Sheriff issues pro-NRA boycott
BUTLER, Pa. — A Western Pennsylvania sheriff has issued an order within his department to not conduct county sheriff business with any of the corporations that have decided to cut ties with members of the National Rifle Association.
Sheriff Michael Slupe’s order, released April 3, read as follows: “Though I cannot dictate which companies you utilize in your personal life, I can and am going to dictate which companies the Butler County Sheriff’s Office will not use.
“When making arrangements for any extradition or stay over that you are scheduling, the below companies will not be permitted to be used: “Airlines: Delta and United “Hotels: Wyndam Group of Hotels, which includes: Baymont Inn & Suites, Days Inn, Dolce Hotels & Resorts, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Microtel Inn & Suites, and Ramada.
“Rental Vehicles: Enterprise Holdings, which includes Enterprise, National, and Alamo. Also not permitted to use is Avis and Hertz.
“These companies made the choice to boycott the NRA for whatever their reason(s) are, so, I am making the choice not to support them.”
On the corporate response of punishing NRA members in their affiliate programs after the Parkland, Fla, high school mass shooting, Slupe said: “I believe it is important to send a message as a department that we support the members of our community that are members of the NRA that have had nothing to do with any of the shootings, yet they are the face of the blame in the eyes of corporate America.”
To date, Slupe has received no complaints from his constituents or his deputies.
He did put an asterisk in his order that says if the hotels are independently owned, like the Days Inn in Butler, they will not be part of the boycott.
In the aftermath of mass shootings in this country, the pattern of behavior has been grass-roots activists demanding gun control laws and gun rights groups including the NRA responding with reasons why they oppose gun control laws.
After the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February, student survivors responded with a call for a movement and boycotts, resulting in rallies across the country one month later, several retailers introducing restrictions on gun sales at their stores, and other companies such as Delta Airlines, Hertz and Wyndham Hotels announcing cuts on discounts for NRA members.
The corporate and political movement has escalated against NRA members; earlier this month, the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said: “We’re issuing Wells Fargo an ultimatum — they can have a mortgage market that includes America’s teachers, or they can continue to do business with the NRA and gun manufacturers. They can’t do both.”
Bank of America will stop lending to manufacturers of “military-style firearms” that are sold for civilian use, Vice Chairwoman Anne Finucane revealed on Bloomberg Television last week. Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell introduced a proposal in late March asking city staffers to arrange a list of businesses that have a “formal relationship” with the NRA and then discuss ways to boycott business with them.
Slupe says he understands his effort is tiny in scope compared to the economic impact it will have to those goliath efforts of the big corporations, unions and large-city administrations: “We all make choices. Their decision was to cut their ties with the NRA for one reason or another. And I’m not bad-mouthing them. They made a choice. So I’m gonna make a choice. And we’re not gonna use these companies to do our work.”