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Should We Boycott Companies That Support The NRA?

"The reality is that the NRA is out there lobbying against the interest of everyday people.”

In the wake of the attack on Orlando's Pulse nightclub, many in the LGBT community blamed the National Rifle Association for blocking sensible gun regulations and fostering a society that fetishizes firearms.

Within days of the attack, Gays Against Guns began protesting, not just the NRA, but politicians, organizations and companies that support the lobby group.

This summer, GAG demonstrated outside a New York outpost of CrossFit, which was offering a semi-automatic rifle as part of a prize package.

This week, a coalition of gun-control and LGBT-rights groups are calling out FedEx for offering discounts to members of the NRA. The action, which includes an online campaign and an in-person protest, is timed to hit the company iat the heart of the holiday shipping season.

GunsDown/Facebook

Protests were held Wednesday at FedEx stores in Denver, Atlanta, Memphis, Tennessee and Orlando.

FedEx offers discounts of as much as 26% to the 5 million members of the NRA. But it's hardly alone—members also get discounts at Hertz, Enterprise, Allied movers, Lifelock, Wyndham hotels, Best Western and other brands. But opponents targeted FedEx for its visibility. (GAG demonstrated this week outside Wyndam and FedEx locations in a separate action.)

Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty I

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2016/11/28: In a protest at FedEx, Hertz, and Wyndham Worldwide locations in Midtown Manhattan, Gays Against Guns, a direct action group committed to end gun violence in America, will demand that the three companies halt their generous discounts for NRA members because some of the money that NRA members save with FedEx, Hertz, and Wyndham ends up in the NRAs bank account. That same NRA bank account siphons money straight to the gun lobbys bank account. (Photo by Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"FedEx is one of the biggest and most recognizable brands" with NRA discounts, said Igor Volsky, director of the DC gun-control group Guns Down. "If they really value investing in under-served communities, which we think they do, then partnering with the NRA really undermines that mission."

The Memphis-based shipping company is expected to handle a record volume of packages this Christmas, as online shopping continues to grow and has hired more than 50,000 temporary workers for the holiday season.

“These corporations make the NRA look like they are AAA,” Kaytee Riek of the consumer watchdog group SumOfUs'told The Huffington Post. “They legitimize the NRA. They make it look like [the NRA is] no big deal. The reality is that the NRA is out there lobbying against the interest of everyday people.”

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