City leaders in San Francisco, California on Tuesday unanimously voted in favor of a resolution declaring the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Now, they’re calling on other states, cities and municipalities to do the same.
Passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the resolution accuses the NRA of inciting violence and spreading “propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.”
The National Rifle Association slammed Tuesday’s resolution as “ludicrous” and a waste of taxpayer dollars. (Photo: Paul J. Richards / AFP PHOTO / Getty Images)
“The NRA, through it’s advocacy has armed those individuals who would and have committed acts of terrorism,” it reads. “And [while] all countries have violent and hateful people, only in America do we give them ready access to assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, thanks in large part, to the NRA’s influence.”
Gun control advocate and city Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who helped sponsor the measure, also slammed the gun rights group for its efforts to “aggressively … block every every piece of sensible gun violence prevention legislation proposed on any level,” according to KQED.
In their resolution, city leaders pointed to the “epidemic of gun violence” plaguing America, which causes nearly 36,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries every year. They also highlighted the rise in frequency of mass shootings, including one at a food festival in nearby Gilroy last month that left three people dead.
Weeks later, the nation would be rattled by back-to-back massacres — one in El Paso, Texas and the other at a bar in Dayton, Ohio. The shootings occured within 24 hours of each other, and would claim the lives of more than 30 people.
The carnage was enough for multiple foreign countries to issue travel warnings for nationals planning to travel to the U.S.
Moreover, the board’s resolution notes an increase in hate crimes in recent years, as well as the fact that the number of guns in the U.S. — a whopping 393 million — now exceeds the country’s total population.
“[Be it] resolved that the City and County of San Francisco intend to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization,” the board wrote, urging the city to stop and assess its dealings with vendors who are associated with the NRA.
NRA officials scoffed at the resolution, calling the move “ludicrous.”
“This ludicrous stunt by the Board of Supervisors is an effort to distract from real problems facing San Francisco, such as rampant homelessness, drug abuse and skyrocketing petty crime,” NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter told KQED before Tuesday’s vote.
“The board is wasting taxpayer dollars to declare five million law-abiding Americans domestic terrorists, and it’s shameful,” she added.
