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NRA Responds As Companies Continue To Sever Ties With The Organization
The #BoycottNRA movement continues to grow as Delta, United, Best Western and other companies stop discounts.
Following the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, companies are increasingly eliminating discounts for members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). The hashtag #BoycottNRA has circulated widely on social media, with gun legislation advocates putting pressure on companies to cut ties with the organization. The NRA has responded, likening it to the silencing of free speech.
"To those saying #DumpNRATV: "The #NRA has been the biggest defender of free speech. I find it interesting that those individuals who simultaneously preach about free speech want to silence the speech of the millions of people who make up NRA membership," said NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
Loesch, who appeared at a CNN Town Hall following the shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Maryland last Thursday. “Many in legacy media love mass shootings,” she said. “Crying white mothers are ratings gold.”
The NRA's Executive Vice President, Wayne LaPierre (seen above), said that gun law proponents are threatening the Second Amendment.
“They don’t care about our schoolchildren,” he said at CPAC, per as The Washington Post. “They want to make all of us less free.”
The NRA has come under criticism for moving blame from guns and onto mental illness and other factors following the shootings. Some have pointed out that the powerful group donated $31 million to Donald Trump's election and millions to conservative politicians, who represent its agenda in government.
Parkland student, Cameron Kasky, 17, asked Florida Senator Marco Rubio at a CNN Town Hall meeting last week if he'd refuse to accept further campaign donations from the NRA. He hesitated and said that he would continue to accept its money.
Many companies offered discounts to NRA members. Since the boycott, companies have publicly chosen to cut ties with the NRA include Delta Air Lines and United Air Lines. MetLife ended its NRA member discount. Hotel chains Best Western and Wyndham Hotels announced that they won't be affiliated with the organization any more.
"Delta is reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website," the company tweeted.
The NRA tweeted that the loss of discounts doesn't faze the organization.
"Let it be absolutely clear. 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."
Some companies have continued to work with the NRA. FedEx for example, offers up to 26% off shipping services for members.
You can follow the NRA boycott here.
[Photo: Getty Images]
