BELTON, Mo. — A western Missouri police association has pulled the plug on its plan to raffle off an AR-15 rifle in the wake of recent mass shootings.
The Belton Police Athletic Association had planned to raffle off the gun as part of its annual fundraiser supporting an anti-drug education program in schools in the community about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Kansas City, Missouri.
Organizers said the decision to include the rifle in this year's event was made months ago — before a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers last week at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and before a May 14 racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that killed 10 people. Police say both shooters had AR-15-style rifles.
"After recent tragic events, the Belton Police Athletic Association decided that it would be inappropriate to continue with the raffle as planned," the association said in a statement posted Wednesday to the Belton Police Department's Facebook page.
