Tucson GOP to raffle gun -- 9 months after Giffords shooting

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

On the morning of Jan. 8, a gunman fired a 9-millimeter Glock semiautomatic pistol into a crowd that had come to meet Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a supermarket in Tucson. He killed six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, and gravely wounded Giffords.

Nearly nine months later, the Tucson-area Republican Party is planning to raise money by raffling off a Glock handgun, the Arizona Republic reported. That has enraged some in a city still emotionally scarred by the massacre.

Jeff Rogers, Pima County Democratic Party chairman, told the newspaper that the raffle showed ‘incredibly poor judgment.’

James Kelley, a member of the county GOP executive committee, called it ‘insensitive and stupid.’

‘Are there any rational adults left in Tucson’s GOP?’ blogged Republic columnist Linda Valdez. ‘Maybe. Get a magnifying glass.’

But Mike Shaw, interim Pima County GOP chairman, shrugged off the uproar. Giffords has been a strong 2nd Amendment advocate, he pointed out in the newspaper article, and owned a Glock herself.

Giffords’ district, which stretches to the Mexican border, is a hotbed of gun-rights advocacy -– so much so that her opponent in November, Republican Jesse Kelly, held a fundraiser at which potential voters could shoot an assault rifle with him.

‘That Glock is no more responsible for those deaths and the congresswoman’s injuries than a No. 2 pencil is responsible for cheating on a test,’ Shaw told the Republic.

Shaw said the Glock 23 .40-caliber handgun -– which is to be raffled off with three 12-round magazines, an adjustable grip and a case -– was left over from a similar event last year. The winner never claimed it.

Regardless, Jennifer Johnson, a state Democratic Party spokeswoman, was quoted as asking, ‘How hard would it be to raffle off concert tickets or a dinner?’

RELATED:

Rancor prompts resignations in Arizona

Arizonans put politics aside to pull for Giffords

Suspected Tucson shooter ‘slowly spiraled into madness’

-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers