NEW YORK: Survivors of a mass shooting at a Florida high school are hoping to expand the reach of their gun control movement by seeking a boycott of companies doing business with the NRA and urging tourists to boycott the Sunshine State.
As the #BoycottNRA movement grew on Twitter, with petitions circulating against companies that offer discounts to NRA members, a growing number of those businesses announced they are cutting or reducing ties with the association.
Both Delta and United said Saturday that they will no longer offer discounted airfares to NRA members to attend their annual meetings, and both have asked the gun rights group to remove any references to their companies from the NRA website. Rental-car company Hertz said it would no longer offer a discount program to NRA members and First National Bank of Omaha, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks, said it will not renew a co-branded Visa credit card it has with the NRA.
In an email Saturday, the NRA called the companies’ actions “a shameful display of political and civic cowardice” and said the loss of corporate discounts and other perks “will neither scare nor distract” NRA members.
“In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve,” the NRA statement said.
The State of Florida also was facing some backlash. One of the survivors of the Florida school shooting suggested Saturday on Twitter that tourists stay away from the state. He got an immediate response.
“Let’s make a deal,” tweeted David Hogg, a Stoneman Douglas student who has been a major player in the #neveragain movement. “DO NOT come to Florida for spring break unless gun legislation is passed.”
Wendy Glaab, 60, of Fonthill, Ontario, Canada, was among the first to respond. “I like many Canadians travel to Florida from time to time to escape our winter. I can’t speak for others but I will not be returning until meaningful gun control legislation is in place.”
Glaab told The Associated Press on Saturday that her sister owns property in Fort Lauderdale and she is able to visit any time she chooses.
Members of the NRA have access to special offers from partner companies on its website, ranging from life insurance to wine clubs. But the insurance company MetLife Inc. discontinued its discount program with the NRA on Friday. Symantec Corp., the software company that makes Norton Antivirus technology, did the same. Insurer Chubb Ltd. said it is ending participation in the NRA’s gun-owner insurance program, but it provided notice three months ago. The program that provided coverage for people involved in gun-related incidents or accidents had been under scrutiny by regulators over marketing issues.
Car rental company Enterprise Holdings, which also owns Alamo and National, said it was cutting off discounts for NRA member, as did Hertz.
Other companies, including Wyndham Hotels and Best Western hotels, have let social media users know they are no longer affiliated with the NRA, though they did not make clear when the partnerships ended.
The swiftness of the corporate reaction against the NRA has differed from that of past shootings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that claimed 26 lives, and the killing of 58 people in Las Vegas last fall, said Bob Spitzer, a political scientist at SUNY Cortland and a scholar on gun politics. Spitzer said the reaction was likely a reaction to the student mobilization that followed the Florida shooting, but he said it was too soon tell how significantly it will sway the country’s wider gun debate.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference that those advocating for stricter gun control are exploiting the Florida shooting.
President Donald Trump has aligned himself with the NRA, suggesting some teachers could be armed so that they could fire on any attacker. However, Trump has also called for raising the minimum age for purchasing semi-automatic rifles, a move the NRA opposes.
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott announced plans Friday to put more armed guards in schools and to make it harder for young adults and some with mental illness to buy guns. While criticized by some as not going far enough, the measures were significant in a state that hasn’t passed any type of gun control since Republicans took control of state government in 1999.
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School shooting survivors target NRA-linked companies
School shooting survivors target NRA-linked companies
Bitter pill: Taliban govt shakes up Afghan medicine market
- Afghanistan’s decision to overhaul its medicine market was meant to improve quality and boost domestic production, but industry specialists say the swift changes have led to a litany of problems
KABUL: Afghanistan’s decision to overhaul its medicine market was meant to improve quality and boost domestic production, but industry specialists say the swift changes have led to a litany of problems.
The Taliban authorities announced in November that the decades-long dependency on medicine imports from Pakistan would soon end, a step taken after deadly border clashes with their neighbor.
After the ban came into effect this month, finance ministry spokesman Abdul Qayoom Naseer told AFP that the government urged all importers to find “alternative and legal” sources to replace Pakistani supplies.
Despite a three-month grace period to end existing contracts and clear customs, the shift presents a huge challenge for a country which had imported more than half its medicine from Pakistan.
“Some of the prices have increased, some of them are short (unavailable), it has created a lot of problems for people,” said Mujeebullah Afzali, a pharmacist in the capital, Kabul.
Drugs now have to come from elsewhere, increasing transit time and transport costs, and adding logistical complexities.
The pharmacist said he had begun importing medicine through the Islam Qala crossing on the Iranian border, “which increased the transportation fee 10 to 15 percent.”
Transport costs used to account for six to seven percent of total spending on medicine, but this has now risen to 25 to 30 percent, said a person directly involved in the pharmaceutical industry, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
He estimated that the overall losses to business owners had already reached millions of dollars.
“If a medicine was short in the market before, a call was made to Pakistan, and the medicine was delivered in two to three days,” he said.
Whether legally or not, it was “delivered quickly,” he added.
‘Fill the gap’
The illicit trade in pharmaceuticals was a key driver for the overhaul, according to the health ministry.
“The biggest problem with Pakistani medicine was that we used to receive counterfeit and fake medicines,” ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told AFP.
He acknowledged it will take some time to shift the market, saying that officials were working with Iran, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Turkiye, China and Belarus to source medicine.
“India was second in the market, which means that now, through Indian medicines, we can cover the percentage needed,” Zaman said.
And domestic production of 600 medicines has “solved the problems” of many patients, he said.
Afghanistan already produces a variety of serums including antibiotics, according to manufacturer Milli Shifa Pharmaceutical.
The company makes 100,000 bottles daily and “can double the capability” if demand merits, CEO Nasar Ahmad Taraki told AFP.
While Afghanistan has significantly expanded its pharmaceutical sector, domestic output still only meets a small fraction of the overall demand.
The industry source told AFP that the need to import raw materials, the high energy costs and limited infrastructure mean the country cannot be entirely self-sufficient in medicine production.
“If we are provided with the facilities, then we would be able to fill the gap created by Pakistan’s situation,” he said.
Shortages and higher costs
But reshaping an industry nationwide takes more than three months.
Some drugs made in Afghanistan have proven more expensive than those imported from Pakistan, which over the years have gained consumers’ trust.
Some people believe that “if they use Pakistani medicine, they will be cured” — but not if it came from India “or any other country,” the industry source said.
Physicians, meanwhile, are also struggling, a health care provider in Kabul told AFP.
Doctors “must change prescriptions, find suitable alternatives, and spend additional time adjusting treatment plans,” he said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
The shake-up, which ultimately is meant to end reliance on Pakistan, is complicating care in the short term and could delay treatment, he warned.
“Patients face medicine shortages, frequent switches to alternative products, and sometimes higher costs.”
The Taliban authorities announced in November that the decades-long dependency on medicine imports from Pakistan would soon end, a step taken after deadly border clashes with their neighbor.
After the ban came into effect this month, finance ministry spokesman Abdul Qayoom Naseer told AFP that the government urged all importers to find “alternative and legal” sources to replace Pakistani supplies.
Despite a three-month grace period to end existing contracts and clear customs, the shift presents a huge challenge for a country which had imported more than half its medicine from Pakistan.
“Some of the prices have increased, some of them are short (unavailable), it has created a lot of problems for people,” said Mujeebullah Afzali, a pharmacist in the capital, Kabul.
Drugs now have to come from elsewhere, increasing transit time and transport costs, and adding logistical complexities.
The pharmacist said he had begun importing medicine through the Islam Qala crossing on the Iranian border, “which increased the transportation fee 10 to 15 percent.”
Transport costs used to account for six to seven percent of total spending on medicine, but this has now risen to 25 to 30 percent, said a person directly involved in the pharmaceutical industry, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
He estimated that the overall losses to business owners had already reached millions of dollars.
“If a medicine was short in the market before, a call was made to Pakistan, and the medicine was delivered in two to three days,” he said.
Whether legally or not, it was “delivered quickly,” he added.
‘Fill the gap’
The illicit trade in pharmaceuticals was a key driver for the overhaul, according to the health ministry.
“The biggest problem with Pakistani medicine was that we used to receive counterfeit and fake medicines,” ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told AFP.
He acknowledged it will take some time to shift the market, saying that officials were working with Iran, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Turkiye, China and Belarus to source medicine.
“India was second in the market, which means that now, through Indian medicines, we can cover the percentage needed,” Zaman said.
And domestic production of 600 medicines has “solved the problems” of many patients, he said.
Afghanistan already produces a variety of serums including antibiotics, according to manufacturer Milli Shifa Pharmaceutical.
The company makes 100,000 bottles daily and “can double the capability” if demand merits, CEO Nasar Ahmad Taraki told AFP.
While Afghanistan has significantly expanded its pharmaceutical sector, domestic output still only meets a small fraction of the overall demand.
The industry source told AFP that the need to import raw materials, the high energy costs and limited infrastructure mean the country cannot be entirely self-sufficient in medicine production.
“If we are provided with the facilities, then we would be able to fill the gap created by Pakistan’s situation,” he said.
Shortages and higher costs
But reshaping an industry nationwide takes more than three months.
Some drugs made in Afghanistan have proven more expensive than those imported from Pakistan, which over the years have gained consumers’ trust.
Some people believe that “if they use Pakistani medicine, they will be cured” — but not if it came from India “or any other country,” the industry source said.
Physicians, meanwhile, are also struggling, a health care provider in Kabul told AFP.
Doctors “must change prescriptions, find suitable alternatives, and spend additional time adjusting treatment plans,” he said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
The shake-up, which ultimately is meant to end reliance on Pakistan, is complicating care in the short term and could delay treatment, he warned.
“Patients face medicine shortages, frequent switches to alternative products, and sometimes higher costs.”
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