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Activists hold up signs at the Florida State Capitol as they rally for gun reform legislation on February 26, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida.
- Activists are organizing a 24-hour boycott of Amazon, Apple, and FedEx, due to their ties to the NRA, on March 1.
- FedEx says it will continue its discount program for NRA members, while Amazon and Apple have stayed silent about their whether they will remove the NRA's TV channel from their streaming options.
- The protest organizers argue that NRAtv and NRA discount programs give money to the gun-rights group and foster gun violence in the United States.
Calls to boycott companies with economic ties to the National Rifle Association (NRA) are getting louder after the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Several activists and celebrities are calling for a 24-hour boycott of Amazon, Apple, and FedEx, on March 1. This week, Amazon and Apple have come under fire from gun control activists because the two companies offer the NRA's TV channel as part of their streaming services. FedEx, meanwhile, has a discount program for NRA members.
Among those promoting the boycott are actors Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing; actor and producer Justine Bateman; and Shannon Coulter (the woman behind the "Grab Your Wallet" boycott of retailers that carry Trump products). They are asking participants to refrain from buying products from Amazon and Apple, and to avoid shipping items via FedEx.
The boycott could be huge. In just five hours, a tweet from Alyssa Milano announcing the boycott was retweeted over 6,000 times. The hashtag #March1NRABoycott has also gained approximately 6.8 million impressions.
On Monday, FedEx told Business Insider that it will continue its perk program that gives up to 26% discounts to NRA members. The company added that it does not agree with the NRA's gun-policy positions.
The company then reiterated its decision on Tuesday afternoon, shifting its focus to its biggest rival, UPS.
"The NRA uses UPS and not FedEx" for shipping from its online store, FedEx said in a statement to BI.
Amazon and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since the recent mass shooting, more than a dozen companies have distanced themselves from the NRA, including Hertz, United, and Delta.
On February 24, Daniel Reed, the father of a Parkland student survivor, launched a petition asking Amazon to drop NRAtv. The petition has surpassed its goal of 200,000 signatures, and will now be sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Launched in 2016, NRAtv includes 22 programs, all aimed at disseminating a pro-gun-rights message. One segment, for example, argues that it should be easier for Americans to buy AR-15s, a type of semi-automatic rifle that gunman Nikolas Cruz used in Parkland.
The NRAtv's producers call themselves "America's Most Patriotic Team on a Mission to Take Back The Truth." In addition to Amazon Fire and AppleTV, NRAtv is also available through Roku, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, YouTube, iTunes, and Google Chromecast.
In the past several decades, the NRA has become a strong political force due to its political donations and millions of members. One big way that the NRA retains its members is through discounts on everything from car insurance to hotel rooms. More than a dozen American companies have partnered with the NRA to offer special perks to members.
The NRA membership benefits page points out "access to hundreds of dollars in savings" as a reason to join the organization.
This Thursday @Alyssa_Milano @DebraMessing @JustineBateman & others are organizing a 24-hour boycott of 3 big companies that still do biz w/ NRA: @FedEx @Amazon @Apple. We #GrabYourWallet-ers won't break a sweat. We've been boycotting Amazon for over a year! #March1NRABoycott
- Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) February 27, 2018