Posted: 4/1/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Tessa Pellas Leo Buchignani, junior in communications and president of The Orange and Blue Observer, calls the winner of the AK-47 raffle Thursday afternoon on the Quad. The Orange and Blue Observer, a conservative journal at the University, will use the raffle money to buy the gun and to help fund their paper.

The Orange and Blue Observer (OBO), a conservative political journal at the University, staged a controversial raffle Thursday - first prize was an AK-47 assault rifle.

Michael Hooper, a police officer from Mattoon, Ill., was announced the winner of the firearm by OBO members at a booth outside the Illini Union. Alex Kroll, OBO treasurer, said more than 140 tickets were purchased, netting the OBO a profit of $405.

Hooper will purchase the gun for $290 from Dave's Firearms & Cycle Repair, 1868 County Road 1600 N in Urbana. The OBO will then reimburse Hooper using money made from the raffle.

To enter the raffle, participants paid $5 and had to state that they had a Firearms Ownership Identification Document (FOID). If a participant didn't have a FOID, the OBO provided applications for the participants.

A FOID is required in Illinois to buy or possess a firearm, according to the Illinois State Police Web site.

Leo Buchignani, president of the OBO, said the raffle would help pay for future issues of the journal.

The OBO, a registered student organization, normally publishes three times a school year with funding from the Student Organization Resource Fee (SORF), said Leo Buchignani, OBO president. However, this year the SORF board only gave the journal enough funding to publish two issues.

The OBO used the raffle to help fund their paper, Buchignani said.

Kroll also said the raffle was meant to raise awareness about the benefits of gun ownership.

The more people have guns, Kroll said, the less crime there will be.

"Consequently, every law-abiding citizen should own one," he said, "Provided, we don't know who will use one and who will not, but it's a risk we have to take."

OBO members argued that most citizens cannot protect themselves if they do not have a gun.

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