Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to label the National Rifle Association and its five million members a terrorist organization. Calling the grandstanding move “a reckless assault on a law-abiding organization, it’s members, and the freedoms they all stand for,” the NRA turned around and filed suit against the feces-stained city by the bay.
As the AP reported at the time,
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.” …
“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 behavior by government officials. Fortunately, the NRA, like all U.S. citizens, is protected by the First Amendment.”
Now, according to the AP, the city appears to be backing down before the case ever sees a courtroom . . .
San Francisco’s mayor has told department heads they cannot investigate the possible ties of city contractors to the National Rifle Association, prompting the gun-rights group to declare victory in its ongoing fight with the liberal city.
Mayor London Breed issued the advisory on Sept. 23, a few weeks after the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution labeling the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization” and calling on the city to take steps to assess possible ties between its contractors and the organization.
In a memo co-written by the city attorney, Breed wrote that the board can only enact new contracting requirements by ordinance. Resolutions have no legal weight.
You can read Heronner’s memo here. Thou they’ve declared partial victory, the NRA isn’t pulling in the reins.
William A. Brewer III, counsel to the NRA, said Tuesday the memo is a “clear concession” to a lawsuit filed in federal court against the city in response to the resolution. He called the memo a positive development but said the NRA will not withdraw its lawsuit until the resolution is formally revoked.
“San Francisco publicly, officially maligned law-abiding NRA members as terrorists and publicly, officially vowed to blacklist them from government work,” he said.
City officials, however, say the organization is misinterpreting what the resolution does and is inaccurate in describing the memo as any kind of retreat.
Uh huh. The NRA seems determined to push this until the city rescinds the terrorist label. And who could blame them.
Meanwhile . . .
