The largest privately owned bank in the U.S. is severing it’s business ties to the National Rifle Association in response to “customer feedback.”
In the past, the First National Bank of Omaha has provided NRA-branded credit cards, but the contract with the NRA will no longer be renewed, the bank said Thursday.
“Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA,” First National Bank of Omaha wrote on Twitter. “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 bank had encountered pushback from a group called Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, who urged the bank to take “a stand against gun violence by ending its NRA promotions.”
“If you decide to continue offering benefits to NRA members, we intend to organize a public protest of your bank and have already secured the commitments of several of your customers to cancel their accounts because they do not want to support a bank that actively promotes the single largest obstacle to the reduction of gun deaths in the United States,” Nebraskans Against Gun Violence said in an email to bank officials on Wednesday.
The bank had been labeled by liberal news site Think Progress as one that backed the NRA on Wednesday.
First National did not provide details on when the contract will expire or how long the bank had been conducting business with the NRA.
As of Thursday, the website promoting the NRA-themed credit card was shut down.
The bank’s announcement comes as the NRA faces pressure following the high school shooting in Florida that took the lives of 17 individuals last week.
Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old suspect, is in custody and faces 17 counts of premeditated murder.
