While dozens of companies bowed to media pressure over the weekend, many severing ties in part or in whole with the NRA, or simply eliminating long-standing price discounts with the association's members, among them Avis, Hertz, Delta, United, MetLife and others, FedEx refused to bend to demands to discriminate against NRA members.

In a press release issued on Monday afternoon, the logistics giant "responded to questions on the National Rifle Association, Gun Safety and Policy."

In it, FedEx said that while it "opposes assault rifles being in the hands of civilians" and that it "views assault rifles and large capacity magazines as an inherent potential danger to schools, workplaces, and communities when such weapons are misused" therefore supporting "restricting them to the military", it added that since it is a common carrier and "does not and will not deny service or discriminate against any legal entity regardless of their policy positions or political views" it will not end its discounted rate with the NRA which "is one of hundreds of organizations in our alliances/association Marketing program" as "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 Fedex statement was met with anger by anti-gun advocates, taking a lead from David Hogg, who earlier in the day urged his followed to "Sell FedEx stock! If they wanna stick with NRA we'll stick with @usps or @UPS"

Sell FedEx stock! If they wanna stick with NRA we'll stick with @usps or @UPS — David Hogg (@davidhogg111) February 26, 2018

The NYT's David Leonhardt also slammed the FedEx decision:

FedEx offers N.R.A. members up to a 26 percent discount — the sort that the other companies have chosen to end. Ending a discount program won’t, in and of itself, save any lives or cause great political damage to the N.R.A. But the FedEx situation has now become something of a test case of the new anti-gun movement. It’s also a test case for whether a major company feels comfortable allying itself with a group that effectively promotes violence. I’m with the students on this one: I encourage you not to use FedEx so long as it’s comfortable siding with the N.R.A.

End result: FedEx stock closed near session highs, up 1% on the day.

... as conveniently pointed out by some Twitter members:

Narrator;



Fedex stock is up nearly 1% on the day https://t.co/Y5BgHJJsfD — Wu-Tang Financial (@Wu_Tang_Finance) February 26, 2018

Full FedEx statement below