Getty Images

If the city of Atlanta still has a chance of winning the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes over 19 other finalist metro areas, Georgia lawmakers are doing everything in their power to prevent it from happening. The latest was the decision on Thursday by Georgia lawmakers to pull a tax break for Delta Air Lines, which calls Atlanta home, after Delta was among the first major corporations to end discounts for NRA members. Amazon is closing in on its search for a second headquarters, and a bill that punishes a company for its political leanings by repealing a tax break probably won't sit well with the socially progressive Amazon as it compares the pitches, including tax incentives, that the Amazon HQ2 cities and states have put together. Delta announced on Saturday it would no longer give discounts to NRA members travelling to Dallas in May for the organization's annual meeting. The Georgia tax bill pulls a jet-fuel exemption for Delta, valued at $50 million. The move by Georgia's statehouse was not a complete surprise as earlier in the week Casey Cagle, Georgia's lieutenant governor who presides over Georgia's Senate, said in a tweet he would "kill any tax legislation" that helps Delta unless the company continues ties with the NRA. Delta said on Friday that it is not backing down, with its CEO saying "its values are not for sale."

The current fight between Delta and its home state is occurring against the novel backdrop of many corporations speaking up about gun control for the first time. But at the same time, a state exacting punishment against a corporation's political speech by repealing an existing tax break comes at a time of intense competition between states to attract major employers. In the past, states have caved to corporations when a political furor has erupted. In 1993 a Texas county north of Austin took issue with Apple's policy of giving health benefits to same-sex couples, but the county relented and gave the tech giant tax breaks. Salesforce used its pull in Indiana to soften the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015.

Amazon has a history of speaking out