On-Duty Officers Raffled Off Rifle At Festival In Melrose Park

MELROSE PARK, IL — The Taste of Melrose Park this year was packed with food, games, and prizes, but two of those prizes turned out to be a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun. The Melrose Park Police Department is in hot water after on-duty officers held a fundraiser raffle that had a Smith and Wesson AR-15 style rifle and a special edition Ruger 9-mm handgun as the top wins.

The sign for the raffle tickets greeted guests as soon as they walked into the festival, which took place on Labor Day weekend, Chicago Sun-Times reported. The cost of a ticket for a chance to get your very own rifle or handgun? Just $10. Winners were required to have a valid Illinois firearm owner's ID card and were issued a voucher to pick up the gun at Suburban Sporting Goods at 2306 W. North Ave. in Melrose Park.

According to the Sun-Times, the union police officers ran these requirements past legal counsel before launching the rifle raffle. There are a couple things that make the contest tricky, though. For one, assault rifles are not permitted in Melrose Park. Sun-Times reports that the winners were from Woodridge and Forest Park. The raffle still raises ethical issues because the owner of Suburban Sporting Goods, Donald Beltrame, has reportedly contributed $400 to Melrose Park Mayor Ronald M. Serpico since the start of 2017, according to the Sun-Times article.

The NRA describes the highly accurate AR-15 as "America's most popular rifle" and says it's intended for "sport shooting, hunting, and self-defense." Omar Mateen, who committed the Pulse Nightclub slayings and Adam Lanza, who is responsible for the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, both used AR-15 guns in their attacks.

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