The militia-courting Multnomah County Republican Party is selling tickets to a raffle for a massive fucking gun to raise money for the group. Some lucky conservative is going to walk away with a "Smith & Wesson M&P Equipped with a Vortex Strikefire Red-Dot Site."

The rifle raffle was announced by the MCRP on September 14, and Willamette Week pointed it out on Monday:

Smith & Wesson's website says the semi-automatic rifle has a suggested retail price of $1,239.

(MCRP Chairman James) Buchal's message says tickets are limited: "Only 500 tickets will be sold, $10 each or three for $25."

The raffle will happen in December.

This summer, the Mercury got ahold of records from the MCRP's meeting on June 26 and, well, desperate times call for desperate fundraisers. The meeting minutes show that the county Republican party had $2,671.08 in the bank.

In those same meeting minutes, it says the "GUN RAFFLE" was "On hold for now." The gun raffle is no longer on hold. Also contained within that document is the news that the MCRP formally voted to team up with heavily-armed right-wing militia groups for security at party events.