Gays Against Guns targeted Hertz, FedEx and Wyndham Worldwide in a Cyber Monday protest over the businesses’ discount policies for National Rifle Association members.
“The NRA spent $52 million in outside spending to elect Donald Trump and pro-gun senators and representatives this year,” said Ken Kidd, a group member, in a press release Monday. “Some of that cash came from NRA members who saved money doing business with FedEx, Hertz, and Wyndham Worldwide. If these companies want to do business with the rest of us, they have to stop doing business with the gun radicals at the NRA.”
GAG says cash raised from these companies supports the NRA’s lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. designed to stifle gun control proposals.
Monday’s demonstration began outside of Hertz on 34th Street in Manhattan and found its way to a nearby Wyndham Hotel, where protesters waved signs and chanted “Wyndham funds the NRA and NRA funds Trump.”
President-elect Donald Trump earned the NRA’s endorsement in May. The association subsequently spent more than $50 million on the Republican candidate and six Senate seats it felt worthy of protecting during the 2016 election cycle.
The association seized upon Hillary Clinton’s gun control platform with ad buys in battleground states, imploring voters to help protect the Supreme Court and ultimately, the Second Amendment.
In a blog post in the days after the election, the NRA celebrated Trump’s historic upset and its get-out-the-vote operation of 38 million election mailings, 1.35 million phone calls and 170,000 house calls, “all in a targeted effort to ensure the highest impact voters showed up at the polls.”
Some 254 of the 273 congressional candidates the association endorsed this election cycle prevailed on Election Day, the NRA said.
Gays Against Guns, a New York-based LGBTQ gun violence prevention group, known for its dramatic demonstrations, was founded in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, where a lone gunman opened fire in the early morning hours of June 12, killing 49 people. Chapters have spread to Los Angeles, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC.
NRA members receive discounts from hundreds of companies. A full list can be found here.
