Wrestling team raffles 52 guns in 52 minutes
NAMPA, Idaho - Wrestlers vied for top honors at the Idaho Center Saturday. But in the entry a unique fundraiser was raising some eyebrows.
The Columbia High School wrestling team was raffling off "52 guns in 52 minutes."
At 52 bucks a ticket, this fundraiser has been a big money maker for the wrestling team. And it's only their first year doing the raffle. A ticket bought you 52 tries to get a gift certificate for a gun. The guns were valued up to $2,300. (Photos from the Raffle >>>)
Parents we talked to at the tournament were supportive of the idea.
"There's a lot of hunters, my husbands a hunter. So he is hoping to win a couple guns," said Perla Gleed.
Her husband Rick said the raffle was an interesting idea.
"This is America and that's what America's about, being able to bear arms and all that. So i am all for it and I don't think it's bad or portrays a bad image," said Gleed.
Raffle organizer Tyrel Harris says background checks will be done by Sportsman's Warehouse and that the wrestling team is actually raffling off gift cards for specific gun amounts. The winners can choose how to spend the money at the store.
"Everything is legal, we don't have any handling with the guns," said Harris.
Even so, some viewers on our KBOI2 Facebook page were not happy about the idea.
Lacy wrote in saying, "As many school shootings as there has been...I think it's kind of wrong that a high school recreational and sports activity is supporting it".
About 850 tickets were sold for the raffle. The team raised about $15,000.
The Columbia High School wrestling team was raffling off "52 guns in 52 minutes."
At 52 bucks a ticket, this fundraiser has been a big money maker for the wrestling team. And it's only their first year doing the raffle. A ticket bought you 52 tries to get a gift certificate for a gun. The guns were valued up to $2,300. (Photos from the Raffle >>>)
Parents we talked to at the tournament were supportive of the idea.
"There's a lot of hunters, my husbands a hunter. So he is hoping to win a couple guns," said Perla Gleed.
Her husband Rick said the raffle was an interesting idea.
"This is America and that's what America's about, being able to bear arms and all that. So i am all for it and I don't think it's bad or portrays a bad image," said Gleed.
Raffle organizer Tyrel Harris says background checks will be done by Sportsman's Warehouse and that the wrestling team is actually raffling off gift cards for specific gun amounts. The winners can choose how to spend the money at the store.
"Everything is legal, we don't have any handling with the guns," said Harris.
Even so, some viewers on our KBOI2 Facebook page were not happy about the idea.
Lacy wrote in saying, "As many school shootings as there has been...I think it's kind of wrong that a high school recreational and sports activity is supporting it".
About 850 tickets were sold for the raffle. The team raised about $15,000.
When I went to HS in rural Idaho in the 70s the rodeo club raffled a shotgun, donated by the local hardware store, every year as a fund raiser. I remember the cowboys selling raffle tickets between classes w/ the shotgun in hand. There was always a crowd as they passed the shotgun around because the kids wanted to see what they were buying a chance to win.
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On the other hand I saw one student trip another once. As the tripped student hit the floor, a container w/ some weed in popped out of his pocket right in front of a teacher. He was hauled off to the principal's office and the cops were called.
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Today if students walked into a High School toting a shotgun the local SWAT team would show up. In some states if you dropped a bag of weed in front of a teacher, the teacher would probably hand it back to you.
Homicide and Race : NPR interview of Nations most Famous Homicide Reporter : Jill Levoy
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126853039
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The below  statements  are  from Jill Levoy founder of the long running "Homicide Report" a former crime reporter for the LA Times and A Liberal. The Homicide report is a regular feature of the LA Times, originally started by Jill Levoy, years ago, and it lists the Race of the murder victims throughout LA County. It is well respected for it's data
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"The truth about homicide," she says, "is that it is black men in their 20s, in their 30s, in their 40s. The way we guide money and policy in this country, we do not care about those people. It's not described as what's central to our homicide problem, and I wanted people to see that. I wanted people to see those lives and to see that that's our real homicide problem in America.
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"The money needs to go to black male argument violence," she continues. "Anything else ⦠you're dealing with the margins of the problem, statistically, and it's not right."
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Now a senior reporter at the L.A. Times, Jill Leovy started The Homicide Report in 2007 after noticing the huge disparity in the way murders were covered by the news media. The sensational stories, mostly the outliers and anomalies, got the most attention. But the majority of homicides were largely ignored.
Black Men Living In A 'War Zone'
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Leovy acknowledges that murder rates are way down in recent years, but says it's never been about that.
"Homicide is not a mass syndrome in America," she says. "It's a concentrated group of people and that group of people is still horribly affected by homicide."
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In 2007, L.A. County's murder rates were especially low. Even so, Leovy says, black men in their 20s were dying at rates of around 140 per 100,000 per year.
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"As a middle-aged white lady, my death rate is probably 1 or 2 per 100,000 â maximum," Leovy says. "These young men are dying at 140. They're in a war zone, and the rest of us are living in a different country."
"The real homicide problem is not the numbers that everybody focuses on, it's the disproportion."
I think if you would take a real, honest look at those individuals that have committed these school shootings, you would see that it they are not the result of an inanimate piece of steel, but rather the product of a social 'experiment' that has failed MISERABLY. Â 'Society' has dictated that we no longer spank our children because this just teaches them violence, but the violent acts committed by children since adopting this philosophy have sky-rocketed! Â 'Society' has dictated that we are not discipline them for throwing a tantrum but to, instead, let them "express themselves". Â Expressing themselves they are! Â 'Society' has dictated that we do not alienate, segregate, or differentiate from one child to another, despite their learning abilities or mental health. Â We have even gone as far as to develop programs that reduce or eliminate homework or tests so that these children can stay in the main stream with everyone else, even though this does NOT address their problems OR prepare them for the future. Â It is almost a crime to identify a child who has a mental disease because they deserve a 'normal' life. Â 'Society' has also dictated that we award EVERYONE; not just those that succeed. Â Again, this is to make sure that no child feels out of place, or below standard, or not 'normal'. Â What 'society' has CREATED are individuals who feel extremely entitled and are incredibly frustrated and unable to cope when the playing field is no longer leveled by 'society'. Â That may occur when they are 13 and no one intervenes when they are bullied, or it may occur when they get to college and mommy and daddy can no longer influence how they are treated by the educational system. Â Or, it may occur when they try to find a job they 'deserve' or a mate who turns out to be just as narcissistic as they are. Â Regardless of when they reach this point, some are not able to handle the transition and some of those individuals are the very ones committing these atrocious acts. Â Still don't think so? Â Google ALL of the school shootings that have happened in this country. Â Google ALL of the mass shootings in this country. Â In the case of school shootings, many were committed by students of the school, but all were committed by people under 25. Same goes with mass shootings. Â Most, in recent years, have been males under 30.
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Put your head in the sand and blame it on guns if you wish, but that's NOT the real solution to the problem.
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I have no issue with a gun raffle. But when we debate gun violence and the sensitivity and concern around school shootings, this is completely inappropriate and ridiculous. We lack so much empathy in this country its ridiculous. Only thinking of ourselves and unable to see and feel things from a different perspective. Of course opinions change once someone has experienced things first hand, and is either a victim, or knows a victim.Â
 @David Johnson You are 100% wrong! I have loads of empathy and sympathy for the loss of life due to maniacs and mentally sick people in the last few months. But I refuse to allow the Progressives in Washington or any state legislature who have been chomping at the bit for a reason to strip us of our rights to the protections from tyranny that the Constitution affords us. As a matter of fact, that is wrong. The Constitution does not give us a right to bear arms against our oppressors, that is a natural right that cannot be infringed upon by anyone. The Constitution just enumerates that right so that tyrants will know that we will not be enslaved nor will we suffer the boot of authoritarianism like the sheep of Europe who are used to centuries of serfdom. This is not about empathy. It's about protecting our freedom, even in the face of sorrow and tragedy.
way to go! Â great idea! Â not everyone is dumb enough to believe that getting rid of all the guns will prevent criminals from having them. Â
"This is American and that's what America is about...WHAT??? Â I'm confused, I thought we were about a little more than that..like the entire Bill of Rights, not just the 2nd Amendment. Â This idea is just nuts, high school students raffling off guns??? It's THIS is part of the mentality that has the majority of Americans now in support of closing the gun show loopholes and other reasonable, common sense regulations re: gun buying and ownership. Â Every mass shooting and murder of innocents was by people who had legally purchased weapons and were, up until they opened fire, 'law abiding' citizens.Â
@Cynthia Nordstrom You could not be further from the truth and you are a very good example of why Conservatives and Patriots look upon people like yourself as totally wrong. Almost all gun violence and murder is the product of a handgun in the hands of young Black Males. 500 + yearly in Chicago and nearly as much in 'kill-a-delphia', Cincinatti, NYC, LA County and many , many , many cities. On a bad night in an American Metroplex - you'll have 4-6 gun deaths. Only a very , very small percentage of gun deaths are due to rifles also. There are NO Tea Party people and No NRA members who are ever involved. 2-3 times a decade a mass shooting does kill larger numbers - up to 20-30 ...but that total is absolutely infintesimal - compared to the thousands upon thousands killed yearly across the nation's cities...and the perps are always certified nutcases.
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The REAL solution to the Real killing would be to find a way to make it illegal for Black and Hispanic persons to acquire handguns - and I don't think I would agree with that solution.
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It is ABSOLUTLEY true that there are millions of guns out there and that criminals will NEVER obey any gun laws and are hoping that law-abiding citizens can be either dis-armed or have semi-auto weapons banned. Â
 @Cynthia Nordstrom so everyone that killed or assaulted someone withe a gun wasn't a criminal REALLY show me the facts and i'll stop posting other wise GO AWAY
 @Cynthia Nordstrom "Every mass shooting and murder of innocents was by people who had legally purchased weapons and were, up until they opened fire, 'law-abiding' citizens"  My knee-jerk comment in response to this statement and your post in general would be 'You are insane'.  But I realized, after reading your post again, I can see that you are just hysterical (not as in 'funny').  The first statement of "WHAT???", followed by your assessment of the team's audacity to raffle such things as guns coupled with statements you made as 'fact' that range from untrue to just absurd tell me you have drank too much of the "get rid of guns and we will finally have Shangra-La" Kool-aid. Â
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Just because things are not acceptable where you live doesn't give you, or anyone else, the right to change things that work for people in other communities/cultures. In addition, I am QUITE sure that the article states that there will INDEED be background checks done before any firearms change hands. Â
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Finally, you REALLY need to check your facts on that last statement because it is a TOTALLY false statement; one which was probably regurgitated from a media source that has long abandoned 'journalism' and 'truth' in pursuit of their own personal agendas.
"This is America and that's what America's about, being able to bare arms and all that." Â America is all about being able to wear sleeveless shirts?
Lacey... you are wrong. enough said. did you read the article???? like at all? they aren't dealing with the guns in any way; its for gift cards to the sports store. they can use the gift card however they please. my lord people are so overstepping this non issue.
That's an awesome idea. Â Like Victor, I'd also like to know whose eyebrows were raised. Â Seems like a great event that is raising money for the team. Â Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Â
I like to know who's eyebrows were raised, certainly not mine! Hell, in Mountain Home you can buy a truck and get a gun.