Joe Nocera, Columnist

Boycotts to Silence the NRA Won't Work. Divestment Will.

Use financial pressure to pursue sane gun control, not to try to muzzle the extremists.

March 5, 2018 at 1:00 PM UTC

Joe Nocera is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. He is the host and writer of the Bloomberg-Wondery podcast "The Shrink Next Door."

1520024351_GettyImages-925572244 — Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

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Last Thursday was the day all right-thinking people were supposed to #boycottAmazon because of its refusal to drop the National Rifle Association’s television channel from its streaming service. So naturally, when my young son asked me if I would please, please, please buy him a new Beyblade,1520193365703 there was never any doubt I was going to buy it from Amazon.com Inc. While I was at it, I got the new Richard Nixon biography for my wife. Spent about $50 in the space of 10 minutes.

I did so not because I’m pro-NRA, but because I can’t think of a less effective way to bring about the changes the vast majority of Americans want, and which was the purpose of the boycott: a defanged NRA, along with sensible gun laws that eliminate mass shootings and reduce gun violence.