The Trace Goes After The Shriners

“A Fraternal Group Says It’s Dedicated to Child Welfare. So Why Do Its Local Chapters Raffle Guns?”

That’s the headline in an article over at The Trace, an anti-gun “news” organization established with funds from Michael Bloomberg. By including gang members, typically up to the age of 22-or-so, in the category of “youth” or even “children,” activist orgs like The Trace are able to cite gunshots as the leading cause of death for this group. Well, they’ll say that firearms are the cause of death, not shootings or gunshots or gang violence, of course. As though the firearms do it on their own.

Anyway, I digress. In the article I’m not linking to, The Trace goes after the Shriners in an apparent attempt to shame them away from raffling guns as a method of raising money to “care for the less fortunate, especially children.” The Shriners have done a good job, too, through Shriners Children’s network of hospitals and clinics that have helped more than 1.5 million children. Actual children, mind you, not 20-something gang members. From the article:

This year alone, nearly a third of the Shriners’ 177 U.S.-based chapters hosted the lucrative fundraisers, often referred to as a “Sportsman’s Raffle”; some have been hosting them for decades. One chapter, in Texas, recently held its 81st, while the Detroit chapter — revered as the fundraising exemplar — commemorated its 20th year of gun raffles, which it now holds twice annually. This year alone, each Detroit raffle put more than 100 guns in the hands of its winners. In 2024, The Trace documented 51 local Shriners chapters advertising more than 4,500 firearms.

“It’s just a tool for us,” said Mitchell Devrees, the Saladin chapter’s “potentate,” or leader. He won a crossbow as we were talking and, later, a 40 gauge shotgun.

Something tells me that Devrees did not, in fact, win a “40 gauge shotgun.” Again, always, even a group dedicated specifically to firearms news and “research” with staff who are “experts” fails to know even the most basic freaking thing about firearms. I’d be better off reading a research paper on string theory written by my dog. Speaking of dogs . . .

An average of 95 children and teens are killed by firearms in Michigan every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Trace’s gun sales tracker estimates that 346,000 guns were sold in the state so far this year, including 35,860 in March, when the [Shriners] chapter held its raffle. […]

Yet in Michigan and dozens of other states, Shriners chapters are opting into gun raffles, rather than [insert list of random potential fundraiser ideas here] . . .

. . . that dog ain’t gonna hunt. The whole dang article, at least as far as I could bear to read it (it’s 2,550 words or a ~13-minute read time so, yes, I scanned it top to bottom), is a shameless shot to shame the Shriners. Attempting to put the deaths of children at the feet of an organization that has been dedicated to saving children’s lives for over a century is gross. We all know the firearms being raffled at a Shriners event aren’t the ones out in the streets killing “kids.” And guess what? The Trace dang well knows that, too. For shame.

The potentate takes a sip of his White Claw, and the final ticket number is called.

Okay, fine, they managed to land some true shame with that last sentence of the article.

 

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7 thoughts on “The Trace Goes After The Shriners”

  1. All I got from this is that I need to look into Shriners fundraisers to potentially win a gun. I had no idea about that. Thanks for bringing this to my attention The Trace!

  2. I can easily answer the question the “journalist” for The Trace poses in the article’s title: because it works. The Shriners need money to carry out their mission, gun raffles raise money, they raffle guns to raise money to help sick children. Solved the mystery there for you Scooby Doo….

  3. “An average of 95 children and teens are killed by firearms in Michigan every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Trace’s gun sales tracker estimates that 346,000 guns were sold in the state so far this year, including 35,860 in March, when the [Shriners] chapter held its raffle. […]”

    That works out to a rate of .0003 children and teens deaths from firearms per 100,000 people (prior 2024 because the numbers are not yet compiled for 2024). But the Trace apparently used their time machine to blame these on 346,000 firearms sold this year in 2024 because the Shriners wanted to raise some money “Dedicated to Child Welfare” like they do every year vs the Trace that has never raised any money “Dedicated to Child Welfare”.

    The annual illegal drug overdose death rate in Michigan, depending on county, ranges between 20 – to over 50 per 100,000 people since 2022 with fentanyl being the top illegal drug overdose drug, thanks to the Harris-Biden intentionally open and insecure border. That includes a children and teens rate of ~15 per 100,000 people since 2022.

    Between the Trace and drugs in Michigan – guns and the Shriners are obviously a lot safer to rely on.