Uintah hockey team gun raffle stirs debate

Uintah hockey team gun raffle stirs debate


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VERNAL — A youth hockey team in Vernal got a last-minute invitation to nationals, so the team went with what they thought was the obvious answer to the players' funding problem: auction off a gun.

The story has been repeated in clubs and organizations throughout the country. Many a hunter or recreational shooter will put up $10 for the chance to win a rifle or handgun. Police chiefs' associations, sporting goods stores and high school sports clubs throughout the country have held gun raffles, some to raise money, and others to support a political cause.

Since the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 26 people, including 20 children, gun raffles have been part of an intense, often vitriolic national debate about gun control. The gunman, Adam Lanza, used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle similar to those given away in many of the raffles in question.

The raffles often bring in thousands for the organizations that sponsor them, as was the case with the Uintah Utes hockey team. The team consists of high school students from Uintah High School, but is unassociated with the school.

The raffle was brought to the attention of ksl.com by Zack Gondek, a Uintah High School graduate who has since moved to Salt Lake City.

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"I think it's very distasteful. It kind of crosses a line," Gondek said. "Using a gun to raise money for school kids doesn't seem right. I find it very insensitive to use a gun like that that was used in a killing only four months ago."

The team has used gun raffles in the past, but this was the first since the Sandy Hook shooting. The team, which finished the regular season undefeated, found itself with an unexpected invitation to nationals. With a week before the team left, Pam Clinch, the mother of one of the players and a member of the Ashley Valley Amateur Hockey Association, organized the raffle.

Clinch said nationals would cost nearly $1,000 each for the 19 members of the team to attend. She asked Basin Sports to donate a Double Star AR-15 .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle, which the store sold to her at a reduced price. Tickets were sold for $10 a piece, and the raffle raised about $5,000.

"It is a high school hockey team, but they play in a separate rink," Clinch said. "It's not like we play at the school. It has nothing to do with the schools. Our local association helped pay for them to go. It was just a community effort. There was no advertising at the school."

Despite the lack of advertising at the school, Gondek said he found the entire situation "distasteful."


It's unfortunate that this came out, because it appears the district is auctioning off a rifle, but we're not.

–Mark Dockins


"I'm a gun owner and support the Second Amendment," he said. "I just think having the words assault weapon associated with the raffle is inappropriate. I think if we hadn't had Sandy Hook four months ago, maybe we wouldn't think anything of it, but having it associated with school kids now seems wrong."

Uintah School District superintendent Mark Dockins emphasized Friday that the hockey team did not receive any funding from the district or from Uintah High School.

"They're not tied to us and we don't control any of their money. It's a separate entity from the school district," he said. "It's unfortunate that this came out, because it appears the district is auctioning off a rifle, but we're not. We wouldn't be doing any fundraisers like that at all."

Clinch said the raffle was her idea and her responsibility, and she did not want the team's success to be overshadowed by how the funding was acquired.

"Other community entities do (gun raffles) all the time; it's just that it's such an issue right now," she said. "There was absolutely nothing negative, just because it's what we do. Nationals was a great opportunity for them and I don't feel one bit bad about having a drawing for a gun."

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