After the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas, many corporations pulled their partnership agreements with the NRA, which offered members discounts with associated companies. But, not FedEx, they stood by the NRA and continued their program. Not anymore. FedEx representatives say it had nothing to do with the most recent mass shooting, rather that it was a failing program. More from Reuters, which notes this is a significant shift in the political power of the NRA.
The change of tack comes just days after a gunman killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue. The $56 billion logistics company says the closure of its NRA discount program from Nov. 4 has no connection to that incident or any other shooting. Rather, the NRA just didn’t bring in enough business to merit its own deal. It’s among dozens of organizations FedEx plans to move to new pricing programs, and the company has been notifying customers since early October.
That, though, is still significant – perhaps more so than largely political gestures. It suggests the NRA no longer has the economic clout to inspire fear in the corporate world. The group nearly put gunmaker Smith & Wesson out of business in 2000 when it branded the company a “sellout” for agreeing to back stronger gun controls. Boycotts from NRA members followed, and Smith & Wesson’s chief executive lost his job.
Gun-rights lobbyists have resisted both technology that could make firearms safer and no-brainer efforts like making more federal data on firearms incidents readily available. But companies are becoming less timid. When retailers Dick’s Sporting Goods, Walmart and Kroger pledged to end sales of assault rifles earlier this year, their shares didn’t suffer. As customers and investors change their views, businesses no longer need to take an overtly political stance – they can just follow the money.
Oddly enough, the company once known for their “when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” slogan, apparently used the United States Postal Service to inform members the program was ending.
Meanwhile, the NRA has created a front company to funnel millions to candidates and evade federal election laws. Claire McCaskill’s opponent in Missouri, Josh Hawley, has been a top recipient of this shady and potentially illegal funding. And did the Russians stop funding the NRA? Are their rubles behind these dark money ads sowing even more division in our country?