Six companies dump the NRA in just 24 hours

As teenage school shooting survivors channeled their anger into a national movement, #BoycottNRA exploded across Twitter this week, and companies that once partnered with the National Rifle Association pulled out one by one.

It started with First National Bank of Omaha on Thursday night, which canceled their NRA-branded Visa cards. This was followed by rental car conglomerate Enterprise Holdings, which revoked its NRA member discounts for Enterprise, National, and Alamo.

On Friday, the list grew longer as the hashtag started to blow up.

Symantec, the security company that sells Norton Antivirus and LifeLock identify theft protection, terminated its NRA member discount. Soon after, Chubb, a casualty insurance company, announced that it had stopped underwriting NRA insurance policies.

MetLife announced it was ending its discount program. Then Hertz followed the lead of Enterprise and canceled its car rental partnership.

Many of the NRA’s partners, as documented by ThinkProgress, still remain. But the pressure is not letting up.

And the loss of these companies could be a serious blow. The NRA, much like AARP or AAA, uses corporate partnerships like these to get people to join and pay dues, and the perks are often attractive. For example, some of the rental car discounts were up to 25 percent off.

The NRA has drawn nationwide outrage for its response to the Parkland shooting. The group came out against raising the age limit to buy assault weapons, a measure so basic even Republicans are considering it.

And NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch did the group no favors with her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she claimed that “many in legacy media love mass shootings” because “crying white mothers are ratings gold.”

Some NRA members, including veterans, are now shredding their memberships out of disgust with how the group has tried to cram guns into our communities and our classrooms.

The years of empty words, deflection, and acceptance of gun violence as normal are over. The conversation has finally shifted, and it is time to hold accountable the extremist group that has allowed this bloodshed.