The American gun shop has gone from a one-dollar federal license and a hardware store counter to the instant background check and the outdoor megastore. These are the moments that shaped the shops reviewed on Gun Shop Guide.com.
1902 Frederick A. Scheel opens a hardware and general store in Sabin, Minnesota. It grows into Scheels, the sporting goods chain behind stores like Scheels, Fargo.
1934 The National Firearms Act puts a federal tax and registration on machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and suppressors. Gun shops still handle NFA transfers under it today; sister site NFA Buyers Guide.com covers the details.
1938 The Federal Firearms Act creates the first federal license for gun dealers. A dealer license costs one dollar a year.
1939 Gunsmith Bob Brownell starts the business in Montezuma, Iowa, that becomes Brownells, still a go-to source of parts and tools for shop gunsmiths.
1949 Joyce Hornady founds Hornady in Grand Island, Nebraska. Hornady Manufacturing ammunition and reloading gear are now on the shelf of almost every gun shop.
1961 Dick, Mary and Jim Cabela start Cabela’s in Nebraska, selling fishing flies by mail from a kitchen table.
1968 The Gun Control Act of 1968 replaces the 1938 law and sets up the Federal Firearms License system dealers work under today, including the purchase form every buyer fills out at the counter.
1972 Johnny Morris starts Bass Pro Shops selling fishing tackle in his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri. One of its best-known stores is the Bass Pro Pyramid in Memphis.
1986 The Firearm Owners Protection Act lets licensed dealers do business at gun shows in their own state, linking the gun shop and the gun show for good.
1993 Licensed dealers peak at roughly 260,000 in April. In November the Brady Act raises the dealer license fee from $10 a year to $200 for the first three years.
1994 On February 28 the interim Brady rules take effect, and dealers begin presale checks on handgun buyers through local law enforcement.
1995 By September the number of licensed dealers has fallen about 35 percent from the 1993 peak, as kitchen-table licenses drop away. How many gun shops have gone out of business? looks at the numbers.
1998 On November 30 the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) goes live, and dealers start running instant checks on all firearm sales.
2017 Bass Pro Shops completes its purchase of Cabela’s in September, putting two of the biggest names in outdoor retail under one roof.
2020 NICS processes a record 39.7 million firearm background checks as millions of first-time buyers walk into gun shops.
2023 Smith & Wesson opens its new headquarters in Maryville, Tennessee, after more than 170 years in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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Dates are drawn from federal records and company histories. Spot something that needs a correction? Send it through Contact Us.
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