Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state was set to headline the event. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images AR-15 auction removed from fundraiser with McMorris Rodgers



Organizers of a fundraiser featuring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) reversed course and pulled their plan to auction off an AR-15 rifle — the style of weapon used to kill 17 in last week's school shooting in Parkland, Florida — shortly after a POLITICO report on the event on Tuesday.

After POLITICO contacted the committee on Tuesday afternoon, the Stevens County Republican Party removed mentions of the AR-15 and a plan to offer a Ruger 10-22 .22-caliber rifle as a door prize from the event's website. The organization was still considering how to proceed with the auction, its chair said.


Then, after the POLITICO report was published on Tuesday evening, the committee made a final decision to nix the AR-15.

The northeast Washington state event is set for March 24, the same day surviving students have planned a nationwide demonstration, including a march in Washington, D.C., calling for stricter gun laws.

"We want the public to understand that the plan to once again offer this popular item was made prior to the terrible incident in Parkland, Florida, and our initial public advertisement of this event began several days before the shooting. We grieve with the community and the nation. We stand by the 2nd Amendment, but we also recognize that in the current environment, publicizing a means to acquire a semi-automatic AR-15 has the potential to insert more separation into our political discourse. Therefore, we have decided we will not be including this firearm at our event; instead the winner of our final door prize will receive a gift certificate to a local business," said Stevens County Republican Central Committee chair Lori Larsen in a statement to POLITICO.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

"We support the decision made by the local Republican leadership in Stevens County," said Ashley Stubbs, a McMorris Rodgers campaign spokeswoman.

The fundraising event, which will proceed, is set to feature McMorris Rodgers, the House Republican Conference chair, and Caleb Heimlich, the Washington State Republican Party chairman.

Republican candidates and conservative organizations have raised money using weapon auctions in the past, but McMorris Rodgers is a high-ranking member of Republican leadership, and the event was scheduled for just over one month after the shooting.

"For many years, the SCRCC has featured auction items related to shooting sports and 2nd Amendment rights, including a top-valued auction item of a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle. In every case, we have coordinated auction winners/purchasers with authorized gun dealers to remain in full compliance with legal requirements including background checks when it comes to actual acquisition of any firearm," Larsen said in her initial statement.

In September, a school shooter in Spokane, which is in McMorris Rodgers' district, tried using an AR-15, but it jammed. He killed one fellow student and injured three others using a handgun, according to local reports. Weapons in styles related to the AR-15 were used in the recent mass shootings in Orlando; Sutherland Springs, Texas; Las Vegas; and Newtown, Connecticut, among others.

Prior to the reversal, Washington Democratic Party chair Tina Podlodowski called the event "unbelievable and shameful."

"This is a slap in the face to the families of the students and teachers killed in Parkland, the parents who are living in fear that their children will be among the next victims of gun violence, and those of us who are working diligently to find a solution to an incredibly complex problem," she said in a statement to POLITICO.

Lisa Brown, a Democrat running against the seven-term lawmaker, called for McMorris Rodgers to scrap her plans to attend the event in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon.

