NRA Wins Repeal of Los Angeles Law Group Said Was About Shaming
NRA Wins Repeal of Los Angeles Law Group Said Was About Shaming
(Bloomberg) -- The National Rifle Association won its challenge to a Los Angeles ordinance that it claimed was aimed at ridiculing and boycotting its supporters by requiring city contractors to disclose any business ties with the gun rights group.
The Los Angeles City Council repealed the ordinance on Jan. 21, lawyers for the NRA and city noted in a joint request to end the lawsuit and permanently block the city from enforcing the measure. The NRA dropped a court fight with San Francisco in November over a resolution by city leaders calling the group a “domestic terror organization.”
The NRA won’t seek damages from Los Angeles, according to Friday’s filing in federal court.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson last month agreed with the NRA that the ordinance, passed Feb. 12, probably violates the organization’s free-speech rights.
“The text of the ordinance, the ordinance’s legislative history, and the concurrent public statements made by the ordinance’s primary legislative sponsor evince a strong intent to suppress the speech of the NRA,” the judge said.
The judge cited a statement from the ordinance’s sponsor urging Los Angeles to “rid itself” of any relationship with organizations that support the NRA as evidence of a potential free-speech violation.
The case is National Rifle Association of America v. City of Los Angeles, 19-cv-03212, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Joe Schneider
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