Heels and Handguns brought it to my attention this morning about an article that Guns.com published the other day. I have to take a moment here to say that Guns.com is wrong. Misinformed to some extent and definitely jumping to conclusions. Bass Pro only requires you to check firearms that are going to be serviced at their gun counter.
I have seen multiple correspondence from their corporate offices over the years that say they welcome people to open carry or concealed carry. I dont really know why Guns.com got a run-around answer from them this time when they contacted them, but Bass Pro is very pro concealed/open carry. The only guns that have to be checked are the ones that are going to be taken out at the gun counter.
If you follow the Guns.com link back to the forum thread that their article is based on you will notice that the incident involves a guy who wanted to take his gun out of his pistol bag at the counter to try some holsters out. Its not about concealed carry at all. This is about the extra level of safety that Bass Pro has tried to install to ensure that people who need to have their guns out at the gun counter are indeed 100% unloaded and safe. The gun counter guy in the story was just surprised when the guy from the forum was wanting to pull his pistol out at the counter without it having gone through their standard check in process to ensure safety. All the employee did was ask why the gun was not checked first and then asked him to go check it at the front before he took it out of the case. The guy from the forum didnt want to and fell back on his “legal right to carry” and kinda went off the deep end.
Bass Pro’s official policy is to allow open or concealed carry if it is legal. Of course in a business that large there are going to be employees that are misinformed about what the corporate policy and the law is, but the forum thread that their story is based on doesnt even seem to be an example of that. I think the Guns.com article paints Bass Pro in the wrong light and is jumping to conclusions on this matter.
UPDATE: Bass Pro Shops Social Media guy has now weighed in over at Heels and Handguns about their official policy… They have no problem with it where it is legal to do so.
