MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shipping giant FedEx says it’s not backing away from a discount it offers to National Rifle Association members in response to a growing online campaign to boycott FedEx.
In a company statement Monday, Memphis-based FedEx said the NRA is just one of hundreds of organizations in its marketing program whose members receive discounted rates for FedEx shipping and the company does not plan on discontinuing the partnership.
A subsequent statement released Tuesday clarified this statement saying, “the pricing program that is the focus of these concerns is not for the NRA itself – it is for American small businesses and consumers that are members of the association. For shipping from its online store, the NRA uses UPS and not FedEx.”
“FedEx has never provided any donation or sponsorship to the NRA which is one of hundreds of alliance and association participants that serve more than one million customers,” the company added.
FedEx also said it 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 company said it strongly supports the right to own firearms subject to a background check.
Unlike the NRA, however, the company opposes civilians owning assault rifles.
“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.”
The move to boycott FedEx over its NRA discount has grown since one of the survivors of the Florida school massacre began publicizing a campaign to boycott business that have partnerships with the gun lobby. Several companies have cut ties with the organization since the shooting.
A number of groups have been circulating petitions against FedEx’s support for the NRA as the #boycottfedex hashtag trended on social media. One circulated by the site Care2 had gained 112,000 signatures by Monday afternoon.
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