AR rifle raffle ruffles feathers in Ardmore

ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) - A fundraiser for a youth football team isn’t sitting well with some in the Ardmore community.

Zelto Anderson coaches an Ardmore little league football team that created a fundraiser, raffling off a rifle.

“I guess people like to have an opinion but those same people never volunteered to donate any money, they just came on there with problems,” Anderson said.

Anderson said they’ve had trouble funding the sport.

“A lot of the kids aren’t able to afford to play and be able to pay for their uniform and helmets and shoulder pads and stuff like that,” Anderson.

He said this isn’t their first fundraiser, but it caught people’s attention on Facebook, with some, like Keith Wallis, saying it’s in bad taste.

“It’s like when you post those fundraisers you don’t get any support but the minute a gun is posted, all of the sudden there’s so many problems,” Anderson said.

“I guess you could say it really triggered me quickly when I saw this assault rifle being raffled off to support children,” Wallis said.

Wallis said the recent shootings have weighed heavily on his heart, and he worries about his daughter, who is a teacher.

“I am a grandfather, I’m a father and I’m also a gun owner but when I see those things of being irresponsible and hurting innocent lives especially that of a child, to have their life ended like that for no reason it just rips my heart out every time,” Wallis said.

“I get where people are coming from cause it’s for kids and with all the stuff going on but people are gonna buy guns wherever they want to buy them,” Anderson said.

Wallis said he called the number on the poster, asking if they could change the prize or at least ensure a background check.

“Just so there’s not another chance that somebody who is irresponsible or shouldn’t have a gun finds another way to acquire it,” Wallis said.

Anderson said they’ll have background checks.

“There’s no different process, it’s just you may get lucky and win the gun with 20 bucks from buying the ticket,” Anderson said. “But whoever wins the rifle, they still have to go get a background check. It’s still gonna be a legal sale, the gun will be in their name.”

But he said its not about the gun at all.

“We can sell cameras,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t care as long as it helps to cover expenses to help these kids get up and down the highway to get the equipment they need in order to play football.”

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