Drizzt
Member
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
April 8, 2003, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 540 words
HEADLINE: Rifle raffle offers 366 guns as prizes
BYLINE: By David Dishneau, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: BRUNSWICK, Md.
BODY:
Four volunteer fire companies in Frederick County are raffling off a gun a day next year as prizes in a calendar-based fund-raiser.
The 366 winning numbers - 2004 is a leap year - will be drawn nightly in the Maryland State Lottery's Pick 4 game.
It's all perfectly legal, according to raffle organizers and state and local officials.
"If this thing goes over well, the four fire companies involved plan on continuing doing this thing on an annual basis," Roy Lipscomb, chief of the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. said Monday.
Here's how it works: firefighters from Brunswick, Emmitsburg, Jefferson and Wolfsville are putting up a total of $157,000 - $145,00 for the rifles and shotguns, plus $12,000 for printing the 10,000 calendars.
The calendars are numbered from 0000 through 9999, covering all possible four-digit combinations. They sell for $30.
Each date is assigned a specific gun; for example, the Jan. 1 prize is a .22-caliber Ruger Hornet. If the Pick 4 number drawn that night matches the number on your calendar, you win that gun or $100 - your choice.
Winners must claim their guns at a shop, Stateline Gun Exchange in Emmitsburg, which will ensure that all firearm regulations are met, Lipscomb said.
The raffle meets all the legal requirements. The fire companies are registered charities and have obtained a permit from the Frederick County Permits and Inspections Office, which doesn't stipulate the type of prizes allowed in raffles.
And the lottery numbers? They're in the public domain.
"Once lottery numbers are drawn, they become public information and anybody can use them," Andrea Johnson, assistant state attorney general and principal counsel to the Maryland State Lottery, said.
She said the agency would prefer that the calendars include a disclaimer that the raffle isn't affiliated with the state lottery - but there is no law to that effect.
"We don't want the public to be misled, and that's why we ask that it be placed on there," Johnson said.
The calendars contain no such message. Lipscomb said it's too late to add it.
"They're on the street," he said.
The Jefferson firefighters already have sold about 200 calendars, Chief Eddie Lapole said. The other companies haven't begun tallying sales yet.
Rifle raffles are nothing new in western Maryland, where hunting is a popular pastime. Volunteer fire companies and fraternal organizations often advertise monthlong gun raffles, featuring a firearm per day, and "gun bonanzas," in which a dozen or more are handed out during an afternoon or evening.
But the yearlong raffle is apparently new to Maryland, where gambling regulation is left largely up to individual counties.
"I haven't seen one of this scope," Frederick County Permits Supervisor Paula Phillips said.
The state could step in if the raffle became multijurisdictional, with tickets being sold in a number of counties, Johnson said.
The organizers said that won't happen. They plan to sell all the tickets in Frederick County, including at the Silverado Gun Show in Frederick in June, Lipscomb said.
On the Net:
Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co.: http://www.bvfd.net
Maryland State Lottery: http://www.msla.state.md.us
April 8, 2003, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 540 words
HEADLINE: Rifle raffle offers 366 guns as prizes
BYLINE: By David Dishneau, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: BRUNSWICK, Md.
BODY:
Four volunteer fire companies in Frederick County are raffling off a gun a day next year as prizes in a calendar-based fund-raiser.
The 366 winning numbers - 2004 is a leap year - will be drawn nightly in the Maryland State Lottery's Pick 4 game.
It's all perfectly legal, according to raffle organizers and state and local officials.
"If this thing goes over well, the four fire companies involved plan on continuing doing this thing on an annual basis," Roy Lipscomb, chief of the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. said Monday.
Here's how it works: firefighters from Brunswick, Emmitsburg, Jefferson and Wolfsville are putting up a total of $157,000 - $145,00 for the rifles and shotguns, plus $12,000 for printing the 10,000 calendars.
The calendars are numbered from 0000 through 9999, covering all possible four-digit combinations. They sell for $30.
Each date is assigned a specific gun; for example, the Jan. 1 prize is a .22-caliber Ruger Hornet. If the Pick 4 number drawn that night matches the number on your calendar, you win that gun or $100 - your choice.
Winners must claim their guns at a shop, Stateline Gun Exchange in Emmitsburg, which will ensure that all firearm regulations are met, Lipscomb said.
The raffle meets all the legal requirements. The fire companies are registered charities and have obtained a permit from the Frederick County Permits and Inspections Office, which doesn't stipulate the type of prizes allowed in raffles.
And the lottery numbers? They're in the public domain.
"Once lottery numbers are drawn, they become public information and anybody can use them," Andrea Johnson, assistant state attorney general and principal counsel to the Maryland State Lottery, said.
She said the agency would prefer that the calendars include a disclaimer that the raffle isn't affiliated with the state lottery - but there is no law to that effect.
"We don't want the public to be misled, and that's why we ask that it be placed on there," Johnson said.
The calendars contain no such message. Lipscomb said it's too late to add it.
"They're on the street," he said.
The Jefferson firefighters already have sold about 200 calendars, Chief Eddie Lapole said. The other companies haven't begun tallying sales yet.
Rifle raffles are nothing new in western Maryland, where hunting is a popular pastime. Volunteer fire companies and fraternal organizations often advertise monthlong gun raffles, featuring a firearm per day, and "gun bonanzas," in which a dozen or more are handed out during an afternoon or evening.
But the yearlong raffle is apparently new to Maryland, where gambling regulation is left largely up to individual counties.
"I haven't seen one of this scope," Frederick County Permits Supervisor Paula Phillips said.
The state could step in if the raffle became multijurisdictional, with tickets being sold in a number of counties, Johnson said.
The organizers said that won't happen. They plan to sell all the tickets in Frederick County, including at the Silverado Gun Show in Frederick in June, Lipscomb said.
On the Net:
Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co.: http://www.bvfd.net
Maryland State Lottery: http://www.msla.state.md.us
