Althom/iStock(SAN FRANCISCO) — San Francisco directed the fight over increased gun control directly at the National Rifle Association this week, passing a resolution that declares the organization a “domestic terrorist organization.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the resolution on Tuesday and urged other cities, states and the federal government to do the same.
Board member Catherine Stefani wrote the resolution in July after a gunman opened fire at a festival in Gilroy, California, killing four, including two children. There have been several deadly mass shootings across the country since then.
The resolution accuses the NRA of spreading “misinformation and propaganda” and links it to an “epidemic of gun violence” that’s responsible for more than 36,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries each year.
“The NRA has done more to perpetuate and create the sick gun violence epidemic that is terrorizing our country,” Stefani said at the meeting ahead of the vote Tuesday. “They buy off politicians, prevent common sense gun violence legislation, prevent gun violence research and tell us and everybody that it’s the video games, movies or mental illness.”
There are currently 393 million guns in the U.S., which exceeds the country’s total population, according to the board’s research.
“Every country on this earth is exposed to these issues and influences in equal measure and yet only the United States faces this kind of mass gun violence. The difference is guns. None of our peer countries have assault rifles on their streets,” Stefani said. “If more guns meant more safety, America would be the safest country in the world.”
The resolution urges the city to limit doing business with vendors associated with the NRA, the nation’s top gun advocacy group, but it does not put in place any new regulation or enforcement measures.
The NRA responded to the vote in a number of tweets on Wednesday, including one that encouraged members to include the “IAmTheNRA” hashtag to stand in solidarity with the organization.
“This stunt is an effort to distract from the problems facing #SanFrancisco, such as rampant homelessness, drug abuse and petty crime, to name a few. Their (sic) wasting taxpayer dollars to declare 5M law-abiding Americans domestic terrorists, and it’s shameful,” the organization wrote in a tweet Wednesday.
“This is a reckless assault on a law-abiding organization, it’s (sic) members, and the freedoms they all stand for. We remain undeterred — guided by our values and belief in those who want to find real solutions to violence,” it added in a separate tweet.
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