Big and Small, N.R.A. Boycott Efforts Come Together in Gun Debate
Students who survived the Parkland shooting, who have become vocal proponents of gun control —
and some of whom now have hundreds of thousands of social media followers — began pressuring specific companies to follow the bank’s lead.
Judith Pearson’s home in rural Minnesota is stocked with guns for hunting and recreational use, but
that didn’t stop her from venting her frustration with the National Rifle Association after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Ms. Pearson, a retired school principal, was irked by the group’s repeated efforts to preserve civilian access
to semiautomatic rifles, like the AR-15 the gunman used to kill 17 students and school staff members.
Some companies have resisted calls to sever business relationships with the N. R.A.
On Monday, FedEx said that while it disagreed with the N. R.A.’s policies on semiautomatic
firearms, it would continue to offer discounts to the group’s members
On Thursday, the First National Bank of Omaha, which issued the credit card, publicly confirmed its break from the N. R.A.
“Then the floodgates were open,” said Judd Legum, who founded ThinkProgress.
But the calls for a boycott remained vague until last week, when lists of companies linked to the N. R.A.
began tearing across social media.
