City Scraps Weird Raffle Involving a Taser

Plenty of people in Van Meter, Iowa, apparently wanted to deliver a jolt to a city official, but they'll no longer get the chance. The city has scrapped a strange raffle that offered people the opportunity to fire a Taser at the city administrator or at a councilman, reports the Des Moines Register. Instead, the winner will get to shoot at a non-human target. The original raffle, at $5 a pop, already had raised about $4,000. People can get refunds, notes WHO-TV, but the city won't lose any money. Two groups that thought the raffle sent the wrong message about Tasers promised to donate money—as long as no human targets were involved.