It starts with one. The way San Francisco does things can be jarring to the rest of the nation, but often enough, the city’s big firsts become national norms. Be it the first openly gay candidate for office in 1961, the 2007 push to eradicate single-use plastic bags, or the 2010 demand for healthier Happy Meals, San Francisco does what it wants, and sometimes the nation follows. And in the case of the 2011 ban on unsolicited delivery of phone books, and this year’s ban on police use of facial recognition technology, sometimes one can only hope the policies of the City by the Bay do indeed become a nationwide trend.
Such is Tuesday’s bold action by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which voted to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terror organization—and urges the nation to do the same.
After citing the current scourge of gun violence our country faces, the resolution pays homage to the victims of the recent Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, before delivering a scathing and lengthy list of reasons to denounce the powerful organization.
"The NRA conspires to limit gun violence research, restrict gun violence data sharing and most importantly aggressively tries to block every piece of sensible gun violence prevention legislation proposed on any level, local state or federal," Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who sponsored the measure, told local NPR affiliate KQED.
Here’s one key excerpt from the resolution, calling out the NRA’s stranglehold—on politicians and everyday people alike—for exactly what it is.
WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association musters its considerable wealth and organizational strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence, and
WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association spreads propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence, and
WHEREAS, The leadership of National Rifle Association promotes extremist positions, in defiance of the views of a majority of its membership and the public, and undermine the general welfare, and
WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association through its advocacy has armed those individuals who would and have committed acts of terrorism; and
WHEREAS, All countries have violent and hateful people, but only in America do we give them ready access to assault weapons and large-capacity magazines thanks, in large part, to the National Rifle Association’s influence;
Yet this isn’t just an empty denouncement. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is demanding action as well, and unapologetically owning San Francisco’s power as a trendsetter.
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco intends to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and contractors have with this domestic terrorist organization; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should encourage all other jurisdictions, including other cities, states, and the federal government, to adopt similar positions.
Conservatives and the NRA predictably both lost it, and took the equally predictable tactic of pointing out nonfirearm issues that the city faces. “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 tweeted Wednesday, as part of a rapid-fire tweet-storm.
Yet … isn’t the NRA itself, with this tweet, attempting to distract from the problem of gun violence facing the entire nation?
It starts with one. What city will be next?