As part of National Police Week, the group Law Enforcement Memorial Run puts on a 150-mile race from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., but the organization’s Philly chapter is also hosting an online gun raffle to raise money for the non-profit group. That’s drawing the ire of at least one gun control activist in the City of Brotherly Love, who wants to see the rifle being raffled off replaced with another item. 

Anton Moore, head of Unity in the Community, tells Axios the raffle is “tone deaf” and sends the wrong message in a community that has struggled for years to quell gun violence.

• “It’s disrespectful to the families,” he says. “Their legacies are much, much more than a gun raffle.”

LEMR’s coordinator, Tim Hoagland, tells Axios he’s never received complaints about the gun raffles.

• “People murder people. Guns don’t,” Hoagland said.
• The Philly chapter didn’t respond to Axios’ requests for comment sent through Facebook.

I’m glad to see Hoagland’s response, because Moore’s complaint is absolutely ridiculous. The guns that are being raffled off has nothing to do with crime victims, fallen law enforcement officers, or their families, so there’s no reason they (or anyone else) should feel disrespected. This is simply a good way to raise money for a good cause, and if Moore doesn’t like it there’s a simple solution for him: don’t buy a ticket. 

The Philly LEMR chapter started selling tickets for the drawing in March, with proceeds benefiting the local chapter.

• The top prize is a Springfield Saint 5.56 — a semiautomatic AR-15-style firearm.
• Only entrants living in Pennsylvania who can lawfully own firearms are eligible for the gun prizes. Otherwise, they must take a cash option.

Between the lines: “After my loved one was gunned down, I don’t know how I’d feel about firearms,” Brian Higgins, a former New Jersey police chief and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, tells Axios. “Doing it in the city of Philadelphia raises some issues.”

• Moore says the Philly chapter could raffle off something less divisive — baskets, spa packages, tickets.
• “There’s a better way to honor dead police officers,” he says.

What “issues” does the raffle raise, other than the issue of anti-gunners exploiting the deaths of police officers to complain about something gun-related? 

Again, this is a private entity that’s raising money. If Moore believes that raffling off firearms is “divisive”, then he can make sure that Unity in the Community never holds a gun raffle and doesn’t financially support LEMR’s efforts. But he has no say whatsoever in what the group does, and the Philly chapter of LEMR is right to ignore his pathetic attempt to get attention. 

Frankly, I wouldn’t have written anything about this were it not for the fact that Axios is amplifying his complaint, but I’d like to see some good come from his grandstanding, so if you’d like to buy a ticket or two to support the Philadelphia chapter of LEMR, the best way is to reach out to the group through their Facebook page. Even if you’re not a Pennsylvania resident you can still enter the raffle, and if you win you can use the cash as you see fit. Maybe buy a rifle of your own, or if you’re feeling super generous, donate your winnings back to the LEMR or the pro-Second Amendment group of your choice. I suppose you could even see if Moore would accept a donation to Unity in the Community, or if he’d turn away money he thinks is tainted by our right to keep and bear arms.