An Italian restaurant in Coney Island canceled an NRA fundraiser — that would have included a raffle for guns — after residents and politicians criticized it for announcing the event weeks after the Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people.
The second annual “Brooklyn’s Friends of NRA” fundraiser was scheduled to take place on April 12 at Gargiulo’s Restaurant on West 15th Street, near Mermaid Avenue. But the restaurant announced it was canceling the event on Twitter Thursday evening.
“The Russo family of Gargiulo’s Restaurant has provided a venue for thousands of community events & family celebrations,” the tweet says. “They thank everyone for their interest in this important dialogue & have decided it best to cancel the event.”
Local politicians, who had called the event “disappointing,” praised the decision to cancel it.
Re: #NRA event: "…the Russo family of Gargiulo's Restaurant has provided a venue for thousands of community events & family celebrations…. They thank everyone for their interest in this important dialogue & have decided it best to cancel the event."
— Gargiulo's (@gargiulos) March 1, 2018
I join @RepJeffries, @NYCPA, @NYCComptroller, @dianesavino, and @KirstenJohnFoy to say we're extremely pleased that the owners of Gargiulo’s have heard and recognized the sentiments of our community and have agreed to cancel the NRA-sponsored event pic.twitter.com/sBYykv0t41
— Mark Treyger (@MarkTreyger718) March 1, 2018
“We have worked hard to address gun violence in this neighborhood, and an event like this, particularly after the Parkland tragedy, was simply not in the best interests of our community,” the joint statement from Councilman Mark Treyger, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Controller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James and others said.
“Gargiulo’s has been an important and supportive partner of the community for decades, and the decision to cancel this event shows that Gargiulo’s has heard and respects the concerns of our community.”
