San Francisco Officials Declare the NRA a ‘Domestic Terrorist Organization’

Firearms are pictured in an exhibit hall at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center during the NRA's annual convention in Dallas, Texas, on May 6, 2018. (Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images)

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has declared the National Rifle Association (NRA) a “domestic terrorist organization” in a resolution passed on Sept. 3. The officials have also urged other city, state, and the federal government to do the same.

The resolution (pdf) accuses the NRA of inciting “gun owners to acts of violence” and spreading “propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.” It also encouraged the city to assess the relationship of vendors who may have affiliation with the NRA and who also do business with the city, and to then limit these vendors from doing business with the NRA.

Responding to the resolution, the NRA said in a statement to The Epoch Times that “this is just another worthless and disgusting ’soundbite remedy' to the violence epidemic gripping our nation. The same kind of attack the NRA has confronted in New York.”

“This is a reckless assault on a law-abiding organization, its members, and the freedoms they all stand for. We remain undeterred—guided by our values and belief in those who want to find real solutions to gun violence,” the organization added.

In New York, Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation launched into the group’s finances and its nonprofit status earlier in the year. Following the news of the New York probe, President Donald Trump accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and James of “illegally using the State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy” the NRA.

Catherine Stefani, District 2 supervisor who introduced the San Francisco resolution, told Fox affiliate KTVU that she thinks the NRA had “it coming to them.”

“I will do everything that I possibly can to call them out on what they are, which is a domestic terrorist organization,” she told the news broadcaster.

The news outlet reported that Stefani, a gun violence prevention activist, wrote the resolution after the mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California that left three people dead in July. The resolution cites the incident and the three victims of the shooting.

The designation comes amid a heated debate over gun ownership with Democratic lawmakers and 2020 candidates pushing for stricter gun control following mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.

While speaking to reporters in Iowa earlier this week, presidential candidate Joe Biden suggested banning “assault-type weapons” and “magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them,” in response to the most recent mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, that left seven people dead and dozens more injured.

“It’s all about special interests and it has to stop,” Biden said. “The idea that we don’t have elimination of assault-type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them. It’s absolute mindless. It’s no violation of the Second Amendment. It’s just a bow to special interests of the gun manufacturers and the NRA.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has acknowledged that gun violence is a national public health emergency but emphasized the problem is not with guns rather the people pulling the trigger, reiterating that the mentally ill should not have guns.

“We also have to remember the gun doesn’t pull the trigger, a person does,” Trump said on Aug. 21.

He has repeatedly said his administration was working on expanding background checks and considered other measures like red flag laws to curb gun violence.

“We’re working on background checks. There are things we can do. But we already have very serious background checks. We have strong background checks. We can close up the gaps. We can do things that are very good and things that, frankly, gun owners want to have done,” Trump said.

He also noted that he was talking to people from all sides including Democrats, Republicans, the NRA, and gun owners to come up with a “meaningful” solution.