The Orange and Blue Observer (OBO), a conservative political journal at the University, staged a controversial raffle Thursday – first prize was an AK-47 assault rifle.

Michael Hooper, a police officer from Mattoon, Ill., was announced the winner of the firearm by OBO members at a booth outside the Illini Union. Alex Kroll, OBO treasurer, said more than 140 tickets were purchased, netting the OBO a profit of $405.

Hooper will purchase the gun for $290 from Dave’s Firearms & Cycle Repair, 1868 County Road 1600 N in Urbana. The OBO will then reimburse Hooper using money made from the raffle.

To enter the raffle, participants paid $5 and had to state that they had a Firearms Ownership Identification Document (FOID). If a participant didn’t have a FOID, the OBO provided applications for the participants.

A FOID is required in Illinois to buy or possess a firearm, according to the Illinois State Police Web site.

Leo Buchignani, president of the OBO, said the raffle would help pay for future issues of the journal.

The OBO, a registered student organization, normally publishes three times a school year with funding from the Student Organization Resource Fee (SORF), said Leo Buchignani, OBO president. However, this year the SORF board only gave the journal enough funding to publish two issues.

The OBO used the raffle to help fund their paper, Buchignani said.

Kroll also said the raffle was meant to raise awareness about the benefits of gun ownership.

The more people have guns, Kroll said, the less crime there will be.

“Consequently, every law-abiding citizen should own one,” he said, “Provided, we don’t know who will use one and who will not, but it’s a risk we have to take.”

OBO members argued that most citizens cannot protect themselves if they do not have a gun.

“Illinois is one of the most restrictive states for gun laws and we are protesting the high amounts of murder, rape assaults and crimes in Illinois,” Buchignani said. “By putting one more gun into the hands of law-abiding citizens, we’re providing protection.”

If more women carried firearms, Buchignani said, there would be fewer cases of rape. Buchignani said possessing a gun makes differences in physical strength irrelevant in violent situations.

“Hand guns eliminate the strength advantage of men over women,” Buchignani said. “I don’t understand why feminists don’t advocate this cause. Hand guns prevent crimes and we used an AK-47 to emphasize that free citizens have a duty to be armed.”

The raffle winner was announced at 3 p.m. Hooper was not present during the announcement, and an OBO member left a message on Hooper’s phone.

During the announcement, about 10 protesters sat on a nearby stone bench holding signs.

A.J. Kane, freshman in ACES, held a sign entitled, “Anthrax Raffle.” He also had a sign-up clipboard to challenge the validity of the OBO’s purpose.

Kane explained his sign by saying, “Both anthrax and an AK-47 have a lot of power to kill.

“As absurd as it is to offer anthrax on campus, offering and AK-47 is even more absurd,” he said.

Kane said he supports gun ownership and owns a single-shot rifle for target purposes.

“However, the AK-47 is a combat weapon with too high of a capacity to kill, and its existence should be limited,” he said. “There’s a point where a weapon’s killing power makes it too dangerous for people to have (an AK-47),”

Other protesters agreed.

“There are better ways to defend our constitutional rights than giving students semi-automatic weapons,” said Celine Browning, sophomore in FAA. “By distributing this gun, the OBO is doing a violent action regardless of how the gun is going to be used.”

Brooks Moore, director of the Office of Registered Organizations, said the OBO followed all University regulations in holding the raffle. SORF board rules prohibit RSOs from using SORF funds for fund-raising purposes.

“The Orange and Blue Observer did not use University funds for their purpose (the event), and obtained a raffle permit from the City of Urbana,” Moore said.