The Buckeye Firearms Association, an Ohio gun-rights organization, raffled off an AR-15 prize package recently after a presidential candidate said gun confiscation is coming.
“We announced it Monday [Oct. 14th] and sold out the same day,” Dean Rieck, Buckeye Firearms Association executive director, told America’s 1st Freedom. “Any way you measure, it was a success.” The drawing will take place later.
The “Beto ‘Hell Yes’ AR-15 Raffle” came in response to presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke saying, “Hell yes we’re going to take your AR-15” during the September Democratic presidential debate. Included in the package was a Faxon Firearms FX 5500 Ultralight AR-15, various attachments and ammunition as well as products from Nine Line Apparel, Black Rifle Coffee and other pro-Second Amendment companies.
“We timed the raffle with the [October Democratic presidential] debate,” said Rieck. That debate was located in Westerville, Ohio, where O’Rourke reaffirmed his commitment to take firearms from lawful gun owners. “What’s different now is they are saying it out loud,” Rieck added.
All 1,000 tickets were sold for $25 each. They were numbered 000-999, assigned randomly and distributed via email prior to the drawing. The winning number will be determined by the Ohio Lottery Pick 3. The winner must be an Ohio resident and in compliance with federal and state laws to lawfully be able to own a gun.
The firearm being raffled is from another Ohio-based company, Faxon Firearms in Cincinnati, and it will be processed through Black Wing Shooting Center, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Delaware, Ohio.
The association is also hosting a Second Amendment workshop in Columbus on Nov. 14 to ensure “all gun owners vote” in upcoming elections. “It’s about getting voters registered, to the polls and whatever is necessary. We really need to step it up for these elections,” said Rieck.
Buckeye Firearms Association, established in 2004, also operates the Buckeye Firearms Foundation and a political action committee. The association recently won the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Affiliated Organization of the Year award at the 2019 Gun Rights Policy Conference “in recognition of tireless hard work and dedication to the preservation of the individual right to keep and bear arms by its members.”
