The New Caney school district in Texas is holding a raffle to raise money for Project Graduation. One of the prizes is an AR-15 assault rifle.
This is the same weapon that has been used in numerous massacres, including the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and the Orlando nightclub massacre.
The owner of the gun said he would do a background check before releasing the weapon to the winner.
Tickets are $10 each.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Which school? Where? That’s crazy!
New Caney ISD is Northeast of Houston about 30 miles off Hwy 59/I-69.
Only in Texas could this happen.
This proves the old adage. Texas is more than a state. It is a state of mind.
(Former resident of San Antonio)
It could happen in Ohio, where state judges, the National Alliance of Charter Schools , etc., all say, in public forums, that taxpayers should be outraged by e-school fleecing.
An Ohio state representative hosted a shooting party as a fund-raiser. The same guy claimed, in writing, that ALEC was a government program.
Gov. Kasich worked for Donald Lukens, when Lukens was in Congress, which was prior to the congressman’s arrest and disgrace. Lukens was a founder of ALEC. He’s been scrubbed from its history for obvious reasons.
DeVos visited Van Wert, Ohio, knowing they were her kind, demographically (except less money) and, with inflated and unfounded opinions about their superiority.
If one doesn’t believe in the ability of citizens to bear arms, then may I suggest that you buy a bunch of tickets hopefully winning the gun. Then you can destroy it!
When the forefathers and their single shot muskets were writing the constitution, do you think the thought of a civilian owning a machine gun every crossed their minds? I’m going to guess “no” since they had no way of knowing how technology would improve guns over the last 240 years.
I am all for bearing arms but not sure I’m comfortable with machine guns being in the hands of non-police or military personnel.
Would they have been comfortable with machine guns being in the hands of the police?
Hard to tell since machine guns had not been invented yet.
First, I was being a bit facetious with my statement. Second and AR-15 is not a “machine gun” per se-those are already banned for sale to the average Joe/Jane. Can it be modified to be automatic? Yes it can and then it is considered illegal, but the gun being offered is a semi-automatic weapon in which one has to pull the trigger and release, then pull again to fire the next round. Now can someone fire the weapon rapidly spraying lead around? Yes. But it is not a machine gun wherein a single pull of the trigger unleashes volumes of rounds. And it’s also true that being hit by a round from any weapon can be lethal. The same can be said to occur with being stabbed, hit in the head with a hammer or being hit with a car (which by the way cause the same number of deaths per capita per year as guns in the US).
Just as in obtaining a drivers license, perhaps we should require a gun shooting license. Now that is different from ownership, though. One might own a car or a gun and never use it. Do we restrict someone from owning a car if they don’t have a drivers license? No. So why with gun ownership should someone be required to have a shooting license to own a gun?
One might argue that cars and weapons are two different things with different purposes. No doubt, but there are many legitimate uses of firearms for hunting and pleasure shooting (target) just as there are many illegitimate uses of cars such as for robbery, running over someone, fleeing from the authorities, etc. . . .
It comes down to common sense and proper training in the usage of both cars and weapons. That is what is needed not abolition of either.
Duane E Swacker
My guess when the laws were written banning machine Guns rapid fire multi round semi automatic weapons would have been considered a machine gun had they existed.
As for the those citizen militias protecting the states from an overbearing federal government , I think we can admit that has not been a reality for quite some time.
But unfortunately I don’t think the gun laws in Texas will have any effect on evolution so it would seem to be a waste.
Well regulated militia?
Not sure what your point is Dienne.
I don’t believe in the right of citizens to own military equipment, like AR-15 assault rifles or machine guns or bazookas or hand-held missiles.
Totally AGREE with Diane.
You may not believe in the right of “citizens to own military equipment”. And that is fine! I believe they should have that right. The question comes in who has a legitimate and legal right to USE that equipment. I am one who does not necessarily trust law enforcement (see the many many instances of innocents being gunned down by law enforcement) nor the military to properly use said equipment. And neither did the founders of this country believe that only the state should possess such equipment for that is the basis of the tyranny of the state that they fought against.
I agree about individual citizens not owning military equipment (as private property).
Collective ownership is there, like it or not. Our taxes are paying for one hell of a military establishment.
Duane E Swacker
Until the NRA purchased the supreme court . I don’t think they would have agreed with your interpretation, of the constitution. However have at it because if you think your little pea shooter will protect you from the tyrannical state or federal government it is time to take a history lesson. Whether we are talking Philadelphia, Waco or Blair mountain where 1.2 million rounds were fired the state always wins .
I’m thinking I might need a cruise missile. In fact a few of them ,time to start contributing to the NRA.
Naturally, one should object to any firearm as a raffle prize at a school, but don’t perpetuate misinformation and gut your message in the process.
An AR-15 is not a machine gun; it is a regular rifle dressed up in a military costume. Its action, power, caliber, and “automation” are all identical to standard hunting rifles.
If you want to argue against it, use facts, not refutable statements meant to trigger emotion (unless you’re just trying to rile up the echo chamber–in which case, well done).
Michael Pollard,
That is sick. The AR15 is not a rifle. It is an assault weapon. No hunter would use an AR15 to hunt for deer. It is a semi-automatic weapon. Useful for mass murders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_AR-15
Michael Pollard
“An AR-15 is not a machine gun; it is a regular rifle”
Next you will say its a musket load which is basically what you are allowed in England, for sporting.
“It’s semi-automatic, meaning it can release bullets as fast as the shooter pulls its trigger, and can continue firing until the magazine is empty…
AR-15-style rifles can be modified, as the gun used in the Aurora shooting was, to use a magazine that holds as many as 100 bullets…
Semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 were, at one time, banned nationwide. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban prohibited most versions of the rifle from being sold in the U.S. The gun re-entered circulation after Congress allowed the ban to expire in 2004. ”
Rolling Stone
Michael Pollard is 100% correct!
Which is exactly what I’d do. Please stop being so sensitive, as it makes you look girly (I’m a girl, so I get to say things like that.) The existence of the gun isn’t the issue. It’s the awful irony of a school raffle whose prize is something that killed little children in Connecticut. A nation of people which can’t protect innocent children is a nation that has no real men in it.
That would be one very ugly girl!!
“A nation of people which can’t protect innocent children is a nation that has no real men in it.”
What real women can’t protect innocent children??-ha ha!!
Don’t really care what folks think about what a “real man” is. But the fact of the matter is that we have been abusing children in our educational system, especially since NCLB testing mandates.
Where are all the real men and real women who are protecting our children?
Well there are some, those who opt out their children and those of us who have fought against these educational malpractices and have paid the price to our health and pocketbook.
Although I dressed as a female nurse for Halloween once, nice tight white dress (first wife was a nurse, so was the second and both became lawyers after living with me-ha ha) with grapefruit boobs. Shaved my legs and all, curled my longish hair. Pretty sexy if I may say so but that was when I was 21 years old or so! The thought of me doing that now, well let’s just say you don’t want to imagine that!
I LOVE your quote:
“A nation of people which can’t protect innocent children is a nation that has no real men in it.”
The NRA is not promoting safety, it is promoting more killing.
Duane,
Protecting children against abusive testing or against guns is not a competition. Protections is protection, and one must look at people holistically. Aren’t both important? Why wouldn’t they be?
Seriously, not far from my home so think I’ll go buy a ticket or two. What a bargain! And if I win, I will hand it over to the County Sheriff’s office, in the name of the school district and in the hope that no officers are ever “assaulted” with this particular assault rifle. It will be a profitable raffle.
It is 20 miles from my house.
As I suggested but am guaranteed to get pilloried for supporting owning a legitimate and legal rifle.
This is CRAZY. The USA is already a WAY TOO VIOLENT country.
Can’t disagree with you Yvonne. And yes, it is crazy for a school district to offer such a prize, actually insane. If I lived there I would be stridently voicing my opposition to offering such a prize.
This is unbelievable-except it isn’t it because it is the wild west of Texas. When will the people responsible for acceptable socially conscious decisions begin to exercise their influence?
The raffle is being held in a school for a school for Project Graduation. The raffle theme is education and graduation: Ergo, one would think that the prize for the graduation raffle would be something educational: a set of encyclopedias, dictionaries, nonfiction/fiction books, educational apps, a telescope, microscope, the possible list is endless, etc. Giving the infamous death weapon as a prize sends the wrong message. It’s not as if we don’t have enough pro gun ownership propaganda in this country.
Having the type of assault rifle that was used in the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School as a raffle prize for a school charity is insensitive and obscures the horrific event associated with it, despite what are probably the best intentions of the gun’s owner.
How it was used in the past is a permanent part of it’s legacy.
Learning that an AR-15 is to be a prize in a raffle to benefit a school program is troubling in itself. Even more disturbing is Googling ‘school AR-15 raffle tickets’ and discovering that this is not the first or only time such a weapon has been a raffle prize to ‘benefit’ some school program.
Try this equation:
Eroding social safety nets/public commons + the plutocracy gobbling up the middle class + increasing poverty + two party corrupt government + deep state foreign campaign ruling elite + inaccessible and decreasing mental health services =
Guns being misused in the bludgeoning of innocent people.
Only in America.
That equation makes far too much sense.
“deep state foreign campaign ruling elite ”
Please expound on that one NF. TIA, Duane
Americans have the LEAST amount of say as to what goes on in the federal government’s foreign policy, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA.
War is your country’s branding, to some extent. Since when does anyone in Washington really bend to popular will when it comes to pacifists who don’t want their tax dollars pissed away on drones, infantry, ammunitions, magazines, warships, and expensive military campaigns. America is among the biggest hypocrite that wants to parade around and spread morality and dignity to oppressed countries when all it really does is do those things if and only if it can gain a commercial interest in that country’s resources or if it contain or eliminate those country’s spread of wealth distribtuion and “socialism”.
It’s high gloss, gift wrapped colonization.
“War is your country’s branding, to some extent.”
No, not to “some extent”. Completely. Since the military had to turn its tail and run in Viet Nam (and no it wasn’t the “politicians” who lost the war, give credit where credit is due, the Viet Cong won it) it has learned to propagandize the Amurikan people, just look at the complete glorification of the death and destruction machine as exemplified by what happens at sporting events, gatherings, etc . . . with the military presence all glorified.
America’s brand is death and destruction, far right xtian dominionism and neo-imperialism. It used to be science, technology, manufacturing, environmental protection, conservation of the outdoors, growing protections for those not of the dominant group, etc. . . . That all has been ravaged by the regressive right in their religious and “market based” fundamentalism.
Only one problem I think the murder rate is significantly down from a few decades ago . Although I do like your equation.
It probably hows up in the decline in longevity among working class whites .
shows
“Those who would give up freedom for security deserve neither freedom or security”.
Columbine High School, April 20, 1999. Anybody happen to notice
The Anarchist Cookbook was written by my superintendent at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. It is a book that tells how to make bombs that can kill. It was featured in Michael Moore’s documentary about the killings at Columbine High School. We are a militaristic society that destroys.
The superintendent’s name was William Powell. I was very happy when he left. No need to go into the details.
I will say that I this documentary was shown on TV while I was in KL. I asked a select group of teacher friends to come to my apartment to watch it.
Carol-interestingly enough, there is a new documentary about the anarchist, William Powell. It was recently shown at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, & I think that the filmmaker appeared at a Q-&-A after the screening. If you are interested in viewing this new film (it has the word anarchist in the title), you can Google it; unfortunately, we’d already recycled last Friday’s film section.
It sounded very interesting, & I’m fascinated by your connection.
Guess he was a REALLY strange superintendent (& I’ve capitalized strange, because I’ve had the unpleasant experience w/working under several strange superintendents); sorry for your (& everyone else’s) experiences.
Today is the 18th anniversary of the tragic Columbine High School shooting. We ask you to remember the 13 victims who were killed and the 21 victims who were injured by guns and continue to #HonorWithAction to #EndGunViolence in our nation.
Victims who were killed:
Cassie Bernall, 17
Steven Curnow, 14
Corey DePooter, 17
Kelly Fleming, 16
Matthew Kechter, 16
Daniel Mauser, 15
Daniel Rohrbough, 15
William “Dave” Sanders, 47
Rachel Scott, 17
Isaiah Shoels, 18
John Tomlin, 16
Lauren Townsend, 18
Kyle Velasquez, 16
We wanted to share this message from Tom Mauser, the father of Daniel Mauser who was shot and killed on that heartbreaking day.
“April 20th marks the 18th anniversary of the Columbine tragedy, where my son Daniel was killed. As a remembrance, I’d like to ask that you do two things: a random act of kindness, and an email to the NRA.
Let me explain the reason for the latter: less than a month after Columbine, I wrote a letter to the NRA. Later that year, I made three calls to NRA HQs, asking whether I could expect a response. Each time I was told I could, but I got none.
In March, 2000, I personally met the NRA’s CEO, Wayne LaPierre. We both participated in a Denver events promoting tougher gun law enforcement (common ground!). I handed him the letter and a note requesting a response. He never responded.
In 2001, while in D.C. I went to NRA HQ. I did so again in 2005. In both cases I marched in their parking lot (see attached photos) carrying a sign with Daniel’s photo. In both cases the NRA refused to speak with me and instead had me arrested for trespassing.
The NRA has never even shown the decency to simply send a note acknowledging receipt of my letters, let alone a response or word of condolence. It was as if I didn’t exist. It’s a compassionless, insulated, soulless organization afraid to face the consequences of its lobbying.
On Feb. 8th, after State legislative hearings on three terrible gun bills, I approached an NRA lobbyist named Travis. He’s new, so I briefly told him my letter story and asked if he would find out why the NRA never responded. He said he’d try. He’s been unresponsive. Since he’s my only contact at this point, I’d like to flood him with emails from fed up Americans. He’s at TCouture-Lovelady@nrahq.org.
Don’t waste time with a long email message, since it’s very unlikely he’ll read it or respond anyway. And please keep it civil—strong but not nasty, as incivility would not honor Daniel. Let’s not be like the nasty pro gun activists. Thanks! Tom”
Sincerely,
-Newtown Action Alliance
My thoughts and prayers are with those families. Not even Norway is immune to crime, but the types that occur here with their own motivations is foreign bizarre, and unacceptable to most Norwegians.
Norwegian Filmmaker,
I remember the horrendous massacre of teens at a summer camp in Norway, July 22, 2011. Dreadful.
It’s not as big a phenomenon there as it is here. It just isn’t. Guns are not ingrained into a huge part of our more modern history.
“Raffling off National Security”
Trillions for defense
But raffles for the schools
Some would call us “dense”
And others call us “fools”
Some would call us “sick”
And others “plum insane”
Some would call us “thick”
And others “lacking brain”
Folks may not agree
On what they choose to call
But everyone can see
We’re headed for a fall
Got to fight off them there grizzly bears in Texas, says Betsy DeMented.
I was thinking something similar, Therlo.
Perhaps DeVos would approve of this.
I posted this at Oped and said that these people need a WAKE-UP CALL.
We cannot let this happen and remain silent.
Carol Malaysia–the film is “American Anarchist.” made by Charlie Siskel, nephew of the late film critic, Gene Siskel. There is an interview available online.
I just saw a trailer with an interview given by William Powell. He died around a year ago. I forget in which country. He left his job as superintendent and went to Singapore for some kind of treatment for a rare nerve disease. This was back in 2006.
The last showing of American Anarchist at the Art Institute of Chicago was last night. Dang, I would loved to have seen it. I sent a copy of the trailer to my friends who are still teaching in KL and will remember him. [How interesting to call him an expat school teacher. He took away a lot of our benefits when he was superintendent.] He did try to distance himself from the Anarchist Cookbook.
………….
American Anarchist Trailer (2017)
Published on Feb 1, 2017
……………………………………………………….
“This is an intriguing and original study, and a great scoop for Charlie Siskel.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.
“Compelling…Siskel proves his impressive knack for stumbling upon rich and intriguing documentary subject matter.” — Jessica Kiang, Variety
In 1970, 19-year-old William Powell, angered by police brutality and the Vietnam War, wrote a book, based mainly on military manuals found in the public library, that offered instructions on how to make bombs, booby traps, and other implements of guerrilla warfare. Titled “The Anarchist Cookbook” by its publisher, it became a controversial bestseller, is still in print, and has often been found among the belongings of the perpetrators of school massacres, abortion-clinic bombings, Al Qaeda attacks, and similar terrorist acts. Filmmaker Siskel (FINDING VIVIAN MAIER) seeks out Powell, now an expatriate schoolteacher who has long since repudiated his radical past and the book itself. By turns remorseful, evasive, and confused, Powell is subjected to a confrontational interview that raises troubling questions about the extent of personal responsibility, and the tendency of our youthful selves to commit actions that will haunt us in later life. DCP digital. (MR)
All this talk about a school and a gun, and no one is going to to bring up DeVos? Come on. The school should have given the assault rifle to a grizzly.
Like!
Here in Central Pa, gun raffles are still common, although there are fewer of them for school groups than 20 years ago. Instead we are opting for Cow Patty bingo!
Yep, seen the cow patty bingo for school raffles here in Missouri. Along with donkey basketball/baseball.
Nice message to send to the little ones. What are these people thinking?