Today, the massive Pyramid of Memphis, Tennessee is undoubtedly the jewel in the retail crown of Bass Pro Shops and their indefatigable owner Johnny Morris. But talk just won't stop that Morris is still looking to add competitor Cabela's to a growing list of holdings.
Actually, the latest report is that Cabela's has "opened their books" to BPS in hopes of striking a deal. I've talked about the deal before, and the news that Cabela's chairman Jim Cabela moved 11.2 million shares of the company's stock into irrevocable charitable trusts last month, re-fueled rumors that even if the BPS/Cabela's talks didn't lead to an acquisition, "something big was in the works."
So will Morris/BPS once again roil the industry as he did when he closed the Ranger, Triton, and Stratos buy in 2014?
No one's saying anything in Nebraska or Missouri right now, but industry analysts tell me that they're "intrigued" at the possibilities of Morris creating a "superbrand."
The BPS penchant for "streamlining" would undoubtedly lead to the closure or downsizing of some portion of Cabela's 77 stores in the event of a deal being struck. The Sydney, Nebraska-based company has often been criticized by industry analysts for everything from over-expansion and cannibalization of its existing stores.
Morris, on the other hand, has become known as a businessman with a penchant for advancing in directions that have confounded others. From his creation of a relationship with the PGA TOUR to the metamorphosis of Memphis' former white elephant pyramid into a massive retail, lodging and destination success, he has shown little hesitation when it comes to big moves.
On the legal front, Massachusetts officials are said to still be "reeling" after the Supreme Court ruled that state's Supreme Judicial Court had misapplied the SCOTUS' Heller and McDonald decisions when they upheld a law against stun gun possession.
It wasn't "stunning" to anyone who recognizes a "reach" in logic. The Massachusetts court ruled the Second Amendment didn't extend to stun guns because - wait for it- "they were not in common use at the time of enactment, were not then in common use, and had no place in the military."
Television, radio and internet-based companies had best be on the alert if they do business in Massachusetts. Not even one of those existed contemporaneous to the United States Constitution's creation.
No reeling, but some celebration in Second Amendment circles over yesterday's federal court decision that declared the Northern Mariana Islands' gun control law unconstitutional.
The gun control rules there don't recognize family protection as a valid reason for issuing a required weapons identification card. But Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona disagreed- based on the same Heller and McDonald Supreme Court decisions, and found the law -as it exists- unconstitutional.
Both legal decisions are significant, but even the celebrating Second Amendment advocates caution that wins in the court today could be subject to reversal in the future should the federal courts get "stacked" with anti-gun judges.
True. And as always, we'll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
