No mistakes were made. If any of the 20 "old folks" have a ticket they want to get rid of, let me know and I'll buy it-otherwise mind your business. You sound as if you belong in a retirement home somewhere in Massachusetts.

At first I thought it might be a problem for the Chiefs to return the 30 bucks to each of the 1000 individuals who coughed up for the chance to win a gun...but then I thought, Hey! Win /Win ! the purchasers could opt to make the 30 bucks a donation to the good cause of camp for the cadets! That way the Chiefs could take up the offer of getting ANOTHER 30grand on top of what was already raised. I bet at least half of the people were buying the raffle tickets just to be supportive.

Jean Sanders
If guns such as used at Sandy Hook are needed for hunting, maybe raffling lessons in marksmanship would be better. Spraying a deer with many bullets makes a
mess not a meal or a trophy. Mr. Sprague and his friends have a great idea. I don't understand the logic of police chiefs baffling guns. How about tickets to baseball games, restaurants, concerts, get away weekends, or a variety of items lots of folks would go for?

The guns are legal; the lottery is legal. There is no problem here other than for those who think we should all live in a nanny state with big brother making all your decisions for you.

Why do you keep saying gun raffle controversy? They sold raffle tickets, people bought the tickets, no controversy. The guns are legal. Back round checks will be done on the people who win the guns. The only controversy I see is the photo you put up. Are they raffling off those guns or did you just use that photo to sensationalize your article. Because I haven't read that they are raffling off bayonets in any article I read on this subject

You keep bringing Newtown CT into this and inferring that the 30k raised by the raffle is somehow illegal - saying things like "if we produce the $30,000..." stop. STOP STOP STOP!!! This raffle, the guns being raffled off, and the ownership of firearms IS LEGAL. Get that through your thick skull and into your pea sized brain!

You keep bring up the tragedy in Newtown over and over and over again while spewing buzz words such as "gun control" and "assault weapons" and you know what ... how DARE you connect law abiding citizens to a complete and total nut job in desperate need of medication who murdered his mother to ILLEGALLY obtain firearms in order to carry out his massacre!? Who the hell do you think you are!? Where do you get off?

I am going to organize ANOTHER raffle for firearms - Donovan is doing it in May - look forward to mine in July just in time for the celebration of this country's INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM!!!

I'm not a gun enthusiast, I don't own a gun, but if the Police are holding a gun raffle, who better to monitor where and whom those guns are going?!?

By far and large, if you look at crime data, an educated society is a civil society. We live in an area of the country where gun violence is much lower than areas like the deep south or Texas who have a very low education quotient and gun violence is prevalent and quite high. Yes, Newtown CT was a shocking eye opener, it shows mental health issues in this country are vastly inadequate and as a society, we should have a discussion about how some of the violence we celebrate in our culture could be negatively impacting those at risk. There is nothing wrong with also including guns in the discussion, it just seems disingenuous, that when we have mass shootings, we blame the inanimate object in the hands of the individual who was motivated by factors other than the gun itself.

Your car is as much a weapon as a gun, it's all in how the person in it's possession chooses to use it. Both these objects are chunks of metal, both can kill you with the wrong person behind them.

Typical. A guy doesn't like something and wants to deny others the right to have it. Because he doesn't know or understand firearms, he labels them as items only useful for "hunting humans". I support the freedom of speech, it protects people like Mr. Sprague from commenting on a subject that he knows absolutely nothing about, causing the rest of us to plant our face into our palm and shake our heads in disbelief. However, be warned, that attempting to deny others their constitutional rights will not be tolerated. If you don't like firearms, don't own one. When you start meddling into the affairs of others in an attempt to deny others their right you become the thing the second amendment was most surely designed to protect us against.

The people who are defending the raffle seem to be a bit snarly, it would be better for all if the discussion could stick to constructive points. Like, the point about the police being the sponsors of the raffle, so who better to do such a thing? Well, on the face of it that may be true, but think about it: did the police screen each ticket purchaser? And how would that play out? If I buy a ticket and I am on meds that keep me calm,do I have to share my confidential medical info with the seller of the ticket? And if I win the gun and give it to someone as a gift, and that someone is not stable and does something terrible, how do we track back to figure out prevention? Maybe a gun raffle isn't such a great idea.

JGONH, the person who doesn't dare use his human name...it's you again. First, I have forgotten more about firearms than you will ever know. Second, you obviously do not know anything about the history of the Supreme Court and its willingness to control firearms in this country. Do some reading, educate yourself. I'm not "meddling", I'm trying to stop an out-of-control Police Chief from legally running guns into my community. I don't like it. It is a stupid idea. What's your real name, JGONH?

So, Riley Reed, you are a super sub for Chief Donovan, who does not have the courage or decency to talk with me. Good for you. I'm sure the Chief will reward you in some way. Let's just hope that none of the guns that Chief Donovan is running into our communities do not cause death. Let's you and I both hope that. This fellow, Chief Donovan, has made a huge error and he is ruining his organization. Many Chiefs of Police in the State are furious at him. But you, Riley Reid, are carrying his water. Again: Good for you. It's a minor role for your life, but it's something. Chief Donovan is a legal gun runner. Dangerous weapons are about to hit our streets because of him. He;s a huge part of the problem in our culture. You are a very minor part of our culture's problem. You are a hapless "yes" man.

Hi all, I understand this is a passionate subject, but please refrain from attacks back and forth in the comments. I want to promote a civil dialogue.

So now you are blaming Patch because the majority of people don't agree with your tactics ? It's simple, we enjoy our rights in this country, and the great state of New Hampshire. We're insulted when somebody tries to take our rights away because they have nothing better to do.

Oh, JGONH, it's so great that you have "your rights". What about being willing to exercise some responsibility. JGONH, what is your name? Why are you hiding? Where is your courage? The guns rights folks like you remind me of very young children.

JGONH, what is your name? What are you afraid of? And if these assault rifles that Chief Donovan is giving away are involved in some horrible crime, where will you be? So that we can talk about it. Unless you come clean, and identify yourself, you are not worth responding to. My name is Robert Sprague. I live at 65 Stevens Hill Road in Nottingham, NH. Who are you, where do you live? What are you? Here's my guess: You are a little person who is afraid.

Robert do you own a gun? I hope not you sound like a loose cannon why do you keep calling JGONH out for he told you he dont want people to know his name because he is a gun owner that should be good for you unless you plan on stalking him I do like the idea of raising money other ways but after hearing you i need to protect myself in case you lose it calm down these 30 guns dont even make up 1 percent of the guns in NH

I do have to say, it grinds my gears that people choose to talk AT each other instead of TO each other when we need to have important discussions such as this. If someone Isn't approaching the conversion with civility, intelligence or respect for different points of views, but rather belittles or bullies, we'll never be able to have a conversation that leads to anything constructive.

If the police aren't worried that those guns could come back to haunt them down the road, like in Greenland NH, when half the police force was taken down, then I say, let them have their raffle. Then again, they might be won by a single Mom who wants to protect her home and her autistic son, while also enjoying the sport of shooting. Or, most likely, they'll be won by someone, like the 99.6% of gun owners who are responsible, law abiding citizens.

Depending on which side of the debate you are on, will depend on which parts of the above sentences you'll cling to. Regardless of which, lets do this constructively!

I made the mistake of getting sucked into a trap guys. I should have researched this guy before I decided to comment. This guy is a (self proclaimed) progressive liberal, who gets involved with stuff like this nonstop. From complaining about the 'right wing' school system, to gun control, he's simply just an operative of the far far left. Here is his own description of himself on one of his blogs:

"A proud progressive liberal who sees those scary Republicans and self-satisfied Blue Dog Democrats as "the problem" in our society, Robert Sprague writes about politics events in New Hampshire and the United States. He is a former large city Director of Planning & Economic Development and invested three miserable years of his life as a Vietnam-era draftee-veteran."

This isn't a guy with a different point of view willing to go to the table and compromise on issues.

Read an interesting article about average IQ of gun-owners vs non-gun-owners. Any guesses about the numbers?