West Goshen Republicans to raffle off AR-15 rifle

Proceeds will support candidates’ campaigns for November election

The West Goshen Republican Committee is selling raffle tickets and the top prize is a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle.

The AR-15 is much beloved by gun enthusiasts, but it’s also been vilified since the lightweight rifle has been used in several mass shootings.

Tickets are $10 each, or three for $25. A drawing will be held on June 14 for the $1,300 gun at Stars and Stripes Tactical, on West Chester Pike, in East Goshen. Three other guns will also be awarded.

Felice Fein is a Republican Committee member and Chair of the West Goshen Republican Committee. She noted that this is not the first time that an organization has raffled off an AR-15.

Fein said that while she doesn’t personally own a gun, she does know people who do. While she knows little about guns, she supports the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution.

Fein said that the raffle is a great way to help support the Republican committee, just like with previous committee-sponsored pizza nights and an axe throwing get-together.

“I believe in the Constitution and all the amendments that follow,” she said. “I think that private citizens should be allowed to purchase any gun sold to the public.

“Everyone has a right to own a legal weapon of choice.”

The AR-15 is one of the most popular rifles in America and Fein said she was told it is a popular raffle item.

She said that almost anything can become a weapon and it’s the person who kills, not the gun.

“A pencil can be a weapon in taking someone’s eye out or in using it to write weaponizing words,” she said.

The raffle winner will need to go to Stars and Stripes Tactical to pick up the gun.

“These are sold to adults who will go through a background check and have a right to own the

gun,” Fein said.

Tom Buglio, a musician in West Chester, talked about the raffle.

“This is disturbing, and in my mind, a tone-deaf response to the epidemic of gun violence in our country,” Buglio said. “It seems every week we hear of another mass shooting, with the AR-15 the weapon of choice spraying bullets, causing incredible damage to adults and children alike.

“This month, in Allen, Texas, a first responder found a 9-year-old girl victim who had her face blown off by an AR-15. Just recently, a Fox News poll on gun safety proposals showed a 61 percent support for an assault weapons ban on killing machines like the AR-15.

“Will the Republican Party raise lots of money with their raffle? Probably. Is it wise? Hardly.”

An employee at Stars and Stripes Tactical said she would prefer that the newspaper not use her name.

She said the shop does not sell automatic weapons and the trigger on an AR-15 needs to be squeezed each time a bullet is fired.

When asked how fast bullets can be fired with the semi-automatic AR15, the unnamed employee said the answer was “irrelevant.”

She also said that the AR15 is safe, accurate and easy to use for a lighter woman.

Auto mechanic Mike Ivey won an AR-15 in a similar raffle 10 years ago that was sponsored by the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.

He said that he received dozens of threats via email and phone, including doctored photos of his building exploding.

He said that three newspapers covered the story and each one asked how he felt winning a gun that killed people.

“It didn’t make sense,” Ivey said, about the reporter’s questions.