The Pima County, Arizona, Republican Party is holding a raffle to raise money. That alone is not unusual. They're raffling a gun, which isn't uncommon. They're raffling a Glock, which makes sense since it's one of the best selling brands of handguns in the United States.
They're raffling off a Glock 23. For those paying attention, the Tucson based Pima County Republican Party is raffling off a gun in the same model as the one that was used by a nutjob to shoot up a group of people in Tucson, killing 6 and wounding 13, including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
OK, I'm socially tone deaf, and I've been known to do some really stupid, insensitive things in my life. I once told an old German man that the reason I didn't trust him was that he trusted Hitler. I got thrown out of a Korean restaurant one drunken weekend because I was trying to throw my voice into my bulgogi and bark. I got my 5 month pregnant wife to be the designated driver when my buddies and I tried to drink a German bierfest dry. Yeah, I can be a real clod.
This one tops all of those and more.
I think fundraisers are a good idea, and I'd gladly buy a raffle ticket for a gun if one was offered to me by the local Republican party, even a Glock.
But guys, they didn't auction off a Carcano in Dallas as a Christmas fundraiser in 1963. The city fathers of Memphis didn't hold a barbecue contest to win a Remington rifle in the summer of 1968. The GOP in Tucson shouldn't be raffling off a Glock 23 while families are still mourning the deaths of their loved ones and some of the casualties of Laughner's madness are still recovering.
Update - As Sean pointed out in comments, Congresswoman Giffords was shot with a Glock 19, while the gun being raffled off is a Glock 23. My opinion hasn't really changed on this. I still think it's kind of tasteless.
3 comments:
2% of the populace may recognize the Glock model as the same weapon used at the shootfest. Don't see it as a deal-killer : but I have been wrong before.
Only my thoughts.
I thought that it was the Glock 19 that was used, a 9mm. The raffle is for a .45ACP.
Besides, F-em. They hate us no matter what we do. A gun is a tool, not a talisman.
You guys are probably right, but it just hit me as being in bad taste.
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