The National Rifle Association has sued the city of San Francisco after the city’s board of supervisors voted to designate the NRA as a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Will the courts play along with this charade and allow the city of San Francisco to get away with an obscene, political smear? Or will they strike a blow for reality and put the city in its place?
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the city and county of San Francisco and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It accuses city officials of violating the gun lobby’s free speech rights for political reasons and claims the city is trying to blacklist anyone associated with the NRA from doing business there.
The gun rights lobby asked the court to step in “to instruct elected officials that freedom of speech means you cannot silence or punish those with whom you disagree.”
If the U.S. court system has been corrupted to the point that a completely baseless, moronic charge of “domestic terrorism” can be applied to a group whose politics the ultra radical leftists in San Francisco disagree with, we should fear the worst. There will be no protection from the extremists who would use their power to silence those who are only exercising a right guaranteed by the Constitution and confirmed time and time again by the Supreme Court.
It’s not just the right to bear arms at stake. The designation by the board in San Francisco is an attack on our freedom to associate with whomever we wish. It attacks our right to redress grievances, as the NRA is a target because of their success as a lobbying organization at the state and federal levels.
New Jersey is also planning to throw its weight around with gun manufacturers and retailers who fail to toe the line on gun control measures.
New Jersey intends to stop doing business with gun manufacturers and retailers that fail to adopt policies, like conducting background checks, to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands, becoming the first state to take such stringent action against the firearms industry.
The state will also apply pressure on major financial institutions, seeking information from banks that do business with New Jersey about their relationships and policies involving gun makers and sellers.
The state, which says it pays more than $1 billion in bank fees every year, could use the disclosure requirements to decide whether to continue doing business with financial firms.
The mixing of politics and policy has always been an incendiary mix and a line is often skirted — and sometimes crossed — between intelligent public policy making and political bullying. The courts will ultimately decide that issue.
I’m sure there are many other states and cities who will watch the progress of the NRA suit carefully.
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