The recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, has caused major companies, like as Delta Air Lines, MetLife and Enterprise Holdings, to stop relations with and end discounts for members of the National Rife Association (NRA). Social media users spurred these changes when they threatened to boycott companies who continue to have relations with the NRA.
About five million Americans are members of the NRA. All members are given benefits and discounts for banking, car rentals, health insurance and are part of a wine club.
Although major companies are discontinuing business with the NRA, the organization made it clear their members will not be affected by losing benefits.
“The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world,” the NRA said in a press release.
Michael Sances, a political science professor at the University of Memphis, said some people join interest groups when there are benefits involved, but losing those benefits could result in membership loss for the NRA because of losing ties with companies.
“This campaign not only potentially brings bad press on the NRA and raises awareness, but it also takes aim at the NRA’s membership,” Sances said.
Jamein Cunningham, an economics professor at the U of M, said the younger generation in the United States is a key factor in the companies’ decisions with the NRA.
“Companies are cutting ties with the NRA in response to recent backlash from a key consumer demographic group, mainly young millennials,” Cunningham said.
Eric Groenendyk, political science professor at the U of M, said the mass shooting in Florida was different because students organized a movement to not let an event like that occur again.
“What makes this mass shooting unique is that students are organizing, and a movement seems to be growing,” Groenendyk said. “As a result, there seems to be more political momentum in the wake of this tragedy compared to previous events.”
One of the students has made significant publicity with his activism. David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting is now an activist, and he is one of many people who started hashtags on Twitter to boycott companies connected to the NRA. Lately, FedEx is one of the major companies who has not pulled out from their relationship with the NRA, and the hashtag #boycottfedex is growing.
“So which companies use @FedEx the most?” Hogg tweeted. “We could pressure them to stop business until @FedEx ends their support for the NRA.”
FedEx released a statement Monday afternoon stating they would not pull their discounts for NRA members, as doing away with the discount would “discriminate” against certain political views.
“FedEx opposes assault rifles being in the hands of civilians,” the press release stated. “While we strongly support the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to own firearms subject to appropriate background checks, FedEx views assault rifles and large capacity magazines as an inherent potential danger to schools, workplaces and communities when such weapons are misused.”
The First National Bank of Omaha was the first of many to sever ties with the non-profit organization that advocates for gun rights. Delta Air Lines also released a statement of their cancellation of discounted rates on their website but said they still pull for the second amendment.
“Out of respect for our customers and employees on both sides, Delta has taken this action to refrain from entering this debate and focus on its business,” Delta said in a press release. “Delta continues to support the 2nd Amendment.”
