United and Delta End Corporate Relationship With NRA

The carriers have pulled their support for the association in the wake of the fallout from the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Both Delta and United have announced their decision via Twitter. The NRA has said it is not phased by the loss of support.

In the aftermath of the February 14^th shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have announced that they are ending their corporate relationships with the National Rifle Association (NRA), Reuters reports.

The two carriers have followed a number of other major brands in cutting ties with the association, a withdrawal of support that, the news agency reports, “began after the NRA launched a counter-offensive against a student-led campaign for tighter U.S. gun laws.”

“United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting and we are asking that the NRA remove our information from their website,” announced the carrier in a tweet.

Delta, which was contracted to provide discounted rates for NRA members traveling to the association’s 2018 annual meeting, issued a message of a similar vein. Posting on Twitter , Delta announced that it “is reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website.”

In a further statement, Delta added, “Delta’s decision reflects the airline’s neutral status in the current national debate over gun control amid recent school shootings. Out of respect for our customers and employees on both sides, Delta has taken this action to refrain from entering this debate and focus on its business.”

Commenting on the loss of corporate sponsorship in an official statement, the NRA said, “In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve … The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world.”

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