Gun advocates organized a "Starbucks appreciation day" in Newtown, Conn., Friday, less than a year after a man opened fire on an elementary school, killing 26 children and staff.

The purpose was to celebrate the coffee chain's policy of allowing its customers to carry firearms — in states where that's legal — while sipping their lattes, according to the Facebook event page.

"We will thank starbucks for standing up for our right to bear arms," it reads.

The event was planned for Starbucks locations nationwide, but some say it should have skipped Newtown, which is still reeling from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.

"Our community is still healing and we find it reprehensible that they are picking Newtown to rally," wrote David Ackert, a spokesman for Newtown Action Alliance, a group formed to quell gun violence after the mass shooting.

The group noted there are five other Starbucks locations within 15 miles of Newtown.