More taxpayer help to someone that doesn't need it?

The Bass Pro Shops store in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is little more than an hour's drive from Santa Monica, a West Coast enclave known for its anti-gun rallies and vegetarian cafes.

It might as well be on another planet. In this 180,000-square-foot, cathedral-like structure, shoppers can buy a Remington Varmint Rifle - $569.99 with a $50 rebate - grab a National Rifle Association flier by the door vilifying the state's Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her effort to ban assault weapons, or order a 12-ounce New York strip steak from the adjoining restaurant.


The architect of this shooter's paradise is John "Johnny" Morris, a media-shy Missourian who became a billionaire stitching together shopping outlets for multiple outdoor sports and adding a touch of entertainment to the mix, often using local taxpayer funds to expand his empire.


"It had been a very fragmented market, with a lot of independent retail shops catering to firearms, hunting and fishing," said Sean Naughton, a vice president and senior research analyst who covers the consumer sector for Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray Cos. "All these categories that consumers like to do, but there wasn't a national chain."


Since founding Bass Pro Shops in 1972 in his father's Springfield, Mo., liquor store, Morris has expanded to 58 superstores, with 20 more on the horizon, including one in Hooksett expected to open in November. The company makes a variety of fishing boats and house apparel brands, and controls a chain of full-service restaurants inside the stores.




http://www.unionleader.com/article/20130616/NEWS02/130619471

To those not familiar with Bass Pro Shops ... there is a new one being built in Hookset.

fshnski wrote:To those not familiar with Bass Pro Shops ... there is a new one being built in Hookset.

That's good to know, I can always use more fishing and hunting toys.

There's already a gun shop in Hooksett.

News Hawk, are suggesting we shoot fish instead of going to bass pro shops?


But what about all the poor kids scuba diving under the surface that the gun fisherman can't see? Sound like a bad suggestion from a concerned citizen.

News Hawk wrote:There's already a gun shop in Hooksett.

Make that South Hooksett.