NRA to drop lawsuit over Los Angeles disclosure law

LOS ANGELES —  The National Rifle Association is dropping its lawsuit against Los Angeles after the city repealed a law that required would-be city contractors to disclose ties to the gun-rights group, according to a court filing Friday.

Both sides said they have agreed to an injunction permanently blocking enforcement of the law and asked a federal judge who temporarily blocked it to vacate a Feb. 25 trial date.

The law passed last year by the City Council required firms seeking city deals to disclose any NRA contracts or sponsorships with them or their subsidiaries.

Councilman Mitch O’Farrell pushed for the rules following a spate of mass shootings across the United States, including a November 2018 attack that killed 12 people at a bar in Thousand Oaks. He said at the time that the NRA had been a “roadblock to gun safety reform” for decades.

The NRA sued, arguing that the requirements violated the constitutional First Amendment right to free speech and association and the 14th Amendment right to equal protection.

In December, the NRA won a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ordinance. On Jan. 21, the City Council voted to repeal the law.

In the settlement filing, the NRA said it was satisfied that the city “cannot and shall not re-enact” the law or any similar measure.

The NRA won’t seek damages in the case. The city agreed to negotiate over how much it will pay toward the organization’s legal fees and costs.

The NRA also sued the city of San Francisco last year over a resolution by the Board of Supervisors that declared the group a “domestic terrorist organization.”

The NRA alleged the resolution, which had no legal weight, violated the group’s free speech rights. However, it withdrew the lawsuit in November.