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Rental Car Companies Completely Cut Ties With NRA Amid Gun Control Debate

February 25, 2018 19:03·
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After an AR-15-style rifle was used to murder 17 people at a Florida high school last week, the company said in a statement Saturday that it will "examine what we can do to help end the tragedy of mass shootings".

Two major airlines - United Airlines and Delta - said Saturday that they are notifying the National Rifle Association that they will no longer offer discounted rates for NRA members in the latest display of corporate backlash to the pro-gun organization. Additionally, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, formed after the December 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting that killed 20 first-graders, sent letters to Apple Inc, AT&T Inc, Amazon, Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) division and Roku Inc, asking them to drop NRA TV from their products. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland is clearly a good school; its students are smart and well-versed in Civics 101.

Gun Owners of America issued an alert earlier this week urging its 1.5 million members to call the White House and "Tell Trump to OPPOSE All Gun Control!". In 2015, 47 percent of respondents supported stricter measures.

Delta and United Airlines, the country's top airlines, announced Saturday that members of the gun group will no longer get discounted tickets.

This is the leading program for response to violent critical incidents, including active shooter, violent intruder, mass shooting, terrorism, workplace violence and other unexpected occurrences.

Similarly, insurance giant MetLife is ending its discount program for NRA members. A bank spokesman declined to comment.

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"We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from its website", Delta said in a written statement. "So you should think about cutting ties with the @NRA, otherwise; several of us who use you guys can and will make sure our business goes elsewhere.#BoycottNRA", California father, Bill Singleton, tweeted.

Gene Grabowski, a partner at crisis communications firm KGlobal, says the movement is gaining momentum. And while "hashtag activism" has been criticized in the past as the lazy person's tool, brands have been uncharacteristically responsive on social media this week as calls for boycotts have gotten significantly louder .

For Watts, targeting companies is a way to pressure Washington and effect broader change.

SimpliSafe - a home security systems maker - said in a statement issued Friday that it has "discontinued our existing relationship with the NRA", though it did not specify when the decision was made. The group's strategy might be effective in the short-term but less sustainable as protests gain steam and brands back away, he says. They can fire nearly as quickly, use similar ammunition and do just as much damage, so it seems painfully clear that the loose regulations of high-powered, rapid-fire weapons in the USA makes these tragedies likely to happen again and again.

This time, the shift among corporations appears to be more widespread.

Trump has been proposing a growing list of ideas, including more stringent background checks for gun buyers, reopening some mental institutions to hold potential killers and banning "bump stock" devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic machine guns.

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