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. (More Iowa stories.)