Opposing view: Don’t mess with the NRA’s 5 million members

Companies cutting ties with the National Rifle Association are learning that public pressure and boycotts are a two-way street. NRA members are criticizing their shortsighted moves and promising never to use their services again.

As this effort expands, there are now calls for credit card companies, banks and financial processing firms to refuse to do business with vendors who sell perfectly legal firearms and accouterments. Before this witch hunt ends, perhaps there can be two separate financial systems — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.

NRA critics don’t understand that the group’s power derives not from minor discounts from travel companies or donations to politicians, but from its more than 5 million members.

These Americans of all races, religions and political parties are dedicated to protecting their Second Amendment rights. They are highly informed and politically active. By cowering to social media pressure, these companies are punishing 5 million potential customers simply for their view that the Constitution is the law of the land.

NRA members are just a small portion of the roughly 74 million gun owners in America. Are they to be chased out of the marketplace as well?

It’s a free country, of course, and businesses can do what they want. But instead of feeling chastened, lots of NRA members will simply take their business elsewhere. I’m a member and had no idea discounts were even available. Now, however, I’m exceptionally aware of companies that not only hold me in contempt but also have no interest in my disposable income.

These pressure campaigns accomplish nothing but alienate people based on their politics. They divide Americans into ever smaller subgroups in which we can’t sit in the same town hall or, apparently, shop in the same stores.

Every marketer knows the most expensive customer is the one who walks away. By bumbling their way into the latest culture war, companies will have to relearn this lesson the hard way.