DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .
An article from Think Progress
For more than a decade, the First National Bank of Omaha has offered special branded Visa cards to National Rifle Association members to support the group. On Thursday, following two days of public pressure, the bank announced it “will not renew its contract” with the NRA.
Click on image to enlarge
(Note: Since this image was first published by Think Progress, most of the corporations have ended their relationship.)
The bank confirmed, in a tweet, that “customer feedback caused” the decision:
On Tuesday, ThinkProgress reported that First National Bank was one of at least 22 corporations that the NRA says offer incentives to NRA members. The bank and its parent company did not respond to repeated inquires about whether last week’s horrific mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, would cause it to reconsider its relationship with the group leading the charge to oppose gun violence prevention efforts.
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But less than 24 hours later, ThinkProgress spotted that the website advertising the “official credit card of the NRA” had mysteriously vanished, with an error message appearing in its place.
Neither the bank nor Visa responded to repeated ThinkProgress inquiries about the disappearance, but the bank did respond on Twitter, to many outraged customers, many of whom threatened to cancel their accounts because of the relationship.
First National Bank is the first of the corporations to officially end its relationship with the NRA in the aftermath of Parkland.
There are still at least 21 corporations with ongoing relationships with the NRA.
Editor’s note: Since this article was published, a number of these other corporations have stopped their relationship with the NRA, including Enterprise, Alamo and National, as well as Hertz and Avis car rentals. However, the NRA continues its own publicity, assailing the media and calling for the arming of teachers, a position supported by President Trump.