Anti-violence group calls for end to Philly gun raffle
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The leader of a Philadelphia group opposing gun violence is calling for a local police nonprofit to end an annual gun raffle intended to honor fallen officers.
The big picture: Hundreds of runners will travel to town this month to participate in the Law Enforcement Memorial Run (LEMR), a three-day, 150-mile race from Philly's Navy Yard to Washington, D.C.
- The run, held May 12-14 during National Police Week, honors police officers who died in the line of duty.
- For the fourth year, the New Jersey-based nonprofit's Philly chapter is holding an online gun raffle to kick off the event.
What they're saying: Anton Moore, head of Unity in the Community, tells Axios the raffle is "tone deaf" and sends the wrong message in a community that has struggled for years to quell gun violence.
- "It's disrespectful to the families," he says. "Their legacies are much, much more than a gun raffle."
LEMR's coordinator, Tim Hoagland, tells Axios he's never received complaints about the gun raffles.
- "People murder people. Guns don't," Hoagland said.
- The Philly chapter didn't respond to Axios' requests for comment sent through Facebook.
Flashback: The memorial run started nearly three decades ago, when a small group of law enforcement officers from Philly and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ran from Philadelphia's police academy to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and back to honor fallen friends.
- Some of the money raised each year goes toward helping pay for hotels and food for runners, some of whom are family members of fallen police officers from around the U.S.
By the numbers: More than 380 Philadelphia police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 1798 — about a third of them were fatally shot, per the Officer Down Memorial Page.
- So far, 23 officers have died this year, according to ODMP.
How it works: The Philly LEMR chapter started selling tickets for the drawing in March, with proceeds benefiting the local chapter.
- The top prize is a Springfield Saint 5.56 — a semiautomatic AR-15-style firearm.
- Only entrants living in Pennsylvania who can lawfully own firearms are eligible for the gun prizes. Otherwise, they must take a cash option.
Between the lines: "After my loved one was gunned down, I don't know how I'd feel about firearms," Brian Higgins, a former New Jersey police chief and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, tells Axios. "Doing it in the city of Philadelphia raises some issues."
- Moore says the Philly chapter could raffle off something less divisive — baskets, spa packages, tickets.
- "There's a better way to honor dead police officers," he says.