As Jeff Bezos’s decision to bestow one North American city with the capitalist honor of hosting Amazon’s second headquarters hangs in the balance, Georgia Republicans are making Atlanta, which is on the short list of the 20 metro areas Amazon is still vetting, as unappealing as possible for the e-commerce giant. Their efforts, it turns out, have nothing to do with Amazon, and everything to do with the punitive measures the state’s lawmakers have taken against Delta Air Lines, one of the many companies that have decided to end promotional discounts for members of the National Rifle Association in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Georgia’s response to Delta for severing a relatively superficial deal with the N.R.A. is a significant blow: the bill lawmakers approved on Thursday strips out a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel for the airline, which is one of Georgia’s largest employers. The decision to remove the perk amid a broader tax-relief bill is considered one of the more severe punishments leveled at corporations that have taken the “corporate social responsibility” approach to their ties with the N.R.A.—United, North American Van Lines, Hertz, and Metlife have all likewise terminated their relationships with the gun-lobbying group.

But the state’s decision to punish Delta may give Bezos pause. Though Atlanta is a promising locale for Amazon’s HQ2, as it’s being called—the city has access to the world’s busiest airport, and a relatively affordable cost of living—its political environment may make Bezos think twice before deciding to break ground on a deal that could be worth 50,000 jobs and a $5 billion regional investment. (Amazon itself has come under pressure from gun-control activists. Via the #StopNRAmazon hashtag on Twitter, hundreds are threatening to cancel their $99-per-year Amazon Prime memberships if the e-commerce company doesn’t part ways with N.R.A. TV, a free online channel hosted by the N.R.A. and available on many tech companies’ streaming services.)

Amazon reportedly received more than 200 proposals from 54 states, provinces, districts, and territories in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada before selecting its finalists. Such attention to detail almost certainly means Amazon is keeping close tabs on the remaining contenders. Georgia’s hasty reaction, say experts, could knock Atlanta out of the running. “It signals to Amazon that politicians in Georgia are more concerned about scoring points with constituents sympathetic to a particular social view than they are about whatever business or economic rationale they may have to direct benefits to a specific firm,” Brian Richter, an assistant professor of business, government, and society at the McCombs School of Business told CNN this week. Joseph Parilla, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, added that the tech giant will likely take into account whether a city will prove appealing to the type of workforce it’s hoping to draw. “They will not want to operate in a cultural or political climate that may hinder attracting a diverse workforce,” he said.