FedEx and Delta get blowback from opposite ends of the NRA boycott push

FedEx does not cut ties with the NRA
(Image credit: Greg Whitesell/Getty Images)

It turns out that quite a few companies offer discounts and other perks to National Rifle Association members. But after the murder of 17 students and adults at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, more than a dozen of those companies have reconsidered the costs and benefits of supporting an organization widely seen as the biggest barrier to enacting popular laws on gun ownership. Airlines like Delta and United, rental car companies Enterprise, National, Hertz, Avis, Budget, and Alamo, and other companies — First National Bank of Omaha, Symantec, and MetLIfe, for example — have decided to make NRA members pay full price. FedEx went in the opposite direction.

See more

After posting its statement Monday, FedEx was thrashed on social media, especially for saying it "does not and will not deny service or discriminate against any legal entity regardless of their policy positions or political views."

See more

Delta got blowback in the opposite direction, with prominent conservatives in the Georgia government threatening to sink a $50 million tax break unless the airline re-instated discounts for NRA members flying to their annual convention in May. Among those threatening to scuttle the agreement was Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R), who presides over the state Senate. "Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back," he tweeted.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

State and local governments, who want good jobs and tax revenue, may have more to lose than corporations in this fight, Boston College sociologist Charles Derber tells USA Today. "The corporations [breaking ties with the NRA] are not taking a large risk by engaging in this. They're incurring greater risk if they don't try to ally themselves with this strong population majority and the emotionally compelling voice of these young people."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.