A major gun show scheduled to take place in Fort Lauderdale will no longer happen.
Organizers and operators for the Florida Gun and Knife show, scheduled to take place March 17th and 18th inside the War Memorial Auditorium, said the show has been canceled in the wake of the Parkland high school shooting.
Morgan Waters, the event’s manager, said the decision was made after Mayor Jack Seiler “courteously and professionally” requested the move.
Kim Treat from Florida Gun Shows confirmed that a second event, scheduled for May, will continue as planned. The annual events have taken place for over three decades at the location just 25 miles from where 17 people were killed in the mass shooting inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th.
Another gun show in Southwest Miami-Dade did take place just days after the shooting, with event organizers saying it was not financially feasible to cancel the event in spite of pleas from residents and officials.