still be sold with 10-round magazines in New York as long as they do not include some key features, including a pistol grip, a muzzle flash suppressor and a collapsible stock.

An employee at Precision Armory, a firearms story in nearby Carmel, said that the stripped-down AR-15 was favored for target practice and also hunting nuisance animals. “It’s very good for coyotes and stuff like that,” said the employee, who asked that his name be withheld since his shop did not sell the weapons to the fire department.

Bolbrock of the fire department said the meeting Monday became heated. “There was shouting,” she said. “There were people talking over people. There were mothers saying they were worried about their children.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the fire department had a change of heart: It decided to award the cash value of the guns instead of the guns themselves.

The department’s about-face was so sudden that Andy Irvin, the local schools superintendent, had not heard about it until he was informed by The New York Times.

“I’m thrilled they are changing the prize,” said Irvin, who oversees the Carmel Central School District, which draws 4,400 students from Kent and other neighboring towns. “And I would have said that three weeks ago. I’m just angry that it’s only now that these conversations have ramped back up to the level they have. I still don’t understand how it fell off the radar after Newtown.”

He said he was disappointed that New York state continued to allow the sale of a semi-automatic like the simplified AR-15. “I don’t think there is any room for semi-automatic weapons,” he said. “To me, whether it’s semi-automatic or assault, nothing that falls into those categories should be legitimate. Once you buy it legally, the modifications can be done by anybody. I guarantee you there are YouTube videos.” At a bustling shopping center in Kent on Tuesday afternoon, a flag still flew at half-mast in honor of the victims in Parkland, across the street at the public elementary school. Interviews with a half-dozen residents who were dropping off children at a karate class, or buying doughnuts and coffee, revealed a cross-section of opinion.

Few people were willing to share their name, regardless of their views, including a mother with a young child in tow who said she was infuriated by the gun raffle. But Bill Ercoli, a home contractor who has never owned a gun, thought the fire department was within its right to raffle an AR-15.

“I’m not a gun advocate and all, but it’s a matter of rights,” he said. “Why don’t you take my car away too, since cars kill people every day.”

In a statement explaining its decision, Bolbrock said that the Kent fire department “recognizes that this is a sensitive time,” adding that “our hearts are out to everyone affected” by the Florida shooting. “We are cooperating with the community,” she said, “and we are hoping to move on from here.”