In N.R.A. Fight, Delta Finds There Is No Neutral Ground
Referring to Mr. Cagle’s pushback, Mr. McKoon said, “I think he captured the sentiment and the feeling of a lot of Georgians,” who, he said, were frustrated “with Delta weighing in on an issue
that has nothing to do with the topic of transportation, for sure.”
But Mr. Massell, the former mayor who is president of the Buckhead Coalition, an influential Atlanta business and civic group, called the entire debate “embarrassing.” He said
that he feared the threat against Delta would scare away Amazon, the online retail giant that has listed Atlanta among the finalists for its second headquarters.
In a statement over the weekend, the company said its decision to stop offering discounted fares to the N. R.A.
“reflects the airline’s neutral status in the current national debate over gun control amid recent school shootings.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the jet-fuel tax break, while opposed by Mr. Cagle
and some other conservative Republicans, had not yet been stripped out of a broader Senate tax bill.
“So the relationship is damaged, if nothing else.”
A broader concern, shared by some liberals, conservatives and members of the Georgia business community, is
that gun control may now join other hot-button cultural topics that may damage the state’s reputation among national and global corporations that do not adhere to the same conservative Southern values as the state legislature.
Casey Cagle of Georgia, a Republican who presides over the State Senate and has received an A-plus grade from the N. R.A., joined other conservative lawmakers this week in threatening to remove a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel
that some hoped would encourage Delta to open even more routes — and help Atlanta attract even more national and international companies.
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