Tuesday, February 27, 2018

The NRA just got some really bad news

Since Thursday, more than 20 companies have dumped the NRA, but there are three dozen more that still have direct financial relationships with the organization—which means that we have to keep building on the #BoycottTheNRA momentum.

Dear MoveOn member,

Since Thursday, more than 25 companies have dumped the NRA, but there are three dozen more that still have direct financial relationships with the organization—which means that we have to keep building on the #BoycottTheNRA momentum.1

Will you chip in $3 now to help keep the pressure on?

Yes, I'm in. I'll chip in right now to help stand up to the NRA and confront the epidemic of gun violence in America.

First National Bank was the first company to announce that it would stop doing business with the NRA, after students and others from coast to coast, including countless MoveOn members inspired by the extraordinary truth-telling and courage of the Parkland survivors, took to social media and their phones to pressure the company. MoveOn members alone made 4,450 phone calls in less than 24 hours to pressure First National Bank. In making its announcement, the company, which is the largest privately owned bank in the country and had a co-branded Visa credit card with the NRA, explained, "Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA."2

The list of companies that have since cut ties with the NRA include major airlines, hotels, car companies, insurers, and security companies, including MetLife, United Airlines, and Hertz.3

All the corporations abandoning the NRA isn't just a public relations embarrassment for the gun lobby. It goes to the heart of their ability to recruit and retain members, and it's why the NRA lashed out at its former corporate partners this weekend, accusing them of "political and civic cowardice."4

Right on the organization's own website, the #2 reason why they say people should join the NRA is for member discounts on every purchase.5 So much for that.

But we can't lose this momentum. We need to keep the heat on and force FedEx, Amazon, Apple, Google, and more than 30 other companies to stop propping up the NRA.

Click here to chip in $3—or whatever you can afford—now to stand up to the NRA and confront the epidemic of gun violence in America.

Before the Parkland massacre, the NRA was already completely out of step with Americans and with the majority of gun owners in its rejection of commonsense limits on guns and even research on gun violence.6 And now support for stricter gun laws "has spiked to the highest level since 1993," according to a major new CNN poll.7 The poll concludes that the Parkland shooting "has shifted public opinion on gun laws in a way other recent mass shootings have not."8

As the backlash against the NRA grows, we're even starting to see some Republican governors and members of Congress coming out in favor of everything from an assault weapons ban to universal background checks to raising the age limit on gun purchases, despite the NRA's fervent opposition to those policies.9

MoveOn members have a history of confronting the NRA with grassroots activism—and winning. In 2015, after the massacre in Oregon, we organized tens of thousands of "gun owners for gun control" and brought a group of these gun owners to Washington, D.C. to meet with the president and lawmakers. Several of these MoveOn members were then on stage with President Obama several months later when he signed his most significant executive action against gun violence. After the Las Vegas massacre, we helped pressure the Democratic Party to officially reject funds from gun manufacturers and their lobbyists. And after the violence in Virginia, we endorsed a slate of candidates who supported sensible gun laws—and who beat NRA-backed candidates up and down the ballot.

MoveOn is committed to doing whatever it takes to take down the NRA, so we can get weapons of war out of our schools and off of our streets and keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. With your support, we'll increase pressure on companies that still have financial ties to the NRA. And we'll boost organizing for the student-led marches and walkouts in March and April by recruiting MoveOn's millions of members and using MoveOn's social media megaphone to promote the events in Washington, D.C., and in communities across the country. Will you help out by chipping in now?

Yes, I'm in. I'll chip in now to help stand up to the NRA and confront the epidemic of gun violence in America.

–Michael, Emma, Justin, Seth, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Companies - Drain the NRA," Drain the NRA, last accessed February 27, 2018
 
2. "NRA-branded Visa card dropped by First National Bank of Omaha," USA Today, February 22, 2018
 
3. "These Companies Are Done With the NRA," Mother Jones, February 24, 2018
 
4. "NRA calls companies' Florida shooting boycott 'political and civic cowardice,'" The Guardian, February 24, 2018
 
5. "5 Reasons You (and Your Friends) Should Join the NRA Today," NRA, May 4, 2016
 
6. "New Poll: Gun Owners See the NRA as Out of Touch," Giffords PAC, April 25, 2017
 
7. "CNN Poll: Seven in 10 favor tighter gun laws in wake of Parkland shooting," CNN, February 25, 2018
 
8. Ibid.
 
9. "The Daily 202: Trump is driving a surge in public support for stricter gun laws since Florida," The Washington PostFebruary 26, 2018

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on February 27th, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

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