Missouri Third-Graders Raffle AR-15

NEOSHO, MO — The coach of a third-grade travel baseball team in Missouri said the team will continue with a planned AR-15 raffle despite a Florida school shooting that left 17 dead last week. The team raffle was planned before the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, coach Levi Patterson told the Kansas City Star.

The shooter in the Florida mass murder reportedly used an AR-15 in the attack, following in the footsteps of multiple mass shooters in recent U.S. history. The gun was the primary weapon used by shooters in the Las Vegas shooting in October, the Texas church shooting in November, the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016, the San Bernadino shooting in 2015 and the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 — to name just a few.

Patterson, the coach of a 9-and-under baseball team in Neosho, told the Kansas City Star he considered finding a different raffle item after the Valentine's Day mass shooting in Florida but said he decided to "turn it into a positive thing," calling those who criticized the raffle on Facebook a "hate group." He later retracted that label, calling it a mistake.

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Facebook reportedly removed a post about the raffle that showed a weapon next to a school logo. The Neosho School District is not affiliated with the raffle, according to the Star.

Patterson told the Star that the weapon had been donated for the raffle by a player's father, who co-founded Neosho-based Black Rain Ordnance Inc. Patterson also said the raffle wasn't intended as a political statement, adding that players aren't required to sell the raffle tickets if it makes them uncomfortable.

The Missouri AR-15 raffle isn't the only one to draw criticism. Tyle Tannahill, Republican candidate for Congress in Kansas, said he plans to continue with a campaign giveaway of an AR-15 despite the Florida school shooting, saying the giveaway was planned more than a month ago.

Meanwhile, athletic boosters for a Michigan high school football team has cancelled a similar event —a "Wild Game" charity dinner including an AR-15 raffle — due to the Florida tragedy.

AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File