San Francisco Ready to Name No. 1 U.S. Gun Lobby Terrorist Group

City to review financial connections of its vendors and NRA
Unanimous approval again expected in next week’s final vote

San Francisco wants to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization and is preparing to start asking the city’s vendors to reveal whether they’re doing business with the nation’s largest gun lobby.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution saying that San Francisco “should take every reasonable step to assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and contractors have with this domestic terrorist organization.”

“It is time to rid this country of the NRA and call them out for who they are – they are a domestic terrorist organization,” said the measure’s sponsor, Supervisor Catherine Stefani. She faulted the group for opposing legislation intended to reduce gun violence while blaming shootings on video games, movies, and mental illness.

The resolution, which has to be approved again in a second vote before it can take effect, cites the U.S. Department of Justice definition of terrorist activity, which, in part, is using any weapon or dangerous device “with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property.”

The measure was introduced shortly after three people were killed in a shooting about 80 miles away, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. It notes that there have been hundreds mass shootings in the U.S. this year.

The NRA said San Francisco had better things to do.

“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,” NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter said in an email. “The board is wasting taxpayer dollars to declare 5 million law-abiding Americans domestic terrorists, and it’s shameful. The NRA will continue working to protect the constitutional rights of all freedom-loving Americans.”

Stefani, a former prosecutor, is an activist with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which is part of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and majority owner of Bloomberg Government’s parent company. serves on the advisory board of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for universal background checks and gun-control measures.

The resolution, which returns Sept. 10 for a final vote, would urge other cities, states, and the federal government to adopt similar positions.

With assistance from Greg Giroux

To contact the reporter on this story: Joyce E. Cutler in San Francisco at jcutler@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katherine Rizzo at krizzo@bgov.com; Robin Meszoly at rmeszoly@bgov.com