Prescott Valley Church Raffles Guns To Raise Money For Playground
A church in Prescott Valley is holding a gun raffle to raise money to build a safe play area for children. Some find the combination odd since Arizona is consistently in the top 20 states for gun violence in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Josh Macale is organizing the event and admits a church gun raffle is a bit unusual. But he said the Ridge Christian Fellowship is in the middle of gun country. The church has a gun club for adults and youth and an armed security team, so he thought a gun raffle would be popular with the community.
Macale said he has received some negative responses, with several people calling him "unchristian."
“Everybody’s saying that we’re promoting killing,” Macale said. “That’s absolutely not the case. If anything, we’re promoting not killing. We do training drills. It is the last option that you would exercise. It doesn’t make me less of a Christian because I own a gun and choose to protect my family.”
The three guns up for raffle are worth more than $1,200 each.
The winners of the raffle must complete state and federal background checks and be at least 21 years old. And there’s no ammo included. The drawing will be May 5.
