---
title: "Gun Control Debate Pushes Rental Car Companies to End NRA Member Benefit Programs"
description: "Enterprise Holdings has dropped its benefit program for the gun rights group—will companies like Avis, Hertz, and TrueCar follow suit?"
date: "2018-02-23"
modified: "2018-02-23"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/18744/gun-control-debate-pushes-rental-car-companies-to-end-nra-member-benefit-programs"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "avis"
  - "boycott"
  - "Enterprise"
  - "Guns"
  - "Hertz"
  - "nra"
  - "rental cars"
  - "truecar"
---

# Gun Control Debate Pushes Rental Car Companies to End NRA Member Benefit Programs

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/02/gettyimages-578071356-copy.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Car rental giant Enterprise Holdings has announced it will be ending a benefit program that provided discounts to National Rifle Association members, as a #BoycottNRA campaign continues to gain steam online in the aftermath of last week's school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Now, the question is: Which company will be next?

Like many organizations, the NRA contracts with businesses to provide discounts and perks to those who join the origanization. Prior to this week, it was estimated that [no fewer than 22 companies](<https://thinkprogress.org/corporations-nra-f0d8074f2ca7/>) were involved with the gun-rights group, including six [major rental car companies](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15907/these-rental-car-companies-rank-the-highest-in-customer-satisfaction>) as well as car-purchasing service [TrueCar.](<https://www.thedrive.com/category/buy-sell>) That means nearly a third of the special offers available to NRA members are automotive related—or at least they were, until Enterprise Holdings announced in a tweet Thursday evening that it would be ending the discount program for its Alamo, National, and Enterprise brands as furor over the group's response to the shooting spread online and critics threatened to boycott any associated companies. The benefits will end on March 26.

https://twitter.com/_/status/966847626439086082

*The Drive* reached out to Enterprise for more details on why it originally decided to partner with the NRA and the exact reason for the change in policy, but a spokesperson simply referred us back to the company's tweet. *The Drive* also contacted the other automotive companies listed on the NRA website that haven't made any public statements—TrueCar, Hertz, Avis, and Budget—for clarification on their own corporate partnerships; we'll update this story if we hear back.

Enterprise isn't the only company to reconsider its relationship with the NRA in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida [that left 17 students and teachers dead.](<https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-shooting-victims-school/index.html>) First National Bank of Omaha, the nation's largest private bank, said it would not be renewing its contract with the group to offer what's advertised as the "Official Credit Card of the NRA," which offered 5 percent cash back on fuel purchases.

https://twitter.com/_/status/966750830241222656

This is far from the first time that online critics have sought to use financial leverage to change a company's position on an issue, and the deep pockets of car companies have made them a frequent target. Last year, [several major automakers](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/8919/mercedes-pulls-ads-from-the-oreilly-factor-amid-hosts-sexual-assault-scandals>) were among the first to pull commercials from *The Bill O'Reilly Show* on Fox News following multiple reports accusing the host of sexual harassment and a public movement to boycott the show's advertisers.

But even if every corporate sponsor eventually backs down in this case, it would appear the NRA won't be cowed, as CEO Wayne LaPierre reiterated during a speech on Thursday.

"If they seize power...our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever," [he said.](<https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/politics/wayne-lapierre-cpac-speech-nra/index.html>)

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)