As both companies expand, they’re moving to regions where consumers want them—not necessarily to places most would think of as synonymous with outdoor recreation. For example, Bass Pro’s store in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is just over an hour’s ride from Santa Monica, a bastion of anti-gun rallies and restaurants that cater to vegans. This 180,000-sq.-ft. store sells firearms, predator calls, the latest camouflage and other products most people don’t think of when California comes to mind; nevertheless, the hunters and gun owners are there and can grab an NRA flier by the door and order “Hunter on Fire” (a chicken sandwich with spicy buffalo sauce) from Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl & Grill on site.

Cabela’s opened a store in East Hartford, Conn., in 2007 and plans to open a store in Berlin, Mass., in 2015. Meanwhile, Bass Pro is planning to open a 200,000-sq.-ft. Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Sayreville, New Jersey, just off the Garden State Parkway. That there are enough sportsmen and gun owners to support mega-stores with firearms and many other products in these “blue states” shouldn’t surprise many hunters and gun owners, but it can be a shock to urban anti-gun elites. Regardless, these stores offer events, gun-training courses and more.

Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops, of course, are hardly the only players in the market for your gun dollars. Other big chain stores have taxidermy, often have gunsmiths on the premises and hold classes that teach gun safety, handling and more. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc., for example, is a Fortune 500 American corporation that trades on the market under the stock ticker “DKS.” It was founded in 1948 when then 18-year-old Dick Stack quit an Army surplus store in Binghamton, N.Y., after the store owner mocked his ideas for stocking fishing tackle. Dick started a tackle store with $300 from his grandmother. Dick’s now has more than 450 stores in 42 states.

Gander Mountain, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., currently has 119 stores in 23 states. It began as a catalog-based retailer in Wilmot, Wis., but sold its mail-order business to Cabela’s in 1996. Formerly traded on NASDAQ, Gander Mountain was turned into a private company under the majority ownership of David Pratt and the Erickson family.

Then there’s Sportsman’s Warehouse, an outdoor sporting goods retailer that operates 47 stores in 18 states. Sportsman’s Warehouse calls itself “America’s Premier Outfitter.” To interact with its customers Sportsman’s Warehouse offers concealed-carry classes and more. (Go to sportsmanswarehouse.com/events to see what they’re up to in your neighborhood.)

All these competing chains and more are expanding and trying to grab a piece of the hot and growing gun market. According to the research firm Southwick Associates, Inc., ammunition sales were up 15 percent from 2011 to 2012, shooting accessories were up 30 percent and the share of rifle sales chambered in .223 Rem. was up 14 percent (in 2012 one in five rifles sold was chambered in .223 Rem.). Of course ammunition, especially .22 Long Rifle, .223 Rem. and 9 mm Luger, has been in such high demand during the past few years that there have been wide and prolonged shortages across the country. Gun sales have generally been going up every year since 2000, surged in 2008 (just before President Barack Obama was elected), and haven’t fallen off since.

“The biggest change I see this year is that people in their twenties and thirties have become a bigger part of the market,” says Rob Southwick of Southwick Associates, Inc. “Those in this demographic are now buying rifles—especially modern sporting rifles—and they’re shooting for fun.”

Scott Blackwell, president of Freedom Group, an American firearm manufacturer holding company that includes Remington, Bushmaster and DPMS, notes that they sell their firearms with standard pricing that doesn’t give the larger stores an advantage over smaller retailers. He says, “It’s an increasingly diverse marketplace and that’s good for those buying guns and for us. Last year Wal-Mart sent a flier to millions of households that advertised Remington guns. Meanwhile, larger retailers have deep inventories, but the small and medium-size gun stores have a knowledge base that’s hard for the big stores to compete with. This increasingly diverse marketplace is good for America’s gun owners and our American-made products.”

Local Firearm Superstores

New online options and destination stores get most of the national attention, but there’s something else taking place in the center of the market, without which this article would have a hole. Some regional stores have been growing even as they keep their local appeal.

Gat Guns in Dundee, Ill., located about an hour and half west of Chicago, for example, has expanded several times since first opening in 1979. After a recent expansion it now has 63 shooting positions. Greg Torino, owner of Gat Guns, says, “We’re excited and are big supporters of the NRA. We’re the 50th state to win our right to carry concealed. This is a boon to freedom and to our bottom line.”

Randy Potter, Gat Guns’ store manager, says, “Ten years ago we had two women working behind the counter. We now have nine. We have women-only classes taught by a lady who is an International Practical Shooting Confederation shooter. We’ve also opened up our aisles, added more lights, put in granite counter tops and more. We’re catering more and more to suburban moms and dads. We now rent 160 firearm types and have instructors available for anyone who needs them.

“Over the last few decades our consumers have changed and we’ve changed with them,” said Potter. “I just sold an AR-15 to a guy who has hunted all his life but now wants a rifle for home defense. We used to get mostly hunters. Now we also get a lot of women and young men who want to shoot recreationally and to defend themselves.”

Another must-visit regional store is Bill’s Gun Shop and Range, which has two locations in Minnesota (Robbinsdale and Circle Pines) and one in Hudson, Wis.—each location has 64 lanes in its range and rents guns. Owner John Monson says, “Guns are still selling, but sales have eased off a bit. For a while it was challenging just to keep guns and ammo in stock. We’re fully stocked now. We have ranges at all our stores, host a ladies night every Wednesday and cherish our customers here in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I could sell more guns and certainly more ammo online, but I don’t want to do that. I serve the customers who come to our stores.”

Other regional gun stores are also earning their customers. In Ashland, Va., there’s Green Top, a 55,000-sq.-ft. gun store that’s a local landmark. Then there’s ATP Guns in Summerville, S.C., a store that says it is “The Most Lady-Friendly Gun Shop this Side of the Mason-Dixon Line.” They have a “Ladies Night” every Tuesday and Thursday and explain that these training sessions are designed for “ladies that have never shot a gun” or who were “trained incorrectly… .”

Many store owners realize that there are now more than 5 million women participating in the shooting sports, an increase of 46.5 percent since 2001. In fact, those independent gun stores sold 43 percent of the handguns sold in 2011, according to a report by the NSSF.

This is the kind of thinking and expertise that is winning new customers in the growing marketplace for guns. There are a lot of other examples—Shooter’s World in Tampa, Fla. (see p. 63), the Arkansas Armory near Little Rock, Wades Guns in Bellevue, Wash., and many more. Behind all this growth and innovative thinking is a new future being built on a foundation of pro-Second Amendment legislation and programs backed and run by the NRA.

SIDEBAR: Welcome to Shooter's World

A recent NSSF survey found that the primary motive for recent handgun purchases is concealed carry (32 percent), followed by non-competitive shooting (28 percent) and then home defense (24 percent). Two-thirds of handgun owners said they are likely to purchase another handgun within the next year. Also, 30 percent of handgun purchasers bought their first and only handgun within the past year.