Indoor football league team plans to give away an AR-15 rifle at upcoming game
A week after a gunman in Texas shot and killed 17 children and two teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle, an indoor football league team has announced a promotion to give away an AR-15 at this weekend’s game.
The Sioux City (Iowa) Bandits of the Champions Indoor Football league unveiled the promotion in a Facebook post on Wednesday. In conjunction with outdoor and sporting goods company American Brothers in Arms, the Bandits will hold a drawing among people 18 and older who sign up at the game on Saturday for the rifle.
“The gun will not be present at the game, and must be picked up from American Brothers In Arms,” the Facebook post noted.
The team restricted readers’ ability to comment on the original Facebook post. Then, after a local radio station published a story about the promotion, the team responded with a second Facebook post to clarify that its Military Night promotion is an annual event and that the sporting goods company does run background checks.
“We’re not going to cower down and backtrack because some guys in New York City and some guys in Boston, Massachusetts, think it’s bad taste,” Bandits owner J.R. Bond told the Des Moines Register. “We didn’t plan the promotion around it or anything like that. It’s something we do. It’s something we did last season. We’re not going to alter our plans because of East Coast and West Coast opinions.”