The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday labelling the National Rifle Association (NRA) a domestic terrorist organization and urged other cities and the federal government to do the same.
The resolution proposed that in addition to declaring the NRA a terrorist organization, the city should take steps to limit the contractual relationships its vendors have with the NRA and to limit entities who do business with the city and the County of San Francisco from doing business with the NRA.
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“All countries have violent and hateful people, but only in America do we give them ready access to assault weapons and large-capacity magazines thanks, in large part, to the National Rifle Association’s influence,” the resolution, which passed unanimously in city hall, reads.
District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani wrote the resolution and told Fox affiliate KTVU that “the NRA has it coming to them.”
“I will do everything I possibly can to call them out on what they are, which is a domestic terrorist organization,” she said.
In the resolution, the board blames the NRA for driving gun owners to commit violence.
“The National Rifle Association musters its considerable wealth and organizational strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence,” the resolution reads.
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San Francisco isn’t the only American city to publicly condemn the NRA. Los Angeles successfully went one step further earlier this year by passing a law requiring companies seeking to do business with the city to disclose NRA contracts, sponsorship and other affiliations.
The law was passed unanimously by L.A.’s city council in February.
In August, the NRA sought a court order to block the law while it readies a lawsuit that will attempt to reverse it.
“The ordinance is extreme, a first-of-its-kind law that threatens contractors that oppose the city’s anti-NRA agenda with loss of lucrative government contracts,” the NRA said in a court filing.
G.S. Hans, a professor with the Vanderbilt School of Law, told Bloomberg in August that the NRA may be premature in bringing a lawsuit because it can’t prove it’s been harmed in any way.
“It’s going to be hard to argue you have a First Amendment right to a government contract,” he said.
These motions have been brought as a number of big box stores cease firearm and ammunition sales across the U.S.
This past week alone, Walmart took action to end all handgun and ammunition sales and asked customers not to openly carry guns in stores. On Wednesday morning, Kroger also asked customers not to openly carry firearms in its locations.
August has seen mass shootings across the United States with over 53 people killed in several incidents. Seven people were killed in Odessa, Texas, last weekend when a gunman began shooting at vehicles.
Other major incidents include one in Dayton, Ohio, where nine people were killed on August 4 after a gunman opened fire on the city’s entertainment district and a shooting that took place just day earlier where 22 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP’s legislative response to the spate of mass shootings.
— With a file from the Associated Press.
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