Is Bass Pro an essential business? It depends on the town

Bass Pro Shops is at the center of a debate as to whether gun stores are essential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Forbes report.

Bass Pro had kept two-thirds of its 150 U.S. stores open, Forbes reported Friday.

Massachusetts, New York and New Mexico have banned gun retailers, and Bass Pro stores have gone dark in those states. At stores in Tennessee, South Carolina and Wisconsin, a spring sale is underway. And in other states, Bass Pro is open in one town and not another.

“This is an extremely dynamic and fast-moving situation unlike any our nation has faced before, with local guidelines that change rapidly, often hour by hour,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Forbes.

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