OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 12:55 PM PT — Tuesday, September 10, 2019
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is pushing back on a declaration, which labels the group a “domestic terrorist organization.” The NRA filed a lawsuit Monday, challenging the declaration filed by the city of San Francisco. The gun rights advocacy group is claiming it violates their First Amendment rights of free speech.
This comes after the city’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution last week, saying the group “spreads propaganda and misinformation about the dangers of gun violence.”
Supervisors drafted the resolution following the deadly shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.
FILE – In this March 24, 2018, file photo, crowds of people participate in the March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control in San Francisco. The National Rifle Association sued San Francisco on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, over the city’s recent declaration that the gun-rights lobby is a “domestic terrorist organization.” (AP Photo/Josh Edelson, File)
“The NRA has it coming to them and I will do everything I possibly can to call them out on what they are, which is a domestic terrorist organization,” said Catherine Stefani of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
NRA officials argue that declaring the organization terrorists is both unlawful and discriminatory toward its five million members. Under the policy, the city would essentially blacklist any people, vendors or contractors who have ties to the organization.
Similar declarations have been made in the past by Los Angeles and New York City. In both cases, courts sustained the NRA’s First Amendment claims.
