Airborne Express, one of the nation's largest package shippers, told an Oregon firearms maker that the company no longer permitted its carriers to ship weapons and ammunition, according to a policy company officials said was adopted last fall.

Thomas A. Bowers, a federally-licensed firearms maker based in Hillsboro, Ore. told WorldNetDaily he was "shocked" last week to learn that the package carrier had such a policy, after a company official refused to ship a firearm -- despite Bowers' longstanding use of Airborne.

Indeed, in an online version of the company's stated shipping policies, firearms are listed as items that are "not acceptable," along with alcoholic beverages, money, and fur or fur-lined clothing, among other items.

Specifically, the weapons policy states, "Firearms (air or powder discharged) assembled or unassembled; ammunition in all forms regardless of hazard classification," will not be accepted by the company.

A spokesperson for the Airborne Express executive offices confirmed the policy to WorldNetDaily and added that she "had not heard" whether corporate officials were considering changing the directive.

The Airborne Express policy echoes that of United Parcel Service, another leading national package shipper, which also prohibits the shipment of "firearms and firearms parts," including ammunition.

However, UPS officials have since changed that policy, deciding instead to impose special mandatory shipping requirements on gun dealers and manufacturers, as well as higher rates.

The reason for the policy, both companies said, was due to the risks posed by employee theft -- something corporate executives believe may put their companies at risk of lawsuits by third parties if the weapons are used illegally. But critics of the policy, including Bowers, have said if the companies "have employees they can't trust," firearms makers should not be held liable.

For his part, Bowers has called for a nationwide boycott of Airborne, calling the policy "discriminatory ... against firearms manufacturers, dealers and owners."

The firearms maker said after WorldNetDaily's series of articles regarding Citibank's policy of refusing to do business with gun dealers and firearms clubs, which later forced the global banking giant to reverse its policy after "intense public pressure and a threatened boycott," it was time to do the same to Airborne.

Currently, Bowers said, Federal Express permits shipments of firearms, "but it's strict; you have to use their automated tracking systems to ship" weapons.

Despite UPS' stated anti-firearms shipment policy, company officials said the firm would accept firearms shipments under special conditions. Most rifle shipments are subject to normal rules, but handguns must be shipped overnight at an increased cost of $30 per parcel, a cost gun dealers and weapons makers have had to pass on to consumers.

Ironically, Bower said, "Airborne was accepting my firearms shipments until earlier this month -- but their policy is dated last October." He said he did over $200,000 worth of business last year, shipping all of his products via Airborne -- "an account I would think they'd hate to lose," he added.

Far from being activist in nature, Bowers told WorldNetDaily he simply wants his boycott to force Airborne company officials to realize what it means to exercise a constitutional right.

"As a firearms manufacturer, I feel like blacks must have felt when they were refused service in whites-only restaurants in the 1950s and 1960s," Bower said. "I just want the discrimination of gun owners, supporters, dealers and manufacturers to stop."

Texas state representative Suzanna Hupp

Meanwhile, Texas state Rep. Suzanna Hupp, who watched helplessly in 1991 while her parents were gunned down in a Luby's restaurant in Killeen, Texas, has launched an initiative to file a countersuit against U.S. cities and municipalities who have filed class action suits against gun makers.

"After consulting legal experts," Hupp said in a statement released to WorldNetDaily, she and other Texas legislators "are in the process of drafting a complaint that will be filed in a federal district court in Texas" with the goal of halting the municipal lawsuits against the firearms industry.

The countersuit, Hupp said, alleges "the cities have conspired to violate their right to keep and bear arms by using the courts to impose gun control and threaten the gun industry with bankruptcy." She added that "several Texas gun stores will be plaintiffs in the lawsuit because of the cities' attempt to interfere with the gun stores' ability to participate in interstate commerce -- a right that is protected by the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution."