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Fire Dept Gun Raffle sparks debate

It’s great someone level headed stepped up to defend this but unfortunately something was missing from the article that’s most important, no 1st responder organization or school district should have to hold a raffle to make money to support their efforts to serve the communities they serve. It’s a travesty that states and the federal government spend money on so many things that don’t make a difference in the quality of life. A quote comes to mind I heard many years ago.
“It will be a good day when schools get all the money they need to teach our children and the government needs to hold a raffle to make money to build a battleship”
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating for defunding the military but the priorities of funding what’s important is screwed up.
 
There are a lot of small town volunteer fire depts still today. Keystone19250, there is one in Bagdad Ky. they are covered by the Shelbyville fire dept. But it takes too long for them to respond most of the time. Bagdad VFD uses fund raisers Every year to repair or upgrade thier equipment. The most popular is the hunters breakfast opening weekend of Deer season. I used to support them every year while hunting on a farm in that area
 
I live outside the town limits in the county, and our FD service is covered by the local VFD, roughly 5 miles away. Our annual property tax includes a $45 "fee" (tax) directly to the VFD. They have 2-3 vehicles (fire apparatus), with 1 (might be 2) being painted green. Quite awhile back I mentioned the green paint scheme to one of my brothers who happens to be a ret'd firefighter/paramedic (big city other part of state). He said that the trucks at the volunteer locations that have that colored paint signifies that they were part of a government grant program to outfit VFD's. So, there is some government assistance/backing and taxpayer funded occuring. Maybe not everywhere, but in some locales.

That being said, the largest item on my annual property tax bill is school tax, and it's the first item everytime to get an increase when taxes are raised.
 
Here’s one of my tickets for a local Fireman’s drawing tomorrow...note what the top 3 prizes are.
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I will always buy tickets for small town fire/ambulance service raffles, and I will also always go to the pancake breakfasts/smelt fries/etc for my local services, and leave extra in the donation jar.

These are the people who are going to be saving your house/getting you (or your family) out of a car wreck/responding to other disasters in your community. Support them.
 
Here’s one of my tickets for a local Fireman’s drawing tomorrow...note what the top 3 prizes are.
View attachment 16084

I will always buy tickets for small town fire/ambulance service raffles, and I will also always go to the pancake breakfasts/smelt fries/etc for my local services, and leave extra in the donation jar.

These are the people who are going to be saving your house/getting you (or your family) out of a car wreck/responding to other disasters in your community. Support them.
Don't miss the weather up there, but sure do miss those "brat feeds" the upper midwest was good for! lol I'll still do local raffles for organizations I'm a part of, or support, like VFDs, American Legion, Boy Scouts, ect.
 
This is one area where I wish the firearms industry would step up and address. When I was a young patrol officer, I was active in the police association. Anytime we needed funding, the local gun and sporting good stores (LGS and Big Box Stores) were the first to help. We purchased many of the guns that were raffled-off, but I highly doubt that these stores ever made a penny of profit from the sales.

While the Biden Administration is set on demonizing the gun industry, no one is pointing out that these stores are some of the most generous when it comes to donating/providing fundraising items to fire departments, law enforcement, little league teams, and local schools. If the general public had any idea of how generous and community focused these businesses tend to be, they might stop insisting that gun stores are a blight that need to be run out of cities. Unfortunately, most of these stores are run by humble people who rarely seek any sort of glory or appreciation.
 
40-50 years ago there were bake sales, raffles, concerts, etc. to raise money for soft body armor for police officers. Sometimes it takes government a while to wake up.
Unfortunately and sadly, many of those bake sales, fish fry's, all you can eat deals, raffles and other concerns have already been shut down by local governments way before covid 19 even thought of appearing for one reason or another. If food was involved, usually by some overbearing local yokel health departments "overbaking" their services.
 
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