Companies Are Cutting Ties With the NRA Amid Growing Boycott Calls

By Dominic Rushe, Guardian UK

23 February 18

Best Western and Wyndham say they are no longer affiliated

S companies are distancing themselves from the National Rifle Association as the gun lobby comes under increasing pressure following the mass shooting in Florida last week.

Best Western and Wyndham Hotels, which had offered discounts to NRA members, confirmed this week that they have cut ties with the group after a social media campaign using the hashtag #BoycottNRA targeted them and others.

Insurer Chubb has also dropped cover for NRA Carry Guard insurance, which insures gun owners for legal and other costs if they shoot someone and claim self-defense. Pressure group Everytown for Gun Safety, which has been pressing for Chubb to end the coverage for months, applauded the move.

John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president, said: “For years, the NRA has pushed to allow guns for anyone, anywhere, anytime – no questions asked. With Carry Guard, the NRA has figured out how to profit from gun owners who are concerned about being accused of murder. Carry Guard is a danger to the American public, pure and simple.”

Membership of the gun lobby comes with discounts on goods and services including car rentals, hotels, home insurance and wine. But the companies that provide those services are coming under increasing pressure to step back after the Parkland shooting, which claimed 17 lives.

On Friday, one of the survivors of the shooting, 17-year-old David Hogg, who has become a powerful voice in the push for stricter gun laws, joined the debate and urged FedEx to sever ties with the NRA.

Wyndham “is no longer affiliated with the NRA”, the hotel group told people on Twitter. In an email to the Guardian, the chain said it ended its relationship “late last year”.

Best Western, which has recently offered perks to NRA members, tweeted that it “does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association”.

Other companies that have announced they have severed ties include Enterprise Rent–A–Car, which owns Enterprise, Alamo and National, and First National Bank of Omaha, which announced it would end a Visa credit card it offered with NRA branding.

The moves are putting pressure on other corporations that maintain ties with the NRA. On Twitter, people using the hashtag #StopNRAmazon are calling on Amazon to drop the NRA’s video channel from its streaming service.

Other companies that have deals with the NRA, including Avis and Hertz, are also being pressured to end their ties.