Dylan Bettencourt
An all-girls softball league in Texas had a fundraising raffle to generate funds for the teams and the rewards on offer have raised a few eyebrows.
The lucky winners will find themselves the proud owners of a selection of firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle.
Several parents were shocked to find that the Montgomery County Girls Softball League were offering guns as rewards.
“I was shocked. It’s really upsetting to me,” said mother of three, Jessica England.
The tournament usually ends with a competition with prizes offered by local businesses. This year purchasing a R440 ticket gave anyone the chance to win a Smith & Wesson 15T II semi-automatic rifle and a Glock 17 pistol.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a children’s activity to be raffling off this type of weapon,” England, whose three daughters play in the league, told KPRC-TV.
“They wouldn’t raffle off a liquor and tobacco basket. They wouldn’t raffle off a gift card to a cannabis dispensary. Those are not appropriate for children’s activities and I don’t think this is either.”
England was one of many parents that highlighted that the raffle prize selections came only three months after the horrific gun violence in a school in Uvalde, Texas.
“Not even four months ago, 19 children and two teachers were gunned down using a semi-automatic assault rifle just like the one being raffled here,” she said.
The softball league defended the raffle prize selection, explaining that the winner would have to pass a background check before receiving the guns.
Gun shops in Montgomery claimed they often donated guns as prizes in local events, The Times reported.
A similar reward was offered in the state of West Virginia where five hunting rifles and five shotguns were used in a lottery to encourage people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 last year.
Image source: @WYKC
