That's up to the store to decide, based on their cost-benefit analysis.
Should the Subway inside the Walmart also be forced to stay open 24 hours? After all, subs are legal, and the Walmart is open. And of course no 24 hour grocery store should be permitted to have a pharmacy which closes at 10 pm, right?
Subway isn't a Wal-Mart product. A better analogy would be the bakery, deli or the meat cutting department if your store has one. However, you would still be comparing apples and oranges. The deli, bakery, and meating cutting departments require specially trained employees and their paygrades reflect this. So unless you're in a market that has a high demand for late night products from one of those three departments, they just wont have people in them all night long. But anyone can fetch ammo from the lock ups. It doesn't require a sporting goods associate. Mostly because there are none anymore. All overnight employees are either stockers, cashiers, supervisors or managers.
Don't even get me started on dry hours, you're just going to get me ranting about how most people are retarded douchebags that can't comprehend the simple concept of different schedules.
While trying to sleep after a hard day at work, my precious rest time is interrupted by a phone call...
Me: Hello
Day Person: Hey what's up?
Me: Nothing, just trying to sleep.
DP: But it's 3pm!
Me: I'm tired! I've been up all night
DP: Ohhh, you're one of those unemployed lazy bastards.
Me: ***** I WILL ******* SHANK YOU!
Ahem...
Cite?
Handgun ammo sits right out on the open shelves at Gander Mtn, Academy, and Bass Pro.
Then perhaps I am wrong. I thought that all handgun ammo, with exception to that which can be used with rifles(mostly .22LR) had to be locked up, whereas rifle and shotgun ammo did not.
Ever notice how the fitting rooms are closed after 10pm? If you're lucky the craft section will be open after 10. It wouldn't surprise me to not have anyone manning sporting goods.
The fitting rooms are locked to prevent shoplifting, since there is no one to man the station. However, in most cases, if you ask, they will fetch the keys and let you try things on.
The only time when there is no one assigned to a department, is when the store is terribly short staffed and that department is considered low priority. What is a low priority and what is a high priority depends entirely upon the co-manager working that night, or the assistant manager if there is no co-manager working that night. From my experience, the only departments that actually close(as in roped off) when there is no one assigned, are electronics and photo. But YMMV, and it will. And even so, unless they are waxing that area, there should still be someone willing to assist you. If no one is willing to do so, then make a complaint with the store manager. More often than not, if they will fix the issue. If they do not, take it to the district manager. If you do not get a satisfactory response, take it to corporate. This is all politics, so treat it as such or don't expect your complaint to get anywhere. How much money they are losing by not letting you purchase ammo at a time that is most convenient to you, should work fairly well with a manager.
Their bonus is directly affected by your business(or lack thereof), and in stores that struggle for bonuses, they'll bend over backwards to get you to spend more money. Stores that are consistently hitting the maximum bonuses allowed, might not give a flying frak. This is where the district manager comes in handy. Not sure how things work on their end. Employees will receive bonuses before managers, and there may be times when the peons will get a bonus whereas the managers get notta. A lot of peons don't care about their bonuses. Their bonus will never exceed $2200 in a year. Manager bonuses are significantly higher. So they are far more likely to care about their bonus, since it will be a significant portion of their income.
Something to remember about bonuses, is that by not doing business, at best you simply wont have a positive impact. But take one of those surveys and rate the store poorly, it will take away from their bonus. So basically, not only are you not adding to the bonus, you're now effectively chiseling away at it. With enough negative feedback, they can lose most, if not all, of their bonus. For some store managers, that is over $100,000 you just cost them.
Knowledge is power.