A Republican running for a congressional seat in Kansas defended on Monday his decision to not cancel his campaign's giveaway of an AR-15 rifle following last week's school shooting in Florida.

"We aren't using this to raise money," Tyler Tannahill said on HLN.

"We had this planned over a month ago to kind of coincide with the Kansas Republican Convention."

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Tannahill, who is one of several Republicans running for Kansas's 2nd congressional seat, launched the giveaway one day before a similar gun was used in a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead.

Tannahill said his campaign discussed whether to cancel the giveaway but decided not to.

"We have to sit down and have these tough discussions," he said.

"I'm a staunch believer in the Second Amendment, and I don't think those rights should be infringed, but how do we keep our children and teachers safe in schools?"