A Portage Fraternal Order of Police raffle with two firearms as the top prizes is setting off some controversy, including the ire of one high profile local leader, but the Portage’s police chief said he’s fine with the idea.
A social media posting shows the Portage FOP Lodge 145 awarding the top prize of an Warrior Arms AR-15 rifle, with a Glock 45 9mm handgun, and a custom knife offered as second and third prizes, respectively, for its annual fundraiser.
AR-15-style rifles have been used in a range of fatal mass shooting incidents around the United States, including at a Las Vegas concert event, the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and last week’s shooting in Philadelphia that injured six police officers.
The AR-15 indicates the firearm is an Armalite brand rifle and not an abbreviation for an assault rifle. Assault rifles are firearms with detachable magazine and capable of automatic, or machine gun-like, firing, while AR-15s are semi-automatic.
Tickets for the fundraiser for $5 each, according to the social media posting.
The posting also indicates all local, state and federal laws will be followed, and winners must undergo a background check.
FOP Lodge 145 president Joe Mokol, a ranking officer with the Portage police department, did not return calls seeking comment, but Portage Police Chief Troy Williams said he has no issue with the raffle.
The local FOP routinely uses fundraiser proceeds to give back to the community through “Shop With A Cop” and other programs, Williams said.
“If the FOP was not following rules and regulations of the law, then, yeah I’d have an issue with it,” Williams said. “But, they’re doing a legal thing, following protocols of the law, and, everything’s above board.
“People have a right to own a firearm, and, in turn, the dollars (the FOP is) making off the raffle are going back into the community.”
Williams said the winners will have to pass background checks done by federally licensed firearms dealers.
The raffle, which has been held several times in the past, has generated controversy, largely because of recent mass shootings, but the same firearms being raffled off are available at local Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s stores, Williams said.
An online search turned indicated the AR-15 being raffled off by the Portage FOP is available at prices ranging from $699.95 to $1,049.95, and similar Glock firearms are available online for between $539 and $649.
In a social media post, Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott took exception to the Portage FOP’s plans, asking “how can the Portage FOP be so clueless as to make an AR-15 assault rifle as the top prize in a FOP raffle?”
McDermott also added the hashtags, #Tonedeaf, and #Clueless, drawing return fire from Williams.
In a report on guns used in crimes in Chicago called “Chicago Gun Trace Report 2017,” by the City of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, it listed Westforth Sports in Gary and Cabela’s in Hammond as the third and fourth largest source of guns, respectively, recovered in crimes throughout Chicago between 2013 and 2016.
Blythe’s Sport Shop in Griffith was named the ninth largest source in the same report.
“The fact (McDermott) made that post and went after our FOP, I’d say he’s misinformed on that,” Williams said. “If he’s worried about one or two guns raffled off legally by our FOP, I find it strange he’s worried about that when he has that store in his city.”
McDermott said he has been “100 percent supportive of law enforcement officers,” but, he said the Portage FOP raffle shows “poor judgement.”
“An AR-15 is a weapon of war, and in these days with mass casualties and attacks on officers, I think it’s reckless,” McDermott said. “I don’t think law enforcement officers should be pushing weapons of wars.
“I’d be upset if the Hammond FOP did such a thing.”
Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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