Rage at NRA’s cash grab in L.I.
A National Rifle Association fund-raiser is under heavy fire from Long Island residents angered by the upcoming soiree at a local catering hall.
The Nassau County Friends of NRA advertised its Sept. 27 dinner and auction with a list of weapons and prizes to be available at the get-together, ranging from a .410-gauge Henry Lever Action Shotgun with Second Amendment engraving to a Colt Cobra double-action revolver with custom NRA grips.
“They’ve got to cancel this,” said Mona Bhandari, 39, of New Hyde Park. “I’m going to fight and make a protest . . . . They’re not going to get too many people from this neighborhood, I can tell you.”
Bhandari, the mother of two grade-schoolers, lives just a block from The Inn at New Hyde Park — the venue for the fund-raiser.
“I don’t want it there,” she added. “Not in front of my house, and not in front of my (kids’) school.”
A similar event in Coney Island this year was blasted by federal, state and city politicians as the nation mourned the Feb. 14 slayings of 17 people in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. A joint statement from a cross-section of New York officials denounced the fund-raiser’s presence in Brooklyn as “profoundly disappointing.”
Marc Stein, 44, of Roslyn, offered similarly harsh words for the hall hosting the Long Island event.
“As a parent, I find it absolutely disgusting that a local venue would allow the NRA inside,” said the father of a 7-year-old child. “Giving them a venue to raise money, and to actually auction and raffle off weapons, is reprehensible.”
Sharon Howard, 52, who works in New Hyde Park, joined Bhandari in criticizing the event where a single ticket costs $65. Deeperpocketed donors can pay $2,000 to grab a seat at “The Charlton Heston Table.”
“It’s not cool,” said Howard. “I don’t think the NRA is cool, so wherever they are, whoever’s hosting them, they’re not cool . . . . The organization needs to be shut down. I hope you guys go bankrupt.”
The Inn’s general manager declined to comment, and a local spokesman for the Friends of NRA did not return messages.
Bhandari and Stein said they were sharing news of the event with parents to ensure their voices are heard, while Howard complained that the NRA wielded too much influence.
“They’ve been in power for too many years, and there’s no regulation for that,” she said. “Their reign needs to end.”