NRA Drops Lawsuit Over ‘Terrorist’ Label by San Francisco
NRA Drops Lawsuit Over ‘Terrorist’ Label by San Francisco
(Bloomberg) -- The National Rifle Association dropped a lawsuit claiming discrimination over a resolution by San Francisco officials deeming the gun-rights group a “domestic terrorist organization.”
The NRA claimed in a September complaint that the city violated its free-speech rights when the San Francisco board of supervisors adopted a policy of not doing business with the organization.
“The resolution does not try to hide its animus toward the NRA’s political speech, nor its animating purpose: to remove the NRA from the gun control debate,” the group said in the suit.
The NRA dropped the case Thursday in a one-page filing.
“This was a baseless attempt to silence San Francisco’s valid criticisms of the NRA and distract from the gun violence epidemic facing our country,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement. “San Francisco will never be intimidated by the NRA.”
After the resolution was passed, San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a memo reminding city staff that it was non-binding and doesn’t limit contracts with groups doing business with the pro-Second Amendment organization, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The NRA declared victory Thursday.
“As has been widely reported, after the association challenged the unconstitutional resolution, the city beat a hasty retreat and backed down from its wildly illegal blacklisting scheme,” William A. Brewer III, a lawyer for the group, said in a statement. “The censors are on notice. The NRA will always fight for the Constitution, and will re-file if the city tries anything like this in the future.”
The NRA is also challenging a Los Angeles city law that requires contractors to disclose all business ties to the organization.
The case is National Rifle Association of America v. San Francisco, 19-cv-5669, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Joe Schneider
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