First National Bank of Omaha and car rental company Enterprise bail on NRA after customer outcry
- Car rental company Enterprise and First National Bank of Omaha sever their relationship with the National Rifle Association.
- An advocacy group, ThinkProgress, reported both companies supported the pro-gun lobby.
- Scores of teenage survivors of the deadliest public high school shooting in U.S. history have mobilized to call for tougher gun-control measures.
Car rental company Enterprise and First National Bank of Omaha have severed their relationship with the National Rifle Association.
First National Bank of Omaha said Thursdsay it will not renew a contract to issue its NRA-branded Visa credit card.
"Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA," a bank spokesperson told CNBC. "As a result, First National Bank of Omaha will not renew its contract with the National Rifle Association to issue the NRA Visa Card."
The website advertising the card disappeared on Wednesday, less than one day after advocacy group ThinkProgress reported the bank's support of the pro-gun lobby. The bank and car rental company were used by the NRA to promote its membership through discounts and bonus deals.
"Many will applaud the move, but NRA members are famously loyal and the organization has shown itself as being very good at mobilizing its members," said Matt Schulz, a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. "However, banks are in the business of managing risks of all kinds, and First National clearly sees this as one they're willing to take."
Separately, Enterprise said it is ending a discount program for NRA members.
The company tweeted late Thursday: "All three of our brands have ended the discount for NRA members. This change will be effective March 26."
Enterprise Holdings also operates the Alamo and National brands.
Twitter accounts for the three brands tweeted the statement in response to inquiries from users, some of whom identified themselves as customers, demanding it sever ties with the NRA.
The decision follows the backlash over last week's mass shooting that left 17 people dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Scores of teenage survivors have mobilized to demand greater gun-control measures at the state and national levels .
CEO of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre, however, pushed back on criticism Thursday, saying "The NRA does care."
"Our American freedoms could be lost, and our country will be changed forever," he said at the gathering at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. "And the first to go will be the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution."
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.