Despite the massacre that took place last May 24 at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 dead, 19 children and 2 teachers , James Madison Preparatory High School in Madison held a raffle for fishing and hunting equipment, as well as firearms, including semi-automatic pistols and rifles.
While the school took seriously the massacre and put a pause on the sale of his tickets, days later he reactivated the raffle.
“Out of respect for these tragic events, we will not have a raffle this morning. We will resume the drawings on Tuesday 31 in May. God bless each of you and your families,” school principal Mark Akerman wrote on Facebook a day after the massacre.
According to local media, the ticket the raffle cost $97 and started on May 2nd and ended on June 1st.
“ Gifts like this emphasize the need for background checks on all gun sales and transfers,” said Nancy Fry, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action in Broward County. brochure with which the raffle was advertised makes it clear that the proceeds will benefit the high school, but did not provide details on how the proceeds will be allocated.
Meanwhile, through Facebook they were published several videos apparently of the raffle where you can see two men spinning the raffle full of pieces of paper while extolling the prizes.
“Everyone do you need a Ramington 97,” says one of the men, while the other (who has been identified as the school’s assistant principal) draws names.
Later on one of the same men can be seen with pleasure describing a stainless Taurus Judge 45, better known as a pistol snake: “Every country boy needs this under the front seat of his truck.”
“This is the 9-millimeter Joe Biden,” says one of the men and the other just responds with a laugh.
Another episode of the video that has also been harshly criticized is when one of those in charge of announcing the names of the winners of the raffle: “You better hide this one under your bed”.
The school principal made it clear that the raffle items were the property of a local sporting goods store and that all winners had to meet the requirements state and federal sites that included background checks as required by law.
Mark Akerman indicated that the winners of the raffle will have to go to the store to pick up the prize and that they take with take the safety of their students seriously.
“We take school safety very seriously at James Madison. Since its inception, the safety of our students and staff has always been our priority,” he said.
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