Business Backers Bail on NRA

[Crossroads Inc.]

in the two weeks since the shootings in Florida, over Two Dozen Companies have cut ties with the NRA and stopped providing benefits or offering backing. Story clipped from NPR

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The NRA is feeling some financial consequences after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. As NPR's Amy Held reports, more than a dozen companies have said they are now cutting ties with the National Rifle Association.

AMY HELD, BYLINE: First National Bank of Omaha got the ball rolling on Thursday. A Twitter user demanded the bank end its relationship with the NRA, and the bank responded, saying customer feedback had moved it to not renew its NRA Visa card contract. Then more major national brands hopped onboard - rental car companies Enterprise and Hertz, airlines Delta and United, and insurance company MetLife all said they would no longer offer discounts to NRA members.

SHANNON WATTS: This is the first time we have seen companies publicly turn against the NRA in such a rapid amount of time and in such a huge amount of numbers.

HELD: Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, has been among those turning up the Twitter heat on companies. She says going after their bottom line is a powerful tool.

WATTS: That's capitalism. You can show companies you want them to reject a toxic, dangerous, deadly organization.

HELD: Of course, while many social media users applauded the companies for severing NRA ties, supporters of the group said they would in turn be boycotting the companies. Professor Maurice Schweitzer of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School focuses on emotions and decision making. He says we're in a moment of raw trauma that won't last. We've seen other mass shootings that have spurred campaigns and boycotts in the past and yet, he says, something has changed in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting.

MAURICE SCHWEITZER: There are more people that are activated and agitated and upset about the NRA's influence.

HELD: In a statement, the NRA called the company's moves a shameful display of political and civic cowardice that will not scare nor distract a single NRA member. Amy Held, NPR News.

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I love this, while I am still jaded as fuck and hold about a 0.01% chance of meaningful legislation happening. If nothing else I can feel a firm FUCK YOU to the NRA with business jumping ship.

[Simon_Jester]

If the NRA gets significantly weaker, their ability to influence elections may decline enough to cause a gradual change. But it'd take a lot for that to happen.

[Civil War Man]

Among those companies was Delta Airlines, and Georgia's Lieutenant Governor responded to Delta's announcement by threatening to kill a planned tax break for the airline unless they immediately reinstate discounts for NRA members.

Georgia's lieutenant governor has threatened to block a proposed tax break for Delta Air Lines unless the Atlanta-based carrier restores a discount program for National Rifle Association members that was pulled in the wake of the shooting in Parkland, Fla., earlier this month.

In the latest fallout from the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people, Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he would "kill" legislation to give the airline a sales tax exemption on jet fuel "unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with" the powerful gun-rights advocacy group.

"Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back," Cagle said.

In an earlier tweet, Cagle — who has earned an "A+" rating from the NRA every year since he assumed elected office and has been endorsed by the group – criticized corporations who cut ties with the NRA, calling on them instead to "donate a portion of [their] profits to mental health treatments and school safety initiatives."

Cagle is a leading candidate to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal.

In a statement on Saturday, Delta said it was "reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program."

As The Associated Press notes:

"Cagle's comments come as Delta, one of the Georgia's largest employers, appeared close to convincing lawmakers to restore a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta would be the prime beneficiary of the tax cut.

The proposed exemption had been part of Deal's larger tax overhaul, which has passed the House and awaits Senate input."

United Airlines made a similar announcement on the same day as Delta.

The airline is among numerous high-profile companies to cut discounts from NRA members in recent days, including car rental companies such as Alamo, Avis, Enterprise, Hertz and First National Bank, Symantec, MetLife and others. Meanwhile, the hashtag #boycottNRA has been trending.

According to the AP:

"Cagle was not alone in his push to punish the airline, and the issue appeared poised to become part of the upcoming gubernatorial race in the gun-friendly state.

Sen. Michael Williams, another Republican candidate for governor who had opposed the Delta tax cut before the NRA controversy, praised Cagle's statement, saying his political rival 'is feeling the pressure that we are putting on him.' He applauded Cagle for listening to what he says is the 'vast majority' of Republican senators who now want to quash the proposed jet fuel tax cut."

[The Romulan Republic]

Its good that these companies are cutting ties, though a part of me thinks that it'll just make the NRA more reliant on Russian money (they're currently being investigated for allegedly funneling Russian money to the Donald during the election).

The fuck in Georgia just shows the emptiness of Republican rhetoric on freedom and business. Yeah, corporations should be unregulated, taxes should be abolished and free speech rights should be absolute- until a company doesn't follow the Trump Party line. Then we'll use government power and taxation to coerce them into obedience. But this shit is nothing new- the South believed in "State's Rights" as long as they favored slavery. They were quite happy to impose slavery on free states when they had the power to do so.

Frankly, I hope Mueller turns up something that will allow the NRA to be treated as an organized crime syndicate (even if I know that's unlikely). It isn't a gun rights organization, really. It is the militia of the Trump/Republican Party.

[Crossroads Inc.]

There is no way the NRA can ever become more moderate so the only way any headway can ever be made is basically to slowly reduce their power and this is the first long step toward doing that.

[Khaat]

This will be the only way to weaken the extremist in charge of the NRA, even though the average member is in favor of the very things the leadership campaigns against. If the moderates in the NRA can take it back from the kooks, the business relationships can always be re-evaluated.

[Rogue 9]

There is no way the NRA can ever become more moderate so the only way any headway can ever be made is basically to slowly reduce their power and this is the first long step toward doing that.

A reversal of the Revolt at Cincinnati could do it. The current crop of leaders of the NRA came to power at the 1977 annual convention by exploiting a bunch of arcane bylaws to get one of their own named executive vice president, and the rest is history. One imagines they likely changed the bylaws to prevent something similar from happening to them, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility for it to happen again.

[TheFeniX]

The fuck in Georgia just shows the emptiness of Republican rhetoric on freedom and business. Yeah, corporations should be unregulated, taxes should be abolished and free speech rights should be absolute- until a company doesn't follow the Trump Party line. Then we'll use government power and taxation to coerce them into obedience. But this shit is nothing new- the South believed in "State's Rights" as long as they favored slavery. They were quite happy to impose slavery on free states when they had the power to do so.

Eh, I'm kind of torn here. Anything that hurts the NRA is fine by me, but I have a hard time saying this man isn't representing his electorate. They won't give discounts to NRA members, those members helped get him into office, so he doesn't give a tax break to that company anymore. Now, if he was fining them or holding up permits, etc, based on their political leaning, sure yea: burn him.

But I think about...... what if Texas Instruments stopped giving discounts to teachers because an association of them was actively fighting against the NRA due to all this bullshit? So, the Texas LG says "all your tax breaks are now gone." Do you still have a problem with it? Because I don't. Incentives are different than punishments IMO. Though that is really just my opinion here, I don't know if I could even back it up.

[Enigma]

Among those companies was Delta Airlines, and Georgia's Lieutenant Governor responded to Delta's announcement by threatening to kill a planned tax break for the airline unless they immediately reinstate discounts for NRA members.

<snip>

Delta has been courted by a few states if Georgia goes ahead with their threat. Georgia goes through with it and they'll lose jobs as Delta goes elsewhere.

[Beowulf]

Among those companies was Delta Airlines, and Georgia's Lieutenant Governor responded to Delta's announcement by threatening to kill a planned tax break for the airline unless they immediately reinstate discounts for NRA members.

<snip>

Delta has been courted by a few states if Georgia goes ahead with their threat. Georgia goes through with it and they'll lose jobs as Delta goes elsewhere.

Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta is one of the world's busiest airports, in large part due to the fact that it's the Delta hub. I don't know if Delta can actually pack up and move without spending far more than that $40 million per year.

[Solauren]

Could Delta set up several 'sub hubs' instead of having one main hub?

[Gaidin]

Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta is one of the world's busiest airports, in large part due to the fact that it's the Delta hub. I don't know if Delta can actually pack up and move without spending far more than that $40 million per year.

They left Cincinnati for less 10-15 years ago. And right now about 3/4 of that airport is still useless with airfare relatively tripled.

[TimothyC]

Could Delta set up several 'sub hubs' instead of having one main hub?

No. Hartsfield-Jackson is not only Delta's largest hub, but the largest airline hub in the world, and the main support facility for Delta.

[MKSheppard]

A reversal of the Revolt at Cincinnati could do it. The current crop of leaders of the NRA came to power at the 1977 annual convention by exploiting a bunch of arcane bylaws to get one of their own named executive vice president, and the rest is history. One imagines they likely changed the bylaws to prevent something similar from happening to them, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility for it to happen again.

There's already a counter-revolt going on. The NRA changed the bylaws last year to make it much harder to elect someone to the board of directors; in response to a grass roots campaign on gun boards to elect people who actually care about firearms rights.

Currently, there's a campaign to get Adam Kraut and Tim Knight on board it -- I voted for them in the recent ballot.

http://www.knight4nra.com/

http://www.adamkraut.com/

[MKSheppard]

The current crop of leaders of the NRA came to power at the 1977 annual convention by exploiting a bunch of arcane bylaws to get one of their own named executive vice president, and the rest is history.

Wayne "Video Games are the Debbil" LaPierre wasn't EVP until 1991 -- he didn't even join the NRA until 1977 -- as a minor aide to the new NRA leader, Harlon Carter.

I'd have to say that Wayne "Socialists are coming for your guns" has been a remarkably shitty leader, compared to Harlon "Gun deaths are the price of freedom" Carter, who did manage to get portions of the 1968 GCA repealed in 1986.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM FOR HANDGUN OWNERS
March 31, 1984

To the Editor:

Harlon B. Carter, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, did not have to take out an advertisement on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times (March 16) to make known his beliefs about handguns and ''The Price of Freedom.'' His views on the subject are well-documented.

In 1975, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Representative George E. Danielson asked Harlon Carter the following question:

''So therefore you would rather allow those convicted violent felons, mentally deranged people, violently addicted to narcotics people to have guns, rather than to have the screening process for the honest people like yourselves. Is that correct?''

Mr. Carter's response: ''A price we pay for freedom.''

Clearly, Harlon Carter is willing to allow our nation to suffer any outrage, any tragedy, in order to avoid passage of reasonable legislation to keep handguns out of the wrong hands.

BARBARA LAUTMAN
Washington, March 21, 1984
The writer is communications director of Handgun Control, Inc.