Companies including Best Western, Hertz and Wyndham end affiliation after #BoycottNRA campaign gains momentum on social media

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

US 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.

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On Friday, Hertz announced it was severing ties with the NRA. The car rental firm had offered discounts to NRA members.

Hertz (@Hertz) We have notified the NRA that we are ending the NRA’s rental car discount program with Hertz.

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

The 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. The 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 NRA 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 stop its relationship with the NRA.

David Hogg (@davidhogg111) Hey @FedEx why do you support the NRA?

Wyndham “is no longer affiliated with the NRA”, the hotel group said on Twitter. In an email to the Guardian, the chain said it had 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.