(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Los AngelesĀ must pay theĀ National Rifle AssociationĀ $150,000 in damages after a federal court ruled the city violated the organizationās First Amendment rights,Ā the Washington Free Beacon reported.
A federal judge ordered the payment about 10 months after he decided the case in favor of the NRA.
The ruling came in response to a Los Angeles city resolution in April 2019 that declared the NRA a ādomestic terrorist organizationā and an ordinance that punished city contractors who associated with the Second Amendment advocacy group.
When passing the ordinance, the Los Angeles City Council determined that awarding contracts to NRA-supporting groups would undermine its āefforts to legislate and promote gun safety.ā
The NRA quickly responded with a lawsuit in April, calling the ordinance an āunconstitutional ideological litmus test for independent contractors, requiring that they disclose information about their political beliefs and associations,ā the Free Beacon reported.
Central California District Court judge Stephen Wilson in December 2019 ruled that the ordinance, by punishing businesses that associate with a group dedicated to defending the Constitution, violated the First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly.
āIn this case, the text of the Ordinance, the Ordinanceās legislative history, and the concurrent public statements made by the Ordinanceās primary legislative sponsor evince a strong intent to suppress the speech of the NRA,ā Wilson wrote in his opinion.
San Francisco passed a similar ordinance, but Democratic Mayor London Breed ā apparently realizing the ordinanceās lack of wisdom ā told city employees not to consider whether a business supports the NRA in awarding contracts, the Free Beacon reported.
The Los Angeles City Council said in February that it would repeal the unconstitutional ordinance and tell contractors that their support for the NRA could remain confidential.