McHenry gun shop raffles AR-15 rifle to benefit Orlando victims

MCHENRY, Ill. (WLS) -- A gun shop in suburban McHenry is raffling off the same kind of gun used in the Orlando nightclub massacre, an AR-15, with proceeds benefitting the victims of the nation's deadliest mass shooting. The owner says he's raffled off guns in in the past to help various causes, but some are angered by this one.

"We don't believe this is a gun issue, this is a terrorism issue and this is an act against American citizens," says Bert Irslinger, Jr.

Irslinger is the owner of Second Amendment Sports, a new gun shop in McHenry. As part of the store's grand opening, Irslinger says he'll donate $2,000 as well as the proceeds from the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle raffle to the OneOrlando Fund benefitting the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

"We wish to stand by those people, and this is our way of raising money, and it's a very efficient, very effective way of raising money for them," he says.

Some are angry. Jason Mendes-McAllister of Chicago lost his friend, Eddie Sotomayor, in Orlando.

"When you're sitting there and you're raising funds off the sale of something that killed so many people in such a short amount of time, you end up putting salt in other people's wounds," Mendes-McAllister says.

Kathleen Larimer of Crystal Lake is also upset. Her son John was among the 12 people shot and killed in the 2012 Colorado movie theater massacre.

"If you lose somebody to drunk driving, you wouldn't raise money by raffling off cases of alcohol. It's just, it's wrong. It's in poor taste," she says.

The gun shop is selling those raffle tickets for $5 apiece, throughout the month of July, with the drawing to be held July 31st.