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Software company cuts ties with the NRA

The company is the 11th to distance itself from the gun lobby this week.

Convention goers peruse merchandise at the 143rd NRA Annual Meetings. CREDIT: AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER
Convention goers peruse merchandise at the 143rd NRA Annual Meetings. CREDIT: AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER

A software company that previously advertised a free trial to National Rifle Association members told ThinkProgress it has asked the NRA to remove the offer from its website.

Teresa Zimmerman, director of marketing for Personify Corp, Wild Apricot’s parent organization, said late Friday that she has asked the NRA to remove Wild Apricot from the gun lobby’s website.

“We have contacted the NRA directly and asked them to remove our logo and the affiliated text, as they were actually using that without permission from us,” she said. “We never had a formal partnership with them.”

Zimmerman explained that one of their affiliate members may have arranged the advertising without the organization’s knowledge.

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“We’re just trying to sell software,” she said.

CREDIT: NRA Website Screenshot
CREDIT: NRA Website Screenshot

NRA Business Alliance members were previously offered a 30-day free trial of the company’s website and membership software. A representative told ThinkProgress Tuesday the company offers anyone a 30-day free trial and “has absolutely no affiliation or partnership with the NRA,” but did not explain why the NRA was advertising the trial to members. In 2013, Wild Apricot told ThinkProgress that the company permits any lawful group to receive a commission if they sign up as affiliate partners and if they “do not pay any fee to the NRA, and their affiliates do not receive any discount on our software.”

After ThinkProgress reported Tuesday a list of more than two dozen companies doing business with the gun lobby, the nation’s largest privately held bank, First National Bank of Omaha, said it would stop issuing the NRA Visa card. On Thursday, Enterprise Holdings, which operates three major car rental companies, said it would stop offering a discount to NRA members. And on Friday, security software company Symantec, home security company SimpliSafe, auto insurer MetLife, car rentals Avis and Budget, and moving companies Allied and North American Van lines also cut ties.