Gun Raffle Still Happening Despite Vegas Shooting: Lake County Republicans

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — The Lake County Republican Central Committee is sticking with plans to hand out at least a dozen guns to donors at a fundraising dinner in Kildeer on Friday. The event will feature multiple raffles, offering attendees a chance to win handguns, rifles, a musket, safes containing mystery guns and gun safety items. It comes less than two weeks after the massacre in Las Vegas became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history but had been planned for more than a year, according to organizers.

Some of the proceeds from the dinner that were to be given to charity will be donated to the Las Vegas Law Enforcement Assistance Fund, which provides financial helps to surviving families of officers killed in the line of duty.

"Come out and help protect your second amendment rights and maybe even win a gun," organizers said, announcing the fundraiser. "By supporting this event you are helping to support and elect candidates that realize your constitutional rights are not a gift from the government."

Organizers said it was too late to cancel the event, as it is impossible to get deposits back. Chairman of Lake County Republicans Mark Shaw said he expects some push back, but noted the second amendment is part of the Constitution and "says what it says."

"I'm sure there will be people that don't agree with what we're doing, but that's the democratic process," Shaw told WGN-TV.

Larry Falbe is the president of the Lake County Republican Federation, an independent fundraising group that purchased a sponsorship to the event. He told the Tribune he supported going ahead with the event.

"[C]anceling the event would suggest there's something wrong or something to be ashamed of for having this kind of dinner that is supporting people who believe very strongly in the 2nd Amendment," Falbe told the paper.

The scheduled raffle has been licensed by the Illinois Elections Board, according to WMAQ-TV. The Illinois Republican Party said it "supports the 2nd Amendment," but offered no further comment on the fundraiser.

Governor Bruce Rauner declined to comment, leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker's campaign to release a statement saying the raffle was "a shameful insult to American families still mourning and should be immediately condemned by Rauner." And the chair of the Lake County Democratic Party, Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan) suggested going ahead with the event was disrespectful to the hundreds of victim's of last week's shooting.

Tickets start at $75 and include dinner and a ticket for a shotgun raffle. Larger sponsorship packages come with their own guns, including an AR-15-style Smith & Wesson semiautomatic rifle. The event will take place at Concorde Banquets, 20922 N. Rand Rd. in Kildeer.

Related:

• Gun Shop Cancels Rifle Raffle for Shooting Victims
• On-Duty Officers Raffled Off Rifle at Festival
  

Schedule:

• Doors & Cash Bar Open at 5:30 pm
• Raffle Sales Begin at 5:30 pm
• Hors 'doeuvres Served at 6:00 pm
• Dinner Served at 7:00 pm
• Filet and Chicken Combination Dinner (Wine served with Dinner)
• Raffle drawings Begin After Dinner

Raffles:

• Three specialty Henry 22 Tribute Riffles
• Super Stuffed Safe with a minimum of two guns inside
• Secret Safe with a minimum of three guns inside
• The "Duck Hunters Special" package
• "Pheasant Hunters Friend" package
• "Home Defense & Protection" raffle
• "Concealed Carry Personal Security"
• A black powder musket "Give Me Liberty" raffle
• Raffles for gift basket buckets
• "Youth Corner Education & Safety" raffle

» via the Lake County Republicans

_{Top photo via Pixabay}