Hellobee Boards

If there was a way to donate that had nothing to do with raffle tickets that lead to AR15s, I would donate. If there was not, I would not donate. That is ridiculous - I'll save my rant for another day but sheesh.

I would not donate and let them know why. And I don't think that makes you a bad family member just because you wouldn't donate.

Wow. Given what's been happening recently, there are either a lot of incredibly tone deaf people, or they're purposely trying to make a statement.

@kiddosc: I guess we just disagree about the connotations. Shooting is a sport. Baseball is a sport. A baseball team raffling an item for a different but popular sport doesn't seem weird or like they are trying to be cavalier to me.

@erinbaderin: I'm afraid that's a misconception. Rifles of all kinds (not just the AR-15) accounted for 3% of shootings in 2016, according to the FBI.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-4.xls

I don't see the problem with raffling an AR, the winner will have to fill out a 4473 to get it, so it's not like it's being given out willy nilly without a background check. But, if you don't agree with it, and want to donate, check to see if you can donate to the league's general funds, or tell mom and dad that you'll kick in "x" amount of money towards the portion the parents are responsible for the trip.

@psw27: They cannot give the gun to anyone without first performing a background check, though. The fact that it's raffled doesn't circumvent that, as far as I know.

It's Americans that use it for sport. It was designed and originally made for military use.
I would not support anything that is raffling a gun. I own guns but I don't agree with it being a raffle especially for a kids event.

@Hypatia: @Sams Mom: I think you're making some assumptions re: background checks. Let's say someone on the team buys the gun for the raffle. What's to stop them from just handing it to the person who wins? How do you know it's all going to be done by the book, unless you're actually involved?

@Sams Mom: Well, lets hope that in this case, a gun shop has made the donation.

@kiddosc: AR 15s are the prizes? Interesting. How old is your nephew? I think i would donate to the trip. I dont think the donations go toward the prizes. The prizes are usually already donated right?

@kiddosc: I'm faced with a kind-of similar issue. I have a niece who I love, and my sister and her family are all very religious. Evangelical Christians, in the vein of Liberty university. My niece and my sister have signed up to go on a mission trip to Africa this summer and they have been fundraising to pay for the trip. Part of that is that they sent all of us in the family fundraising envelopes, asking for a donation.

Well, I'm not religious and my husband and kids are a different religion (not Christian). I'm not really into the idea of missionary trips to other countries where the focus is on converting people to Christianity. However, this trip does have an alternate mission: they are doing humanitarian stuff in an AIDS orphage. My niece is very serious about wanting to be a pediatrician one day, so I can see how this trip could be really good for her.

So...what to do? donate even though I don't totally agree with their mission? Don't donate and make a big point about why we aren't donating?

I should point out that this same sister did not participate in our Hindu wedding ceremony (there is a part where siblings do something specific in the ceremony that symbolizes our elders are blessing the marriage)--this sister declined to participate because she felt she couldn't participate in a Hindu ceremony as a christian, only observe the ceremony. Sooooo......

@MrsSCB: Private gun sales are something that will always cause a huge debate. If I sell privately, I go through a shop for the transfer, if I know the person (family/close friends), I copy their ID and have them sign a bill of sale. Irresponsible and lazy people for the most part are the ones that just take the cash and hand it over.

This scenario is a public advertised raffle that doesn't exactly fall into the private sale, I am willing to bet they are doing a background check.

@kiddosc: Could you just say, "I don't want any raffle tickets, but I'd like to contribute toward [nephew's] costs for the trip" and leave it at that?

@Hypatia: not to totally derail the thread, but @erinbaderin: specifically mentioned mass shootings and not the general homicide rate shown in your link. in the past 35 years, about 20-25% of mass shootings have involved a rifle, depending on which source you go by (some overlap where people use both kinds. see here for the 20% figure data: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map/). definitely more than 3% regardless of how you look at it!

@kiddosc: I probably wouldn't buy the raffle tickets in your situation. would your husband donate without you doing it? if not, then I would leave it at that (it's his sister, yes?). my feeling is, I'm not going to do the emotional labor for my husband's family *especially* if it's something that I find personally wrong.

I can't believe people are still doing that. Disgusting. I wouldn't donate any money.

@kiddosc: Could you possibly buy your nephew something equipment-wise? I wouldn't be able to donate to the raffle either.

@Anagram: @kiddosc: I really can’t stand these types of “fundraisers” where people are just demanding that you hand over cash to fund an activity they volunteered to participate in. When did this become appropriate? I wouldn’t donate to either on that principle alone.