ESTMINSTER, Md. - Hoping to strike a blow for the Second Amendment, and to replenish their coffers in the process, Republicans in Carroll County, Md., just northwest of Baltimore, have come up with a novel fund-raiser.
Behind closed doors on Thursday, members of the county's Republican Central Committee reaffirmed a plan to raffle off a handgun. Each $5 raffle ticket offers the chance at winning a new $550 Beretta model 92FS 9mm handgun, a course in how to use the weapon responsibly, and the book ''More Guns, Less Crime,'' by John Lott.
The committee chairman, Robert Wolfing, said the raffle is more than a fund-raising gimmick.
''Much of this was precipitated when Joe Curran said he's all for making handguns illegal in Maryland,'' Wolfing said Thursday of J. Joseph Curran, the Maryland attorney general, after a fractious meeting over the issue. ''Without a doubt, this raffle is a political statement in which we also saw the opportunity to make money.''
How much money?
''We started with a plan to print 500 tickets, and we already have at least 600 requests,'' Wolfing said. ''Now we're getting calls from Texas and Missouri, so I'd say we'll end up printing as many tickets as we need.''
The raffle has gained such momentum that committee members say no firm date has been set for the drawing, which is loosely set for early next year.
Frank Mann, a spokesman for Curran, said Maryland's four-term attorney general would not comment on his supposed role as the motivation behind the raffle.
Mann said Curran is not seeking a ban on handgun sales, but making a call for a statewide dialogue on the need for handguns in situations other than law enforcement and legitimate sporting endeavors.
''However, the attorney general agrees with the state's Republican leadership that the raffle is wrongheaded and sends a wrong message,'' Mann said.
Among the raffle's other critics is the Central Committee's deputy chairwoman, Betty Smith, who, because of a family commitment, missed the October meeting that approved the 9mm contest. She mounted an unsuccessful attempt Thursday to scuttle the raffle.
''Raffling a handgun that could potentially be used as a concealed weapon is an insensitive, irresponsible and unconscionable way of raising money, especially by a group which is supposed to be upholding the doctrine of family values,'' she said after Thursday's 7-1 committee vote went against her. ''This raffle represents the political desires of the ultraconservative wing of our party.''
The raffle is drawing vocal fire statewide, including from noncommittee members here in suburbia, where most of the working populace sets out for either a 40-minute commute to Baltimore or an hour's drive to Washington, D.C.
Jack Gullo is the mayor of New Windsor, a one-intersection town in south-central Carroll County. Seven years ago, at age 24, Gullo was the youngest mayor in the country. He was a Republican, a newly minted lawyer, and legal counsel to the Carroll County Republican Central Committee.
Five weeks ago, Gullo became a Democrat.
''There were a number of factors behind my decision, but chief among my concerns was the extremist nature of those who control the Carroll County Republican Party,'' said Gullo, who is a gun collector and a member of the National Rifle Association.
''It is absurd for a state-sanctioned body, such as a Central Committee, to raise money on a gun when gun violence is so preeminent in our public consciousness,'' Gullo said. ''It's tasteless, like telling a dirty joke in church, and it smacks of the kind of irresponsible gun ownership that causes government to seek control.''
Gullo also worries, ''People are going to think that Carroll Countians are the kind of people who bury guns in our backyards. They are going to think we lack good judgment.''
Paul Ellington, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, admitted Thursday that the raffle is a public relations problem, but stood by the local Central Committee's right to self-governance.
''We are a diverse party, and this raffle is indicative of one county's perspective on firearms,'' Ellington said. ''But, while there is plenty of room for Second Amendment enthusiasts in our party, we would rather seek to define ourselves on greater issues.''
Roscoe G. Bartlett, the Republican who has represented Carroll and neighboring Frederick counties in Congress for four terms, insists the raffle controversy reflects the gulf between urban and suburban/rural lifestyles.
''Congressman Bartlett believes that guns are a topic that have very different cultural responses based upon what part of the country you are from,'' Bartlett's press secretary, Lisa Lyons Wright, said Thursday, while confirming his interest in the handgun raffle.
''In rural regions guns are not politically incorrect, while the opposite is true in urban areas. Carroll County is attached to rural Western Maryland, and guns are not politically incorrect there.''
Wolfing, the Central Committee chairman, agreed with that assessment, but reduced the sentiment to a simpler, more local viewpoint.
''We live 30 miles from Baltimore and there are murders there everyday and hundreds of them a year,'' Wolfing said. ''Yet handgun violence is virtually unknown out here, and we are a very well-armed county.''
