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The prize: 31 guns, with a new winner drawn each day of the month.

The fund-raiser, sponsored by the association in partnership with two New Hampshire gun makers, Sig Sauer and Sturm, Ruger & Company, has prompted a chorus of protests from lawmakers and gun-control advocates questioning why the police are giving away guns, even in the name of a good cause.

Some in law enforcement have also raised questions. When Chief Nicholas J. Giaccone Jr. of Hanover pulled up information about the raffle on the Internet, he said, he was flabbergasted.

"I looked at the first weapon and Googled that one," said Chief Giaccone, who recalled using an expletive when he pulled up information about the Ruger SR-556C, a semiautomatic weapon. "It's an assault rifle."

In a letter to the editor of The Eagle-Tribune, which covers southern New Hampshire, Richard J. O'Shaughnessy of Salem wrote, "People who should know better are adding to the glorification of the gun culture in this state."

And referring to the shootings last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, State Representative Sharon L. Nordgren, a Hanover Democrat, said, "They're just the same kind that were used in Newtown."

The Ruger that caught Chief Giaccone's attention is an AR-15-style rifle, which is the most popular style of gun in America, according to dealers, and was the type used by Adam Lanza to kill 20 children and six adults at the elementary school. Another gun in the raffle, the Sig Sauer P226 handgun, was also carried by Mr. Lanza, according to the Connecticut State Police.

"It's just ironic that that would be their choice of the kind of gun that they're raffling," Ms. Nordgren said.

Organizers of the raffle are standing firm. In a statement released this month, Chief Paul T. Donovan of Salem, the president of the association, defended the fund-raiser, saying that all winners would be required to meet all applicable rules for gun ownership.

"While this raffle falls on the heels of the recent tragedy in Newtown, Conn., the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police extends their deepest sympathies to the families and first responders," Chief Donovan wrote. "New Hampshire Chiefs of Police feel the issues with these tragic shootings are ones that are contrary to lawful and responsible gun ownership."

The proceeds from the raffle go toward a cadet program involving participants ages 14 to 20 who are given instructions in various kinds of police skills and procedures. Some of them go on to pursue careers in law enforcement.

The guns will be distributed through another raffle partner, Rody's Gun Shop, a windowless outpost here in Newport, a town that comes to life when employees of Ruger, which is one of its main employers, leave work for the day.

"Around here, most people are into guns," said Michael Gaffney, an employee of a nearby hardware store who won a rifle in a raffle years ago. "You get a chance to win a free gun! It's like any raffle, very much akin to trailer raffles, snowmobile raffles or turkey raffles."

On a recent weeknight, the Rody's parking lot was filled with idling cars, their occupants waiting for the store to open at 6 o'clock. The store filled up immediately. Customers, some with their children in tow, browsed the shotguns and rifles on the walls and discussed the possibility of gun bans. While the shop's owner would not comment on the raffle, his customers were nonchalant.

"Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is — they're just talking about it because of Sandy Hook," said Lorraine Peterson of Litchfield. "I don't mean to sound insensitive. This is New Hampshire. This is a sport."

Gun raffles are business as usual here and in many other parts of the country — frequently used by hunting clubs and sometimes by athletics booster clubs to raise money and anchor galas.

"We host raffles like this all the time," said Richard Olson Jr., the president of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation and the Londonderry Fish and Game Club. "Anybody that's speaking up is using the Newtown massacre as a pretext to poke at the issue negatively."

Mr. Olson said that he once planned a gun raffle to raise money for a fishing derby and that he was considering using one to raise money for the wildlife federation's conservation efforts on New England cottontail rabbits.

Shifting economic and political conditions have spread gun raffles to other spheres, too. Josh Harms, a Republican state representative in Illinois, intends to raffle three guns in March to raise money for his campaign treasury.

Greg Hay, a firefighter from Quincy, Ill., said his union decided last January to hold a gun raffle to replenish its accounts after a drawn-out arbitration. He said the sluggish economy had limited fund-raising from the union's annual country music concert.

"We didn't really want to have any more assessments, so we needed to start looking at better moneymakers," said Mr. Hay, who expects the union, Quincy Firefighters Local 63, to take home about $25,000 from the raffle, which started last June and awards one gun per week for a year.

The fund-raiser has been so successful that the union had planned to sponsor a second one until a recent increase in gun prices — fueled by increased demand amid fears of gun bans in the wake of the Newtown shooting — made the effort less promising.

"Maybe we'll hold off until gun prices go down and start to go back to a decent level," Mr. Hay said.

Opponents of the raffle in New Hampshire are quick to say it is not the guns they oppose, but the fact that the police are conducting it.

"I think in some respects it shows the wrong message," said State Representative Stephen Shurtleff, Democrat of Merrimack. "For law enforcement, normally they're dealing with firearms in a negative way. For that reason, it's just not an appropriate thing. We're trying to get guns off the street."