NRA Sues San Francisco Over Terrorist Declaration

[mystery-ak]

Monday, 09 September 2019 10:31 PM

The National Rifle Association sued San Francisco on Monday over the city's recent declaration that the gun-rights lobby is a "domestic terrorist organization."

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses city officials of violating the gun lobby's free speech rights for political reasons and says the city is seeking to blacklist anyone associated with the NRA. It asks the court to step in "to instruct elected officials that freedom of speech means you cannot silence or punish those with whom you disagree."

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling the NRA a "domestic terrorist organization," contending the NRA spreads propaganda that seeks to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.

more
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/us-nra-vs-san-francisco/2019/09/09/id/931924/

[Wingnut]

May the NRA Be on them like an Oberlin judgement. 

[TomSea]

Good, I'm sure NRA has a stable of lawyers. Well done.

[PeteS in CA]

Here We Go. NRA Sues San Francisco

Last week we discussed the embarrassing decision by the San Francisco City Council to label the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization.” While that was bad enough to start with, they went several steps further, declaring that they would “limit business interactions with the NRA and its supporters.”
...

The National Rifle Association sued San Francisco on Monday over the city’s recent declaration that the gun-rights lobby is a “domestic terrorist organization.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses city officials of violating the gun lobby’s free speech rights for political reasons and says the city is seeking to blacklist anyone associated with the NRA. It asks the court to step in “to instruct elected officials that freedom of speech means you cannot silence or punish those with whom you disagree.”

It sounds like the NRA has a pretty solid case here. If the city had only passed some sort of nonbinding resolution calling the group a “domestic terrorist organization” they might have gotten away with it. The best they could probably do in that case would be to accuse the city of slander or something along those lines, but their prospects for success wouldn’t be as promising.

But when the city elders decided to declare that they would limit business with the NRA and its supporters, they definitely crossed a line. When it comes to the awarding of contracts to do business with the city, every qualified entity or individual has to be given a fair opportunity to bid and compete. I somehow doubt that the NRA is doing much municipal business with the city (unless they’re offering firearms safety instruction there), but they certainly have members in the region who might be.

Keep in mind that, IIRC, LA passed a city ordinance requiring businesses seeking contracts with the city to disclose any membership/support relationship with the NRA. If they don't already have such an ordinance, that would be SF's next step.