LA City Council Passes a New Ordinance Requiring Companies to Publicly Disclose NRA Ties

Brittany M. Hughes | February 13, 2019
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In the latest move against guns and those who legally own them, the Los Angeles city council voted unanimously (minus the one councilman who wasn’t there) to pass a new ordinance requiring all companies who have contracts within L.A. to publicly disclose whether they have any ties with the National Rifle Association.

“Prospective contractors now must disclose under affidavit any contracts or sponsorships they or their subsidiaries have with the NRA,” the L.A. Times reports. “The city has similar policies about companies involved in the construction of President Trump’s proposed border wall and over the profits from slavery.

Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who introduced the ordinance, said he blames the NRA for recent mass shootings, accusing the six-million-member gun rights group of being “a road block to gun safety reform at every level of government now for several decades."

The NRA has already threatened to sue if the ordinance passed on the grounds that the measure violates the First Amendment and is “an unconstitutional effort to restrict and chill an individual’s right to associate and express their political beliefs,” the L.A. Times adds. Chuck Michel, an attorney for the NRA, said the ordinance effectively censors pro-gun citizens who own businesses by threatening to “blacklist” them for having ties to the NRA, which could cause many to drop their NRA memberships out of fear.

“This is modern day McCarthyism, and my clients are confident no judge will let it stand,” Michel told The Times.

(Cover Photo: Lorie Shaull)

 

 

 

 

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