Democratic Mayor of San Fransisco, London Breed, has prohibited city officials from banning city contractors who do business with the National Rifle Association (NRA) in a memorandum Tuesday
Facing a lawsuit from the organization after the city labeled it a domestic terrorist organization, the Mayor wrote in the memo declared that “no [municipal] department will take steps to restrict any contractor from doing business with the NRA or to restrict City contracting opportunities for any business that has any relationship with the NRA.”
The original resolution from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors urged the city and state to “take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization.”
Additionally, the resolution, introduced by Supervisor Catherine Stefani, claimed, “The National Rifle Association musters its considerable wealth and organizational strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence.”
Stefani said in a statement that when the NRA “[uses] phrases like, ‘I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands’ on bumper stickers, they are saying reasoned debate about public safety should be met with violence.”
On top of that, the liberal-controlled board accused the NRA of directing propaganda and misinformation, and even went as far as to say the organization itself is responsible for arming individuals who “have committed acts of terrorism.”
In a victory for the NRA, its CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, said he “[hopes] the message is now clear.”
“The NRA will always fight to protect our members and the constitutional freedoms in which they believe,” LaPierre said.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors labeled the NRA a domestic terrorist organization on Sept. 3, and urged other cities, states and the federal government to do the same.
Just six days later on Sept. 9, the NRA filed a lawsuit primarily on charges the city officials with violating the NRA’s free speech on political grounds.
“The government cannot discriminate against citizens based on the viewpoint of their political speech,” the lawsuit alleges.
“This lawsuit comes with a message to those who attack the NRA,” LaPierre said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit. “We will never stop fighting for our law-abiding members and their constitutional freedoms.”
The NRA’s attorney in the lawsuit said in a statement after the victory, “The memo serves as a clear concession and a well-deserved win for the First and Second Amendments….It is unfortunate that in today’s polarized times, some elected officials would rather silence opposing arguments than engage in good-faith debate. The NRA is America’s oldest civil rights organization – and won’t stand for that.”
