Forbes: Is Bass Pro An Essential Business Because It Sells Guns?

Above, Bass Pro Shops Fontana, California store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Department of Homeland Security considers gun stores to be "essential businesses".

Unfortunately, some states haven't received the memo or are just plain ignoring it.

Forbes takes a look at Bass Pro Shops who, by the way sells guns. So, does this make them "essential". Bass Pro Shops is a sister store to Cabela's, who also sells guns.

They wrote:

There’s a debate raging across the nation about whether gun stores are an essential business during the coronavirus pandemic, which would make them immune from shelter-in-place orders that have forced thousands of retailers to close their doors. At the center of it all is Bass Pro Shops. 

While the federal government says gun stores can stay open, many states and towns disagree. That has left businesses grappling with a patchwork of government policies to decipher for themselves where they can or can’t stay open. Bass Pro Shops—a popular hunting and fishing chain owned by billionaire John Morris—has fought to stay open wherever it can. Based on its interpretation of a tangle of rules, it has kept about two thirds of its 150 U.S. stores open, according to its website. 

In states like Massachusetts, New York and New Mexico, where there is a ban on gun retailers, Bass Pro stores have gone dark. Meanwhile, at stores in Tennessee, South Carolina and Wisconsin, it is continuing to run “Spring Madness Sale” ads on shoes, binoculars and crossbows. In other states, it has remained open in one town and not in another. That case-by-case approach has caused frustration and confusion at headquarters, as well as among store workers and customers.

To read more, go here.