Recently FedEx drew the consternation of liberals when they decided to buck the trend of companies abandoning NRA discounts in the wake of the Florida shooting, choosing instead to maintain its business relationship with the organization. Think Progress recently claimed the NRA had a “secret deal” with FedEx in an attempt to pressure the organization into abandoning its NRA partnership. It seems that while FedEx’s arrangement remains in place, many other arrangements with FedEx do not:

On Tuesday, ThinkProgress exclusively reported that FedEx also has a secret deal with the NRA and the gun industry to bend its own rules on gun shipments. “Some customers have been approved for an exception to ship firearms with a 2-day (AM or PM) service,” a confidential internal document revealed. Those customers included 86 firearms manufacturers and dealers, including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, SIG Sauer, and the National Rifle Association itself.

Think Progress lauded World of Wonder, ICM Partners, and CAA for abandoning their partnerships with FedEx. Many anti-gun social media users promoted a boycott of FedEx, and other pro-gun users (and NRA members) claimed they would only use FedEx to ship in the future.

Gun owners, do not be fooled – FedEx is no “friend” of the NRA, even though the company has technically “sided” with the organization by refusing to discriminate on the basis of its political platform.

FedEx’s statement was anything but supportive of the NRA and of gun rights:

FedEx responds to questions on the National Rifle Association, gun safety and policy https://t.co/qYgmbyQ5jk pic.twitter.com/02q1hD2Q9s — FedEx (@FedEx) February 26, 2018

FedEx Corporation’s positions on the issues of gun policy and safety differ from those of the National Rifle Association (NRA). FedEx opposes assault rifles being in the hands of civilians. While we strongly support the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to own firearms subject to appropriate background checks, FedEx views assault rifles and large capacity magazines as an inherent potential danger to schools, workplaces, and communities when such weapons are misused. We therefore support restricting them to the military. Most important, FedEx believes urgent action is required at the local, state, and Federal level to protect schools and students from incidents such as the horrific tragedy in Florida on February 14th.

FedEx’s statement puts the company in direct opposition the NRA. Even though FedEx “supports” the political rights of the NRA and its members, its support ends there, and turns politically combative immediately afterwards.

In fact, FedEx’s statement reads much more like those of Obama, Bloomberg, Feinstein, Schumer, CNN, and many other lawmakers and mainstream media reporters who appear to be completely ignorant when it comes to firearms:

When you want to confiscate firearms, but you still need to figure out what a firearm is. pic.twitter.com/XKH12W8Hdp — Alana Mastrangelo (@ARmastrangelo) February 26, 2018

The whole affair makes me wonder who is in charge of FedEx’s marketing team – in one fell swoop, they managed to piss off not just gun-grabbing liberals, but NRA members and law-abiding gun owners in the process. I’ve stated in the past that politics is bad for any business, and all businesses would do their best to avoid taking political positions at all. Instead of taking one position and pissing off 50% of Americans, FedEx has taken both bad sides, actively trying to piss off all Americans in the process.

Morning Consult has pointed to numbers confirming this truth – those companies that came out in opposition to the NRA have seen their business suffer as a result:

A Morning Consult survey of 2,201 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 23-25 found increases in negative views of businesses that severed ties with the NRA after consumers learned of them. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. MetLife Inc., the insurance giant that ended a discount for NRA members last week, had a 45 percent favorable rating, compared to a 12 percent unfavorable rating, before survey participants were informed of that move. After learning of it, respondents with an unfavorable view of the company increased to 25 percent, while its favorability rating rose 1 percentage point. Unfavorability ratings for the three major rental car brands associated with Enterprise Holdings Inc. — Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo and National Car Rental — all more than doubled among surveyed adults after they learned about the companies ending discounts for NRA members. Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s favorability rating slid from 61 percent to 50 percent, while its unfavorability rating jumped from 12 percent to 25 percent. For Alamo and National Car Rental, favorability was little changed, whereas unfavorability ratings increased from 10 percent to 24 percent and 11 percent to 25 percent, respectively.

While the mainstream media may believe their campaign against the NRA is having the desired effect, with many businesses choosing to abandon their partnerships and oppose the organization politically…

…the mud-slinging is likely having the exact opposite effect, with NRA memberships set to soar just in time for the 2018 elections.