North Carolina Tea Party Chapter Raffling Off AR-15
North Carolina Tea Party Chapter Raffling Off a Rifle
A Tea Party chapter in the mountains of North Carolina is raffling off a rifle similar to the one used in the Connecticut school shootings that left 20 children and eight adults dead.
The Asheville Tea Party posted the raffle announcement to its website on Monday, just days after the shootings. It advertises $20 tickets for a DPMS Panther Oracle AR15 .223 caliber rifle with two 30-round magazines. The brand is not the same as the one used in the school shootings, but it is the same style and caliber.
Firearms instructor and training counselor Bob Plyler of Asheville said there is nothing wrong with raffling a gun. Hunt clubs and other groups do it all the time. He also said there “is nothing inherently evil about a .223. There are millions of them out there.”
The timing is the key here, he said of the Tea Party raffle. “Now might not be the best time to do something like that,” he said.