People across the nation rallied for North Carolina’s East Henderson Youth Football and Cheerleading League (EHYFC) after the league faced backlash for raffling an AR-15 rifle to raise money for equipment and supplies.
On September 5 Breitbart News reported that the EHYFC was raffling an FN 15, and that an anonymous parent had criticized the decision to do so.
The New York Post noted that the parent told WLOS, “I was honestly shocked when I received the message that the children were going to be selling an assault rifle because of what’s going on at schools around the country. I thought it was in very bad taste for them to choose a weapon that is being used against children.”
FOX News quoted a mother who supports the league raffle, who claimed that the anonymous parent’s words were compounded by news reports that put league “children in more danger than selling tickets to a legal raffle ever would,”
The mother said, “Our practice locations were broadcast in one article, other articles reported us as schools in our area. We’ve received hate mail, nasty messages, uninformed opinions, pushback and even a local artist thought it would be cute to draw a comic attempting to depict his version of how he thinks this raffle works.”
However, those in the league who organized the raffle stood their ground and the supportive mother indicated all of the criticism and licentious reporting “pales in comparison to the love and encouragement we have seen from across this great nation.”
The mother said support began to come from Texas and North and South Carolina until now, she says, “There are not many states we haven’t had at least one person reach out from.”
Those reaching out are sending messages of support and/or making donations.
The mother said, “We have far surpassed our goals, and now have the ability to pass those blessings on to others in need. We have read every message, transaction note and email that has come our way. The supportive messages are coming from both retired and active military personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters, fellow youth organization leaders, teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs and grandparents trying to save our backwards society.”
The winner of the EHYFC raffle will be drawn on October 1.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History from Texas Tech University. His PhD is focused on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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