In the wake of the Parkland, Florida, murders, there has been an unusual amount of anti-gun and anti-NRA commentary by private corporations with plenty of problems of their own.
In February, Delta announced it was ending a discount program for passengers who used the airline to travel to the NRA’s 2018 Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The move had nothing to do with any problems Delta itself experienced with the NRA or its members, but supposedly came in response to what the airline called “the current national debate over gun control amid recent school shootings.” Bizarrely, Delta characterized its decision to link innocent NRA members with school shootings and to punish them by reneging on a contract as a reflection of its “neutral status” and an attempt to “refrain from entering this debate.”
You can make your views known to Delta CEO Ed Bastian by emailing him at ed.bastian@delta.com, or calling Delta’s corporate headquarters at (404) 715-2600.
The Washington Post, however, characterized Delta’s move differently, situating it squarely within the #BoycottNRA movement. The airline, in other words, had merely jumped on a self-glorifying corporate bandwagon that has done nothing to harm the NRA but has done much to remind gun-owning Americans just what is at stake in the gun control debate.
Ironically, Delta’s move hurt its own shareholders far worse than it did NRA members. While only 13 NRA members took advantage of the now revoked Delta Discount, the airline’s attempt to implicate the NRA in school shootings led the Georgia legislature to eliminate tax breaks that were expected to be worth some $50 million to the Atlanta-based company.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian, however, remained defiant. “Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale,” he said in a statement on the legislative reversal, as if Delta’s “values” and his job first and foremost involve pursuing a political agenda against gun owners and NRA members.
Bastian then went on to brag during a television appearance on CNBC that his company “gained a lot of fans” for its discriminatory treatment of NRA members and for not “selling out to political interests.”
We have some news for Mr. Bastian: Our Second Amendment rights aren’t up for negotiation, either. As the NRA has already made abundantly clear: “The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world.”
Freedom-loving Americans, meanwhile, have responded to these elitists attacks the way they always have, by renewing their support for the NRA, the most uncompromising champion of America’s constitutional freedoms.
It’s clear from recent customer reviews of Delta that the airline’s time and efforts would be more profitably spent on addressing its own operational issues, rather trying to deflect attention to NRA members.
If you agree, feel free to contact Delta CEO Ed Bastian and tell him all about it. Mr. Bastian’s email is edward.bastian@delta.com. You can also ask to speak to him by calling Delta’s corporate headquarters at (404) 715-2600. Should you prefer to write a letter to Mr. Bastian, Delta’s corporate address is Delta Air Lines Inc., P.O. Box 20706, Atlanta, GA 30320.
Other options for making your views known are available in this USA Today article aimed at helping aggrieved Delta passengers get redress from Mr. Bastian, who apparently tends to hide behind legions of staffers to avoid direct contact with his company’s customers.
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