SF Supervisor Catherine Stefani unloaded on the National Rifle Association at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, saying, "The NRA has it coming to them, and I will do everything that I possibly can to call them out on what they are, which is a domestic terrorist organization."

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors considers a lot meaningless, symbolic, and sometimes hilariously stupid resolutions, like that one time they discussed a resolution to add more Grammy Award categories. But a resolution they passed last night is making national headlines and could help sway public sentiment in the mass shooting every day era. The Chronicle reports that the supervisors unanimously passed Stefani's resolution declaring the NRA a domestic terrorist organization, while urging cities nationwide to do the same.

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre, last seen in Beverly Hills spending $250,000 of his members’ dues on Cartier diamond cufflinks, has not yet commented. But the larger organization itself, freshly stung by Walmart’s cutting off handgun sales, said in a statement to KTVU, "This ludicrous stunt by the Board of Supervisors is an effort to distract from the real problems facing San Francisco, such as rampant homelessness, drug abuse and skyrocketing petty crime, to name a few. The NRA will continue working to protect the constitutional rights of all freedom-loving Americans."  

Sup. Stefani did not mince words in response. “The NRA exists to spread disinformation, and knowingly puts guns into the hands of those who would harm and terrorize us,” she told KTVU, noting that she wrote the resolution immediately after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shootings. “Then the next weekend we had Dayton, Ohio. We had El Paso, Texas. Now we've had Odessa, Texas, and people are dying every day in this country."

There is some arguable basis to calling the NRA a terrorist organization. The Department of Justice defines terrorist activity as using an “explosive, firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device (other than for mere personal monetary gain), with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property.”

The NRA did not as an organization carry out any mass shootings, just as Osama bin Laden did not himself fly planes into the World Trade Center. But the resolution says the NRA “through its advocacy has armed those individuals who would and have committed acts of terrorism."

This resolution could actually accomplish some manner of change, as it asks the city to “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.” That could impact the allocation of retirement investment funds and such, and provide a model for other cities to do the same. But more importantly it sticks that “terrorist” branding onto the NRA, at a time when they’re imperiled by financial problems, corruption allegations, and a weaker-than-ever hand in terms of outside money election  spending.  

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