San Francisco labels NRA a ‘domestic terrorist organization’
The legislative body in San Francisco, California, has unanimously approved a resolution labeling the National Rifle Association (NRA) a “domestic terrorist organization” due to its opposition to more stringent gun-control legislation in the United States.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the resolution on Tuesday and encouraged other US cities to do the same in order to increase pressure on the country’s most influential gun lobby group.
Board Supervisor Catherine Stefani introduced the resolution after a mass shooting in Gilroy, California, in July killed three people, including two children, and injured 17.
“People are dying every day in this country,” Stefani said on Tuesday in an interview with local television station KTVU-TV. “Doing nothing is not an option. And that’s what the NRA continues to do.”
The resolution accuses the NRA of spreading “propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.”
The resolution also urged the city and county of San Francisco to "take every reasonable step" to limit financial and contractual relationships with the NRA. It calls on other cities, states and the federal government to do the same.
Following the mass shooting in Gilroy, 22 people were killed by a gunman in El Paso, Texas, nine people were murdered in Dayton, Ohio, and seven were massacred in Odessa, Texas.
In response, the NRA said in a tweet that the decision is a reckless assault on “a law-abiding organization, its members, and the freedoms they all stand for.”
“This ludicrous stunt by the Board of Supervisors is an effort to distract from the real problems facing San Francisco, such as rampant homelessness, drug abuse and skyrocketing petty crime, to name a few,” the organization said in a statement to KTVU.
The NRA has consistently opposed gun control efforts and financially supported politicians who oppose them as well. The gun-rights group spent $54 million during the 2016 presidential election, including $30 million to help Donald Trump get elected president.
NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump on the phone last month in the wake of the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. Soon after the call, Trump backed away from his previous calls for stronger background checks.
According to Amnesty International, an average of 106 individuals died a day from firearm-related incidents in 2016, totaling 38,658. Of that figure, nearly 23,000 were suicides and more than 14,400 were homicides.
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