Florida charter school gives away handguns, shotguns, and an AK-47 as part of raffle

Charles R. Davis
Updated ·2 min read
6

  • A high school in Florida has been raffling guns to raise money, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

  • On Wednesday, James Madison Preparatory High School gave away a $2,000, 16-gauge shotgun.

  • The raffle was briefly paused after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

A Florida charter school has given away handguns, shotguns, and an AK-47 as part of a monthlong fundraiser, the Tallahassee Democrat reported on Wednesday, pausing briefly out of respect for the 21 people shot to death at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

It's not clear if officials at James Madison Preparatory High School — located an hour's drive east of Tallahassee — conducted any background checks before transferring the weapons to winners, who entered a raffle by buying $100 tickets, the Democrat said.

Winners were announced on a Facebook livestream. On Wednesday, the school held its final drawing in the raffle, giving away a Browning A5 Sweet Sixteen, a 16-gauge shotgun that retails for about $2,000.

The winner's name was picked out of a raffle drum operated by Patrick White, the assistant principal.

In a statement, Mark Akerman, James Madison's principal, told Insider that the raffled guns "are owned by a local sporting goods store," and that raffle winners "report directly to the store where background checks are applied for according to state and federal regulation."

"We would like for you to know that we take school safety extremely seriously at James Madison," Akerman said.

But the Giffords Law Center said neither federal nor state law "requires sellers who are not licensed dealers to initiate a background check when transferring a firearm."

The charter school had 175 students as of the 2020-21 school year, the National Center for Education Statistics said. On its Facebook page, the school describes its approach as "rooted in a liberal arts curriculum emphasizing STEM disciplines and skill development."

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