Even before the #NeverAgain generation took to the streets in incredible numbers to March for our Lives, it was clear the National Rifle Association was losing the battle for public opinion.



A new poll shows more Americans now view the NRA negatively than positively, for the first time since 2000. Dozens of companies, including several major brands, have already cut ties with the organization.



Time for socially responsible investors and gun owners to divorce themselves from its extremism, too.

March for Our Lives 2018 -- Coverage from around New Jersey



Over the years, the NRA's policy and lobbying have come to reflect the priorities of deep-pocketed gun makers much more than regular members. The NRA is now a "de facto trade association," as the open government group Common Cause notes.



The gun industry opposes even sensible reforms, like expanded background checks, because it cuts into its sales. It's like Big Tobacco opposing age limits to buy cigarettes or health warnings.



But polls consistently show that about three in four NRA members support universal criminal background checks of anyone buying a gun - a policy the NRA is strictly against. They don't get much say, because the NRA is good at stifling internal dissent.



Meanwhile, gun makers get the benefit of being able to hide behind the shrillness of the NRA, which takes public pressure off of them.



No longer: America needs to stop gun manufacturers from pushing their interests under the guise of speaking for most rank-and-file gun owners.



The answer may be divestment, or the opposite: using investment to force reform.



BlackRock, the world's largest investor - and one of the biggest owners of gun manufacturers, because it holds so many index funds that happen to include them - has been dabbling in this. Its chairman, Larry Fink, says the firm is now starting to ask gun makers questions like, "What steps do you take to support the safe and responsible use of your products?"



Investors have the power to hold them to higher standards, even when Congress won't. They could pressure the manufacturers to support reforms like raising the minimum age for buying AR-15-style rifles, stop selling them altogether, or imposing better background checks.



Sensible gun owners also have every reason to support this, because they're being badly represented. Skilled hunters and sports shooters don't all reflexively agree with the inflammatory rhetoric and Second Amendment absolutism that decrees the solution to every problem is to arm everyone, everywhere.



When humorist Andy Borowitz writes, "N.R.A. Proposes Having Second Armed Teacher in Every Classroom to Stop First Armed Teacher from Misfiring," does it even sound like a spoof?



So circumvent the NRA. Stop letting the big-money gun makers speak for you.