SC Republican Candidate Raffles Off AK-47 At Machine Gun Social

Wow...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33047176/ns/politics-more_politics/

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GREENVILLE, S.C. - A candidate to be South Carolina's next National Guard leader skipped the fiery speeches for firepower, launching his campaign with what he called a "machine-gun social."

The Greenville News reports some 500 people came out to a shooting range Saturday for Republican Dean Allen's political rally. He wants to be the next adjutant general, the person who leads the state's National Guard.

Attendees paid $25 for barbecue, a clip of bullets for target practice and the chance to win a semiautomatic AK-47. Whoever wins the rifle will have to undergo a background check.

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Other than the fact that they probably didn't use machine guns, Is there something I'm missing?

:eyes:

Not that hard for a gun range to get people who can legally own them to bring them out for a shoot. Machine gun shoots are kind of an in activity for many in to guns.

wow,indeed.

and I mean that in a positive way. B-)

:thumbsup:

Why does Dean Allen hate America?

And more widely available.

R or D, he wouldn't ever get my vote.

...I think I might wanna lay low for awhile!

Perhaps some Democrat candidates should use a similar strategy but with an American made rifle.

Sign me up. :evilgrin:

Maybe for $5 or $10 I'd buy a chance on an AK.

At least the cheap wad could've sprung for a good American made AR-15!

Food, some ammo,range time, and a chance at a semi-auto AK. Actually that is an awesome deal.

:eyes:

and

:wtf:

I really am. People come in here, use the roll eyes emoticon, get a jab in and never come back.

What is the issue with this event?

That's pretty much the whole deal.

See how popular this would be in most northern states. Try to remember that people from all over the US post here.

"See how popular this would be in most northern states" :rofl:

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:shrug:

I guess I'm not understanding why a politician should be raffling off such a useless weapon and what it has to do with good politics?

Especially if you regard that particular weapon as useless?

Is it OK with you that I have an opinion and that I express it here?

You are not entitled to an opinion.

A semi-auto AK-style rifle is hardly "useless". Such a raffle item may also serve demonstrate commitment to the 2nd Amendment.

If my Democratic elected officials had such raffles, I'd buy more than one ticket.

...so it's not that big a deal, but if it was my senator I wouldn't vote for him or her if this was more important to them than what I consider much more pressing issues.

Last year I won a shotgun from a raffle run by Ducks Unlimited.

A "machine gun social" doesn't sound that out of place for a dude running to head up the National Guard.

Also, I'm kind of jealous that this sort of thing doesn't happen in Illinois.

I thought these nuts hate "commies". During the Cold War, the AK-47 was strongly associated with the Eastern Bloc and their allies all over the world.

Crude, but effective. AR's have an 8 lug bolt, while AK's have 2 lugs. AK bolts ride on a rail, while AR bolts travel thru a tube. AK's bolts simply push debris out of the way or go over it, while AR bolts can jam if there is debris in the tube because they can't get around it. AKs are accurate to 200-300 yards, while ARs can shoot accurately past 400 yards.

Pick your poison.

You can assemble an AR-15 for $600, and a good one for $1200.

You can build a good, legal AK in your garage.

Some of us just find it ironic that these "Patriots" who swear they bleed red, white & blue offer a "Commie" gun as the prize & not a True Blue AR-15. But then we know they are cheap ass.

No doubt the AK-47 was mechanically one of the most reliable guns ever made well-suited to all the environments where it was used.

AKs are irresistibly cool. They're not gonna ignore a good tool, simply because it wasn't invented here.

These people aren't quite as politically rabid as some of our high school and college students.

The mindless flag waving, racist, religious, rightwing fanatic is largely a political image, imposed on them by their adversaries. It describes a smaller subset of the extreme right wing that most of the right wing considers whackos. It's similar to the wild eyed communists that some rightwingers imagine Democrats to be. If everyone was like that, there would be road blocks around every neighborhood and blood on nearly every street in America.

I'm no Centrist, I'm not satisfied with "It was the best we could do." That's a lie. I am skeptical of people who think they can envision a system that will solve our problems with political philosophies. The solution is 5% ideas and 95% sweat.

They need to join the rest of the country in realizing that the head of their National Guard should be a career professional and not a politician.

It is one of the reasons the military in this country has never attempted a coup, while in other countries they have. If the senior most members of the military are civilians then it's more difficult to coordinate around them. At least that's the theory of the founders.

And on the federal level the President appoints the joint chiefs. Such a system ensures that the President/Governor (a civilian) is the commander-in-chief and has definitive control over the military but that the day to day operations are managed by somebody who understands the ins and outs of the system. Plus the person elected Adjutant General is almost inevitably going to be a military person (although likely not the best person for the job) whereas the Governor will likely be the civilian and the President must be a civilian by law.

In Vermont the legislature appoints the Adjutant General and while that's an unconventional way of doing it, I think that it serves the same purpose as having the Governor make the appointment but perhaps with a little more checks and balances.

Should the head of US federal forces be career professional?

The function of Commander in chief and day to day manager of the military should be completely separate functions. The Commander in Chief should be an elected civilian. The day to day manager should be a career professional.

This shouldn't even merit page 6 coverage, much less a feature on MSNBC's website. But a holy relic of the Mother Church is involved, so every knee should bow and every tongue confess.

Egyptian, Russian, Romanian?

$25 for dinner and a chance at a cheap AK? Meh.

$25 for dinner and a chance at a numbers matching Tula with provenance? That might convince me to hold my nose :)

I'd prefer a Russian, Polish, or Bulgarian AK, but even if you wind up with a fixer-upper, a little extra cash and a good gunsmith can turn that around in short order.

Now all we need is for a Democratic candidate to make a similar offer... :bounce:

My non-lawyer intuition says this may have violated some laws... any DU lawyers care to speak to the subject?

Gun laws. The article indicates a background check will be done which indicates transfer will be by an FFL. The law doesn't even require that (intrastate private to private transfer) but it is a good idea.

Gambling laws. If this is illegal then so it every other raffle from a PETA cake rafle to habitat for humanity raffling off a house.

Campaign laws. Donors are not required to provide tracking information if donation is < $200.

In practice though the state BOE completely ignores raffles because they're so common, even if they aren't legal.

As to raffling a gun, no problem. I actually won a 12 gauge shotgun last year off a $5 raffle donation to Ducks Unlimited.