Park Slope's Grand Prospect Hall Cancels NRA Fundraiser

PARK SLOPE, NY — The Grand Prospect Hall canceled a fundraiser for the NRA the day after it became public the Park Slope venue was hosting the event over backlash from advocates and elected officials.

The owner of the 263 Prospect Ave. wedding hall toldNY1 that he will no longer host the Brooklyn's Friends of NRA fundraiser scheduled for next month, the second spot in the borough to cancel the event.

"I want our community here in Park Slope to be happy. Finally, I managed to speak to the people that I’m contracted with, the NRA people, and they understand," Grand Prospect Hall owner Michael Halkias told NY1.

"No NRA fundraiser here, and I want to thank everybody for being able to communicate with Prospect Hall what their pain is. So I relieve them from their pain."

The fundraiser, which touted a gun auction, was originally scheduled for April 12 at Garigulo's Restaurant in Coney Island, but the owners of that spot canceled it after an outcry from locals following the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The backlash also caused a Staten Island venue to stop a similar event from happening in the borough.

The group then moved it to a "Facility located in Brooklyn," according to their flyer, but the New York Daily News reported on Monday that the

Grand Prospect Hall was the space to welcomed the controversial event.

"Guns are not a bad thing," Halkias told the News. "They can be a bad thing, like anything, you know?"

The move faced immediate backlash from elected officials and residents, some of whom took to Yelp to leave one-star reviewing blasting the decision to host the fundraiser.

"I can't imagine too many happy brides and Sweet Sixteen girls when they show up to take photos outside the Grand Prospect Hall and are confronted with angry protesters carrying the photos of teens massacred in Parkland or babies murdered in Sandy Hook," Yelp user Mallory M. wrote.

"I'm getting married in September, and I know the Grand Prospect Hall won't be the place that makes my dreams come true. These folks, if they go through with the fundraiser, have blood on their hands."

Borough President Eric Adams, who also joined calls to cancel the event, praised Halkias' quick decision to stop the fundraiser on Twitter.

"Thanks @GranProspecHall for listening to #ParkSlope and #SouthSlop," Adams wrote on Twitter. "We dream of a world without #gunviolence. Our dreams WILL come true."

Image: Google Maps