Delta and United Airlines have joined a growing chorus of US companies distancing themselves from the National Rifle Association in the wake of the latest school massacre in Florida.
The major airlines tweeted they are each ending discounted trips NRA members previously enjoyed and want the lobbying group to removed the airlines’ information from it’s website.
Petitions are circulating online targeting companies that offer discounts to NRA members on its website. #BoycottNRA was the second most trending topic on Twitter on Friday.
On Saturday United and Delta were trending.
Exodus: A growing number of US companies are distancing themselves from the National Rifle Association in the wake of the latest school massacre in Florida, Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre (pictured) spoke about the school shooting on Thursday
Members of the gun lobby have access to special offers from partner companies on its website, ranging from life insurance to wine clubs.
For a third consecutive day companies listed on the site have cut ties to the NRA as it aggressively resists calls for stricter gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
American companies have been publicly severing ties to the powerful gun-lobbying group since the shooting on February 14 where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 children and three school staffers in a brutal shooting spree with an AR-15 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The rental car company Hertz tweeted on Friday that it has notified the NRA that it is ending the lobby’s discount program with Hertz.
The rental car company Hertz tweeted on Friday that it has notified the NRA that it is ending the lobby’s discount program
Insurer Chubb Ltd. said Friday it is ending participation in the NRA’s gun-owner Carry Guard insurance program, but it provided notice three months ago
The insurance company MetLife Inc. discontinued its discount program with the NRA on Friday
First National Bank of Omaha, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks, announced that it would not renew a co-branded Visa credit-card with the NRA
The insurance company MetLife Inc. also discontinued its discount program with the NRA on Friday. The software company Symantec Corp., which makes Norton Antivirus technology, did the same.
National Rifle Association Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre said at the Conservative Political Action Conference that those advocating for stricter gun control are exploiting the Florida shooting
Insurer Chubb Ltd. said Friday it is ending participation in the NRA’s gun-owner Carry Guard insurance program, but it provided notice three months ago. The program that provided coverage for people involved in gun-related incidents or accidents had been under scrutiny by regulators over marketing issues.
Those defections arrived a day after the car rental company Enterprise Holdings, which also owns Alamo and National, said it was cutting off discounts for NRA members. First National Bank of Omaha, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks, announced that it would not renew a co-branded Visa credit-card with the NRA.
Nearly two dozen corporations nationwide offer incentives to NRA members, according to ThinkProgress.com, a news site owned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Amazon.com Inc and other online streaming platforms are also facing demands to drop the online video channel NRATV, featuring programming produced by the group.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, founded after 20 first-graders were shot and killed at a school in Connecticut in December 2012, sent letters to Apple Inc, AT&T Inc , Amazon, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Roku Inc on Friday, asking them to drop NRATV from their products. None of the companies immediately responded to requests for comment on the letters.
Twitter reacts: #BoycottNRA was the second most trending topic on Twitter
Comedian Tommy Campbell applauded the boycott, but called on politicians to follow suit
There was also plenty of backlash on Twitter in response to the NRA boycott
Some supports of the gun lobby rushed to join the NRA in response to the calls for a boycott
‘We have been just disgusted by NRATV since its beginning,’ Shannon Watts, founder of the Moms Demand Action group, told Reuters. ‘It really propagates dangerous misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric. It tries to pit Americans against one another, all in an attempt to further their agenda of selling guns.’
David Hogg, one of the outspoken student survivors of last week’s attack who launched the #NeverAgain anti-gun violence movement, said the students would target any company with ties to the NRA, in addition to lawmakers who accept donations.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in a blistering speech delivered on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that those advocating for stricter gun control are exploiting the Florida shooting which killed 17 people, mostly high-school students.
‘Evil walks among us and God help us if we don’t harden our schools and protect our kids,’ LaPierre said. ‘The whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely ridiculous.’
Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg who launched the #NeverAgain anti-gun violence movement, said the students would target any company with ties to the NRA
President Donald Trump has aligned himself with the NRA, suggesting some teachers could be armed so that they could fire on any attacker.
American corporations are moving in the other direction.
On Friday, a large Wall Street money management firm said that it wanted to engage with major weapons manufacturers about what comes next.
Blackrock Inc., which manages $6trillion in assets, has become one of the largest stakeholders gun manufacturers like Sturm Ruger & Co., American Outdoor Brands Corp. and Vista Outdoor Inc. through indirect investments.
The money is placed in index funds, so Blackrock cannot sell shares of individual companies within the index. Its fund clients invest in indexes that might contain companies like Ruger.
On Friday, spokesman Ed Sweeney said Blackrock will be ‘engaging with weapons manufacturers and distributors to understand their response to recent events.’
Blackrock, through indirect investments, holds a 16.18 percent stake in Sturm Ruger, an 11.91 per cent stake in Vista, and a 10.5 percent stake in American Outdoor, according to the data firm Factset.
Shares of gun companies mostly fell in trading Friday.