LA Ordered To Pay $150K To the NRA After Judge Strikes Down Unlawful Anti-Gun Ordinance

Brittany M. Hughes | October 2, 2020
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The City of Los Angeles has been ordered to pay $150,000 in legal fees to the National Rifle Association after a judge shot down their ordinance that demanded businesses disclose whether they have ties to the NRA so the city could intentionally avoid doing businesses with them.

The Washington Free Beacon's Stephen Gutowski reports federal district court judge Stephen Wilson had ruled against the ordinance last December, saying that “the clear purpose of the disclosure is to undermine the NRA’s explicitly political speech,” and therefore had the “strong intent to suppress the speech of the NRA.”

"In this case, the text of the Ordinance, the Ordinance's legislative history, and the concurrent public statements made by the Ordinance’s primary legislative sponsor evince a strong intent to suppress the speech of the NRA," Wilson had determined. "Even though the Ordinance only forces disclosure of activity that may not be expressive, the clear purpose of the disclosure is to undermine the NRA’s explicitly political speech."

Now,  a federal court has ordered the city to reimburse the NRA’s nearly $150,000 in legal fees that they’d spent fighting the unlawful ordinance. 

MRCTV had previously reported in 2018 on the efforts of L.A. City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, who demanded that area businesses be forced by the city to disclose any business dealings they have with the NRA so the city could boycott these businesses. The ordinance was approved and put in place in April of 2019.

"It's important that we send a message as a city with an annual budget approaching $9 billion," O'Farrell said at the time, adding that “It's time to speak with one voice and call attention to the assault weapon epidemic.”

“Associations” with the NRA included any businesses that offered discounts to NRA members, including (at the time) multiple airlines as well as FedEx.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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