NRA sues San Fran. over declaration

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.

“This action is an assault on all advocacy organizations across the country,” said William A. Brewer III, the NRA’s lawyer. “There can be no place in our society for this manner of behaviour by government officials. Fortunately, the NRA, like all U.S. citizens, is protected by the First Amendment.”

San Francisco’s resolution follows some recent high-profile shootings, including one in Gilroy, California, about 80 miles southeast of San Francisco, where a gunman entered a festival with an AK-style long gun, killing three people and injuring 17 before killing himself. Since that shooting on July 28, there have been at least three mass shootings — in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and in the West Texas towns of Odessa and Midland.

San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani said she drafted the resolution after the Gilroy shooting, driven in part by the vision of one of those killed while playing in a bouncy house at the festival. Stefani, an attorney who has been involved for years in gun-control organizations, said the thought sickened her. “I had enough,” she told The Associated Press.

“They continue to stand in the way of gun violence reform and people are dying because of it,” she said.

She also criticized NRA leadership for how it spends dues from its selfproclaimed five million members — a sore point among some gun-rights activists as well.