FedEx under fire for NRA discounts as activists, Florida students press boycott; company says no changing coming

FedEx stood pat on discounts to National Rifle Association members as the NRA’s list of supporting companies continued to shrink amid boycott threats.

The Memphis-based delivery giant was one of the largest and most recognizable companies that hadn't pulled back from the NRA in the wake of a Valentine’s Day mass shooting at a Florida high school.

After days of questions about whether it would join the other companies, FedEx issued a statement Monday signaling no change in the discount program.

"The NRA is one of hundreds of organizations in our alliances/association Marketing program whose members receive discounted rates for FedEx shipping. FedEx has never set or changed rates for any of our millions of customers around the world in response to their politics, beliefs or positions on issues," the statement said.

The stampede of companies ditching NRA discounts came as students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School joined gun control activists in calling for a boycott of NRA supporters.

David Hogg, a senior at the school, called out FedEx in a Saturday morning segment of AM Joy on MSNBC.

“FedEx has still not dropped their deal with the NRA," Hogg said. "…if they aren’t going to, we’re going to have to take action as the consumers because we have the power in a business, just as we have the power in a democracy."

The hashtag #boycottfedex was trending on Twitter, and dailymail.co.uk headlined an article, "School massacre victims launch FedEx boycott to divest from the NRA."

FedEx's statement on Monday also articulated the company's differences with NRA positions and expressed a desire for urgent action to protect schools.

The statement said: "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."

Progressive website ThinkProgress.org posted an article last Tuesday calling attention to companies that give discounts to NRA members.

Included was a graphic showing 30 companies, with the headline: “These companies are doing business with the NRA.”

By Monday, 21 of 30 companies in the graphic had been crossed out. FedEx was one of nine that remained.

Among those dropping NRA discounts were Delta and United airlines, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Hertz car rentals, MetLife and Chubb insurance and Norton computer security.

FedEx rival UPS didn't have an NRA discount program in place.

The NRA on Saturday branded the exodus of supporters as “a shameful display of political and civic cowardice.”

“In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve,” the organization said on its website.

FedEx doesn’t show up on a “NRA Member Benefits” page, but elsewhere on the 5 million member organization’s website, FedEx was listed as providing discounts for the NRA Business Alliance and NRA clubs.

FedEx provides up to 26 percent discount for the NRA Business Alliance members through its FedEx Advantage program, ThinkProgress said.

Meanwhile, providers of content streamed over the Internet, including Amazon.com, Apple, Google and Roku, were facing calls to drop an NRA-affiliated channel.

Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.