Public schools are funded by taxpayers, but that money doesn't cover everything a school would like to do. If they want to spend on something not covered, they need to hold fundraisers.

I don't know many people who take issue with those fundraising efforts. I think we've all bought magazines or candy from either our kid or a friend as part of one at some time or another. If not, just wait. I'm sure it'll happen.

A popular means of raising money is raffling off items that people want. A $1 ticket to potentially get something you'd like worth hundreds or even thousands? Sure, why not!

And guns are popular raffle items for just that reason.

But it seems some lawmakers in Michigan are taking issue with the practice. In fact, there's a bill seeking to ban them for schools.

A bill introduced to the Michigan Legislature Tuesday aims to ban raffles from awarding firearms as prizes on school grounds.

State Rep. Julie Rogers, D — Kalamazoo, introduced House Bill 5453, which was referred to the House’s Regulatory Reform Committee.

“Time and time again, we have seen our schools face the tragedy of gun violence,” Rogers wrote. “Raffling off firearms on school property undermines the message that our schools are supposed to be a safe place for our children to learn, free from violent threats. Regardless of varying perspectives on firearms policy, most Michiganders agree that guns do not belong in schools.”

The bill itself actually doesn't say jack about the property itself. It basically says that no school, either public or private, can raffle a gun, even if it's done completely off the campus itself.

Yet let's understand that, to my knowledge, there's never been a school shooting held with a gun won in a school raffle. There's never, to my knowledge, been a violent crime committed with a gun that was won in a raffle, either.

Let's remember that even if you win the raffle, you're not just handed a gun. You have to go through a NICS check to make sure you're eligible to own a gun. The gun basically comes from the gun store and the FFL has to conduct the check by federal law.

In other words, no one is just getting handed a gun because their ticket was the lucky one. It's basically the exact same process that people like Rogers claim we should all go through in order to reduce crime.

So what's the problem?

Optics. She doesn't think it looks good.

What she forgets is that there are guns in schools all over Michigan whether she likes it or not. There is responsible gun ownership and there are criminals with guns. There are law enforcement officers with guns. 

You're not going to send any message that guns aren't welcome on campus because those who care are already leaving them at home unless they're cops. 

All this bill will do is make it more difficult for schools to raise money to cover expenses beyond what they're allotted by the powers that be. Guns are a fairly high-ticket item that can sell a lot of tickets for whoever is holding the raffle, but because they make someone like Rogers feel uncomfortable, they apparently have to go.

That kind of tells you everything you need to know about gun control in general, now that I think about it.

So far, it looks like Rogers just introduced the bill a couple of days ago and doesn't seem to have any cosponsors. That's good news since cosponsors are an early indicator of just how popular the bill is. Especially after a couple of days in the hopper.

Hopefully, this stupidity won't go anywhere, but with the way Michigan has trended of late, I'm not about to hold my breath.