All of the companies that decided to cave quickly learned that public pressure and boycotts are a two-way street. NRA members strongly criticized their shortsighted move and promised never to use their services again. Let’s just say there are a lot of corporate social media managers who didn’t get much sleep last weekend.

As this effort expands, there are now calls for credit card companies, banks and financial processing firms to refuse to do business with vendors who sell perfectly legal firearms and accouterments. Before this witch hunt ends, perhaps there can be two separate financial systems — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.

The NRA’s critics don’t understand that the group’s power doesn’t derive from minor discounts from travel companies or donations to politicians. It comes from the more than 5 million members who make up the organization.