The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is calling the National Rifle Association (NRA) a “domestic terrorist organization” — and it wants the federal government to do so too.
The board passed the resolution Tuesday, Fox News affiliate KTVU reported. Political statement or not, the resolution comes at a time when the NRA faces increasing hostility from liberals who blame the Second Amendment rights organization for the recent spate of mass shootings that have claimed dozens of lives.
U.S. President Donald Trump shows the crowd a signed document rejecting the UN Arms Trade Treaty at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum at the 148th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits on April 26, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The board also aims to prohibit people and organizations who do business with the city of San Francisco from maintaining any form of financial links with the NRA. (RELATED: Walmart To Stop Selling Handgun Ammunition After Mass Shootings)
The document contends that the United States is “plagued by an epidemic of gun violence,” accuses the NRA of using “its considerable wealth and organization strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence.”
“All countries have violent and hateful people, but only in America do we give them ready access to assault weapons and large-capacity magazines thanks, in large part, to the National Rifle Association’s influence,” it continues.
As a means of attempting to punish the NRA, the board recommends that “the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization.”
The NRA was quick to respond to the news of the resolution passing, calling it nothing more than a political “stunt” by progressive legislators who don’t want to deal with the real problems faced by their city.
“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,” reads the statement, KTVU reported. “The NRA will continue working to protect the constitutional rights of all freedom-loving Americans.”
Gun control, never far from the nexus of U.S. political debate, has become a key component of the campaigns of many seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Their rhetoric and policy declarations have further inflamed the debate.
Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke called America’s gun laws “fucked up” during a live CNN interview on Sunday when he was speaking about the weekend’s Odessa, Texas mass shooting. (RELATED: Beto O’Rourke Selling F-Bomb T-Shirts, Fundraising Off Of Mass Shooting)
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke addresses the nation in El Paso, Texas, U.S. Aug. 15, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
That same day, O’Rourke said if elected to the Oval Office he will demand that citizens sell their assault rifles to the government.
“I want to be really clear that that’s exactly what we are going to do,” O’Rourke said. “Americans who own AR-15s, AK-47s, will have to sell them to the government.”
Republicans have maintained that gun control will not prevent lawless individuals from obtaining firearms and wreaking havoc. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz devoted a 10-tweet dissertation to explaining why the right to self-defense, and hence owning a gun, is integral to maintaining freedom in America.
When actress Alyssa Milano asked on Twitter why gun ownership should be considered a “god-given right,” Cruz responded Sunday that the question was really why Americans should possess “the right to DEFEND your life & family.”
An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family. 1/x https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 1, 2019