L.A. Now Requires City Contractors to Disclose NRA Ties – Should More States Do the Same?

What’s the story?

• The Los Angeles City Council has passed a law that will require all companies seeking contracts with the city to disclose whether they have ties to the National Rifle Association.

What does the ordinance do?

• The ordinance requires contractors seeking contracts with the city to disclose any ties to the NRA.
• The ordinance does not ban NRA-linked contractors from doing business with the city.

What are both sides saying?

Anti-gun activists

• Council member Mitch O'Farrell sought the ordinance in the wake of recent mass shootings around the country. He said the NRA has “been a road block to gun safety reform at every level of government now for several decades.”

“Let’s take a look at who we’re doing businesses with who is doing business with the NRA,” said Margot Bennett, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence.

Pro-gun activists

• Attorneys for the NRA had said they would file a lawsuit if the ordinance passed, it violates the First Amendment and is “an unconstitutional effort to restrict and chill an individual’s right to associate and express their political beliefs.”
• “Politicians are free to disagree with the NRA’s pro-freedom, firearm safety, and self-reliance message, but they aren’t free to censor it — as this would do when NRA supporters drop their NRA memberships for fear of losing their livelihood from being on this blacklist,” NRA attorney Chuck Michel told The L.A. Times.

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

What do you think?

Should more states require NRA disclosure laws? Or is the L.A. ordinance “modern day McCarthyism”? Take action above and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / DmyTo)