Following the Parkland, Florida shooting, Delta Airlines thought it would be an excellent idea to listen to the inherent wisdom of 16-year-olds with regard to the Bill of Rights.

Delta Airlines decided to sever corporate discounts offered to the NRA because of, well, corporate cowardice. They’d much rather side with those who’d remove American freedoms — specifically, the Bill of Rights — than with our foundational documents.

From MarketWatch.com:

NRA backlash: United, Delta are latest companies to dump gun lobby promotions

by Mike Murphy

Airlines United and Delta are the latest, and among the biggest, in a string of companies cutting largely promotional ties with the National Rifle Association in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school.

Fine. Delta and other companies are well within their rights to eschew their partnerships, affiliations and discounts with other entities at a moment’s notice if it’s within contractual limits.

Freedom. I’m all about it.

On the other hand, it’s freedom that allows other entities to react to Delta’s corporate decision.

Georgia governor signs bill nixing Delta tax break after NRA split

by Brooke Singman

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Friday signed into law a tax bill that fellow Republicans used to punish Atlanta-based Delta in retaliation for the airline’s decision to sever ties with the National Rifle Association. 

The final version of the bill dropped a tax break worth millions to the airline. Until it was removed, the amendment would have renewed a jet fuel tax exemption taken off the books in 2015. 

But GOP lawmakers, led by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, moved quickly to punish Delta for its split with the NRA.

“Businesses have every legal right to make their own decisions, but the Republican majority in our state legislature also has every right to govern guided by our principles,” Cagle said in a statement.

The bill — which includes a sweeping income tax cut – passed both chambers on an overwhelming vote on Thursday.

Delta was quick to bleat in response that — wait for it — their dropping of the NRA was mostly symbolic. It only involved “13 members.” That’s their official number. From Money.CNN.com:

Only 13 people used that Delta NRA discount

by Danielle Wiener-Bronner

Delta says only 13 people used its NRA discount.

The airline’s decision to end the discount cost it a tax break in Georgia that would have been worth tens of millions of dollars.

Delta (DAL) was offering discounted travel to NRA members heading to their annual convention in Dallas in May. But it pulled the offer on Saturday, under public pressure after 17 people were shot to death at a high school in Florida.

The decision angered Georgia Republicans, who stripped an exemption for jet fuel out of a tax bill that was signed into law on Friday.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less how many NRA members were affected. It only makes it sweeter when Delta admits it became punitive due to political prairie winds.

And that the mathematics bottoms out at “13 lonely NRA subscribers = millions of Delta Airlines dollars lost.” Boo-fucking-hoo.

Why would that be? Because Atlanta, Georgia is the headquarters and national hub of Delta Airlines via Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Thus endeth the lesson.

BZ