Wait, N.H. police chiefs are raffling an assault rifle like Adam Lanza’s?

It's true: New Hampshire police chiefs are giving away a gun a day in May, one of them just like the Newtown weapon

Topics: Gun Control, Assault rifle, Adam Lanza, Sandy Hook, Newtown,

Wait, N.H. police chiefs are raffling an assault rifle like Adam Lanza's?The Ruger SR-556C

A New Hampshire police chief is outraged that an AR-15-style rifle — the same type of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Newtown school massacre — is being auctioned off in a statewide fundraiser.

Even more outrageous: the auction is being run by the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police for its cadet training program.

Nicholas J. Giaccone Jr., the Hanover, N.H., chief of police, told the New York Times that he cursed at his computer when he Googled the Ruger SR-556C, one of 31 guns the organization (along with two New Hampshire gun makers) is raffling.

“It’s an assault rifle,” Giaccone said.

Many state lawmakers and gun-control supporters are also stunned that a law enforcement organization would get behind a fundraiser involving guns like this so close after Sandy Hook and during a divisive national debate over gun control. But organizers don’t see the problem — and some supporters even charge critics with playing politics.

“Anybody that’s speaking up is using the Newtown massacre as a pretext to poke at the issue negatively,” Richard Olson Jr., the president of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation told the Times.

One thousand tickets quickly sold out. The group will select a winner on each day of May.

“There’s nothing wrong with what the chiefs are doing,” State Rep. Al Baldasaro, a Republican, told the Boston Globe. “The only ones who are saying it’s insensitive are these liberals out there who want to take away your guns. The shooting in Newtown had nothing to do with law-abiding citizens.”

Critics had harsher words: “It’s disgusting that any law-enforcement agency would be voluntarily giving away military-style weapons,” said John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence, told the Globe. “This raffle giveaway should be canceled and shame on the New Hampshire Police Chiefs Association if they don’t.”

David Daley is the executive editor of Salon.

Next Article

Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Comments

42 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>