FedEx said on Tuesday that it will stop providing discounts to members of the National Rifle Association, eight months after ThinkProgress reported that the shipping company was helping the gun lobby entice members.
The decision comes three days after a gunman entered a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot and killed 11 people and wounded several others.
The move is also significant, as FedEx did not end its relationship with the NRA after the 17 students were shot and killed in Parkland, Florida in February. After that shooting, more than two dozen companies that previous offered discounts to NRA members cut ties with the organization. The decisions were sparked by public outrage, social media campaigns, and threatened boycotts.
In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for FedEx told ThinkProgress that its decision had nothing to do with the NRA, noting that the NRA is one of more than 100 companies affected by an internal policy change.
“We are transitioning some account holders in more than 100 organizations in the FedEx Marketing Alliance program to other pricing programs,” said spokesperson Jim McCluskey. “Account holders that participated in the program will continue to receive the same discounts on FedEx shipping, and we will work directly with these customers to ensure a seamless transition.”
Still, gun control advocates credited the decision as a win.
After the Parkland shooting in February, a number of high-profile companies said they’d no longer partner with the NRA because of the group’s extreme stance on guns. Both Delta and United Airlines said they’d no longer be offering discounts to members traveling to the NRA’s annual meeting. Various car rental companies, insurers, and financial companies also said they’d no longer participate in programs with the gun lobby.
But FedEx refused to back down and remained one of just a handful of companies still offering some kind of discount to NRA members. At the time, the company stood behind its decision.
“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 statement said.
In late February, ThinkProgress reported that FedEx may have had a financial incentive to keep supporting the NRA. According to an internal document obtained by ThinkProgress, FedEx was bending its own rules on gun shipments for dozens of gun manufacturers and dealers. While FedEx typically requires businesses to ship firearms through priority overnight services, “Some customers have been approved for an exception to ship firearms with a 2-day (AM or PM) service,” according to the document.