A Louisiana police officer got here disturbingly near raffling off an AR-15-style rifle this week in a misguided try and help victims of home violence. The trouble was discontinued after activists in St. Tammany Parish noticed a flyer promoting tickets on social media.
The digital leaflet depicted a Core rifle and a smiling portrait of Lt. Patrick Casnave, an officer with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Workplace who was described as a “Superhero” for a home violence nonprofit.
“Lt. Patrick Casnave , AKA Superhero for Protected Harbor, is raffling off a rifle … to profit Protected Harbor,” learn the flyer, which was obtained by JHB. “CORE AR-15 Valued at $800. $10 every or 3 for $25.”
The raffle quickly confronted pushback from activists like Cynthia Weatherly.
The LGBTQ advocate, who beforehand fought an area library board to maintain challenged titles obtainable, mentioned she was shocked when she noticed the flyer on Fb.
“I had simply pulled up in my driveway after I noticed the advert and my coronary heart sunk instantly,” she instructed JHB on Friday through electronic mail. “I don’t contemplate myself a really emotional particular person and I’m comparatively introverted, however I used to be instantly struck by the insensitivity of this raffle.”
So Weatherly known as the quantity on the flyer and spoke to Sgt. Carli Messina, one other officer on the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Workplace. Weatherly “defined how inappropriate” the raffle appeared, however mentioned she was instructed it “was largely geared toward Legislation enforcement and their family and friends.”
The activist rejected this as a justification to carry a drawing for a lethal weapon.
“As if the gun going into the fingers of a LEO [law enforcement officer] made it okay,” she instructed JHB.
Although actual figures are murky, Weatherly cited one estimate that home violence amongst regulation enforcement is “15 instances larger than the overall inhabitants.”
Of their dialogue concerning the raffle, Weatherly mentioned Messina tried to shift consideration away from the rifle by arguing that “alcohol additionally contributes to home violence.” Weatherly instructed JHB that she “felt dismissed” by Messina’s statements.
“I acquired teary eyed as I sat in my driveway,” mentioned Weatherly, noting that her mom had been a sufferer of home violence.
“I can’t think about being within the midst of this and attempting to flee that form of scenario and understanding that the folks ‘serving to’ are actively fundraising by placing extra [guns] … out into the world,” she continued.
In line with the Instructional Fund to Cease Gun Violence, round 4.5 million girls within the U.S. have been threatened with a gun, and almost 1 million girls have been shot or shot at by a companion. Girls are 5 instances extra more likely to be killed if their abuser has a gun.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However this isn’t the primary time that regulation enforcement has raffled off weapons within the U.S.
In Missouri, the Columbia Police Officers Affiliation reportedly mentioned it will proceed with a firearm giveaway final 12 months, regardless of public outrage after current mass shootings nationwide.
The Bergenfield Police Division in New Jersey tried the identical in 2019. The trouble was reportedly thwarted when the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Workplace intervened, arguing {that a} state statute prohibited gifting away weapons as prizes.
Win McNamee through Getty Photographs
Mel Manuel, an LGBTQ rights activist who’s operating for Congress as a Democrat in Louisiana’s 1st District, instructed JHB additionally they realized concerning the flyer on Fb — and genuinely weren’t “certain it was actual” at first.
“This isn’t a gun for searching deer, it’s for searching folks,” wrote Manuel, who makes use of they/them pronouns.
“Raffling it off to help a nonprofit serving victims of home violence is unbelievably tone deaf, particularly provided that the presence of a gun in a home violence scenario will increase the chance of murder by 500%,” they continued.
Manuel’s opponent within the congressional race, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), has espoused bewildering views on weapons up to now.
Final 12 months, Scalise mentioned that passing gun security laws to curb mass shootings can be unsuitable, arguing that “there wasn’t a dialog about banning airplanes” after the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults.
He additionally said that college shootings didn’t occur within the Nineteen Sixties, when “we truly had prayer at school.” However gun management advocates are demanding extra stringent regulation, not prayer, to stop violence.
Manuel famous that Casnave’s involvement within the raffle, which Protected Harbor finally canceled, is baffling.
“As an officer whose job it’s to stop crime, I can’t think about why he’d wish to add one other semi-automatic weapon onto our streets,” they wrote.
Need assistance? Within the U.S., name 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline.