Yesterday the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously declared that the National Rifle Association is a “domestic terrorist organization,” because words no longer have any meaning. Try to follow the reasoning of Resolution 190841:
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice defines terrorist activity, in part, as, “The use of any…explosive, firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device, with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property;” and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice further includes any individual or member of an organization commits an act that the actor knows, or reasonably should know, affords material support, including communications, funds, weapons, or training to any individual has committed or plans to commit a terrorist act, and
WHEREAS, The National Rifle Association musters its considerable wealth and
organizational strength to promote gun ownership and incite gun owners to acts of violence, andWHEREAS, 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; andWHEREAS, 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; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco intends to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization…
The resolution does not mention any evidence that the NRA “incite[s] gun owners to acts of violence,” but this quote from Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who introduced the resolution, gives you an idea of what she and her colleagues may have had in mind: “When they use phrases like, ‘I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands’ on bumper stickers, they are saying reasoned debate about public safety should be met with violence.”
That is not what they are saying. Even on a literal level, the slogan means that the person affixing it to his bumper is ready to forcibly resist any forcible attempt to deprive him of his fundamental right to armed self-defense. More realistically, it is a hyperbolic way of saying the Second Amendment is really important to that person. It does not mean he is ready to shoot Catherine Stefani for advocating gun control. Nor should Stefani interpret the Gadsden Flag as a threat to sic rattlesnakes on her, or New Hampshire’s state motto as an incitement to violent revolution.
Stefani, of course, is not threatening her political opponents with violence; she is too civilized for that. Instead, she is arguing that anyone who disagrees with her about gun control should be treated as a pariah and a murderous criminal, on par with members of the Ku Klux Klan. That position is required by her belief in “reasoned debate about public safety.”
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