The Parkland shooting has inspired a lot of rage, and most of it aimed at the NRA…for some reason.
On top of the Amazon boycott currently underway because they stream NRA TV, customers also complained to Enterprise Rent-a-Car for giving discounts to NRA members. Apparently, the complaints were effective, as Enterprise has now rescinded the discount.
Thank you for contacting us! All three of our brands have ended the discount for NRA members. This change will be effective March 26. Thank you again for reaching out. Kind regards, Michael
— EnterpriseRentACar (@enterprisecares) February 23, 2018
The “three brands” that Enterprise refers to is Alamo and National.
While the angry anti-NRA mob attacking them for a shooting they weren’t even a part of may be celebrating the win, the response to Enterprise caving so easily to anti-NRA sentiment has not been the back patting parade they probably thought they’d receive. The vast majority of the responses to the announcement has been disastrous.
https://twitter.com/jswifty250/status/966886923347271681
https://twitter.com/IChooseFakeNews/status/967021958956244992
What a shame. I will no longer rent cars from this company. Punishing law abiding citizens for a criminal act committed by a sick person does not make sense. How sad this has turned into a political issue.
— Andrea (@Andrea30703573) February 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/schwan_angela/status/967030078537453570
— American Templar (@Modern_Templar) February 23, 2018
I'll be cancelling all my enterprise reservations.
— RealNotimportant (@Realunimportant) February 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/MDKramer01/status/967041229052575750
This never turns out well. When a private sector company takes a political position. I am not a NRA member but I'll be taking my free market self elsewhere henceforth.
— Teri Peters (@hipEchik) February 23, 2018
And on and on.
To be clear, what Enterprise did wasn’t punish the NRA. What it did do was punish the people who support the NRA, and leave a bad taste in the mouths of all the Americans who support gun rights be they NRA members or no. The NRA won’t suffer because its people are no longer getting discounts, the people will. And the people will now likely punish Enterprise for their political hackery.
If Enterprise wanted things to go more smoothly, they likely should have kept quiet and not done a thing. The misplaced outrage over their NRA discount service likely would have passed and been forgotten about in a few days time, weeks at the most. Instead, it’s turned around and insulted millions of people, while asking them to shell out more cash from their wallet for their services.
Managing Editor of RedState, Caleb Howe, put it best.
*whew* Close call. Imagine getting the business of millions of law abiding citizens instead of the momentary approval of an anonymous twitter account. You really dodged that … well. You know. https://t.co/iokqRR1nNW
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) February 23, 2018
Dumb move.
If Enterprise was looking to make a statement about gun violence, punishing their customers was not the way to do it. They’re going to figure out why now.
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