Source: CBS 17
The 2024 gubernatorial race is in full swing in North Carolina and finding himself millions of dollars behind his likely Democratic opponent in fundraising, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson held a VIP fundraiser last weekend where he raffled off multiple guns.
Robinson held the gun raffle fundraiser on the same day as an anti-gun violence rally that took place just around the block from the Executive Mansion where he’s hoping to live in 2025.
The three guns that were given away included two Glock handguns and an AR-15 assault-style rifle. The guns feature phrases such as “LET IT RAIN!” and “I AM THE MAJORITY!” The AR-15 had an estimated value of $1,550 while the Glocks were worth approximately $530 each.
The fundraiser also allowed guests, if they paid enough money, to join the lieutenant governor for a VIP cocktail hour, dinner and a photo-op with Robinson.
Ticket prices for the raffle started at $50 each and went up to $5,000.
On the same day that Robinson was raising campaign cash by raffling off items that are used to kill people, multiple organizations were taking part in the “People > Guns” rally on the Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh.
The rally came following the fatal shooting of a UNC professor in late August and another armed person on campus that caused a campus lockdown earlier that week. Cosponsors of the event included Young Democrats of North Carolina, College Democrats of North Carolina, North Carolina Association of Teen Democrats, UNC Young Democrats, NC State Democrats and March for Our Lives UNC.
Organizers said the event was meant to speak truth to power and send a message that “our generation will not sit idly by as gun violence continues to plague our country.”
Speakers at the event included U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-13), N.C. House Rep. Maria Morey (D-30), N.C. Sen. Natalie Murdock (D-20), Chair of the NC Democratic Party Anderson Clayton and Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones of the “Tennessee Three.” Jones is well-known for his expulsion in April on the grounds of “breaking decorum” for participating in a gun control protest on the Tennessee state’s House floor.
