A little league baseball coach in Missouri is facing harsh criticism over his decision to have his team of 7 to 9-year-olds go through with a raffle that involves the give away of the same type of assault rifle used in the mass shooting that took 17 lives in Florida this past week.

Coach Levi Patterson, of Neosho, MO. was reportedly given an AR-15 by a father on the team who also happens to be the co-founder of weapons purveyor, Black Rain Ordnance Inc. The weapon was handed to him as a gift that might help raise money to fund necessities to run the team, and it was a gift he says he received some time prior to the heinous Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack.

However, negative attention was brought upon the raffle when the local South Elementary School principal Lee Woodward posted a flyer on his Facebook page, encouraging followers to support in the days that followed the killings.

Patterson initially became livid and began firing back at critics from one particular Facebook group that responded to the posting by circulating an image of a rifle next to the school logo. He referred to those responsible as a "hate group," but would later revoke that phrase and concede that he's since come to understand them to simply be concerned members of the community.

Still, he says that he has not been deterred and will continue to facilitate the raffle for any student who wishes to participate. “I applaud them for standing up for what they believe in. I just think they have feelings to this specific type of gun (that are) different than people around here do,” Patterson told a local publication.

Source: stltoday.com