They don't make them any better than this guy! IMHO
Photo/Jack Orton
Bob Pucci of the Bob and Rocco Gun Shows plays with Rocco, his black Labrador retriever, recently at the Waukesha County Exposition Center
Popular gun show operator vows to go on
Tougher rules, health issues are factors
By SCOTT WILLIAMS
[email protected]
Posted: March 12, 2007
Waukesha - Once a year, Bob Pucci gets a gift box with an assortment of sausages from the manager of the Waukesha County Exposition Center.
It is a gesture of appreciation reserved for the expo center's top 10 customers - that is, people who rent space for events in the county-owned facility.
As proprietor of the Bob and Rocco Gun Shows, Pucci has been a valued customer at fairgrounds and civic centers throughout Wisconsin for nearly 20 years. On almost any given weekend, his shows match up gun dealers and other merchandisers with thousands of hunters, collectors and hobbyists.
"He's all over the state," said Teri Adlam, manager of the expo center at 1000 Northview Road. "The guy just knows what he's doing."
Aiming to attract more young people to the shows, Pucci long ago began sharing top billing with his favorite hunting companion, a black Labrador retriever named Rocco. But the curtain soon could be coming down on the Bob and Rocco show.
Not only do gun dealers face a nearly constant threat of tougher government regulations, Pucci is battling health problems and can find nobody interested in taking over his business.
At 58, the Janesville resident said heart trouble, arthritis and other ailments are slowing him down.
"I don't know how much longer I'm going to be around here," he said one recent Saturday afternoon while looking around a Waukesha arena packed with exhibitors and patrons.
Asked how long he plans to stay on the show circuit, he answered without hesitation: "Until I die."
Even gun show critics acknowledge that Pucci's shows are well managed and within the law.
Jeri Bonavia, a Milwaukee gun-control activist who has scrutinized many Bob and Rocco shows, said although she is troubled by the unregulated gun sales, she said Pucci has built a strong following by emphasizing hunting as a wholesome outlet for children.
Bonavia's group, the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, is planning to renew its push soon for increased state regulation of gun shows.
"Even if he is not trying to be part of the problem," she said of Pucci, "I guess I'd like to see him step up and become part of the solution."
Pucci is philosophical about gun control, saying that liberals want to tell hunters and other gun enthusiasts how to live their lives.
"It's a culture battle," he said.
Pucci worked briefly as a police officer in Edgerton and later coordinated shipments of arms and other supplies to anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-'80s. But it was his passion for hunting that led Pucci to start the gun shows, as well as the National Take a Kid Hunting Foundation, a non-profit group funded by Bob and Rocco proceeds.
Jerry Wallendal, a landowner who has hosted many of Pucci's hunting groups near the Horicon Marsh, recalled one time when Pucci showed up for a goose hunting expedition dressed in a rented goose costume.
"He loves to see people have a good time hunting," Wallendal said.
Starting with his first gun show in Oshkosh in 1990, Pucci built a statewide network that peaked at 35 shows a year but has since tapered off to 25 a year. Bob and Rocco this year will take their act to Green Bay, La Crosse, Janesville, Eau Claire, Madison, Waukesha and elsewhere.
After a disagreement over parking fees at State Fair Park, that show is relocating this October to the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin.
Pucci's business is based on vendor fees and admission revenue, while the gun dealers and other merchandisers get to keep whatever they generate in sales.
Dan Mattson, a Marshfield merchandiser who has been on the Bob and Rocco circuit for three years, never misses a show.
Noting that other gun show organizers in Wisconsin have faded away in recent years, Mattson said Pucci's shows are probably the biggest and best still running. He fears that government interference soon will have Bob and Rocco in retreat, too.
"The anti-gunners might win by attrition," he said.
Photo/Jack Orton
Bob Pucci of the Bob and Rocco Gun Shows plays with Rocco, his black Labrador retriever, recently at the Waukesha County Exposition Center
Popular gun show operator vows to go on
Tougher rules, health issues are factors
By SCOTT WILLIAMS
[email protected]
Posted: March 12, 2007
Waukesha - Once a year, Bob Pucci gets a gift box with an assortment of sausages from the manager of the Waukesha County Exposition Center.
It is a gesture of appreciation reserved for the expo center's top 10 customers - that is, people who rent space for events in the county-owned facility.
As proprietor of the Bob and Rocco Gun Shows, Pucci has been a valued customer at fairgrounds and civic centers throughout Wisconsin for nearly 20 years. On almost any given weekend, his shows match up gun dealers and other merchandisers with thousands of hunters, collectors and hobbyists.
"He's all over the state," said Teri Adlam, manager of the expo center at 1000 Northview Road. "The guy just knows what he's doing."
Aiming to attract more young people to the shows, Pucci long ago began sharing top billing with his favorite hunting companion, a black Labrador retriever named Rocco. But the curtain soon could be coming down on the Bob and Rocco show.
Not only do gun dealers face a nearly constant threat of tougher government regulations, Pucci is battling health problems and can find nobody interested in taking over his business.
At 58, the Janesville resident said heart trouble, arthritis and other ailments are slowing him down.
"I don't know how much longer I'm going to be around here," he said one recent Saturday afternoon while looking around a Waukesha arena packed with exhibitors and patrons.
Asked how long he plans to stay on the show circuit, he answered without hesitation: "Until I die."
Even gun show critics acknowledge that Pucci's shows are well managed and within the law.
Jeri Bonavia, a Milwaukee gun-control activist who has scrutinized many Bob and Rocco shows, said although she is troubled by the unregulated gun sales, she said Pucci has built a strong following by emphasizing hunting as a wholesome outlet for children.
Bonavia's group, the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, is planning to renew its push soon for increased state regulation of gun shows.
"Even if he is not trying to be part of the problem," she said of Pucci, "I guess I'd like to see him step up and become part of the solution."
Pucci is philosophical about gun control, saying that liberals want to tell hunters and other gun enthusiasts how to live their lives.
"It's a culture battle," he said.
Pucci worked briefly as a police officer in Edgerton and later coordinated shipments of arms and other supplies to anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-'80s. But it was his passion for hunting that led Pucci to start the gun shows, as well as the National Take a Kid Hunting Foundation, a non-profit group funded by Bob and Rocco proceeds.
Jerry Wallendal, a landowner who has hosted many of Pucci's hunting groups near the Horicon Marsh, recalled one time when Pucci showed up for a goose hunting expedition dressed in a rented goose costume.
"He loves to see people have a good time hunting," Wallendal said.
Starting with his first gun show in Oshkosh in 1990, Pucci built a statewide network that peaked at 35 shows a year but has since tapered off to 25 a year. Bob and Rocco this year will take their act to Green Bay, La Crosse, Janesville, Eau Claire, Madison, Waukesha and elsewhere.
After a disagreement over parking fees at State Fair Park, that show is relocating this October to the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin.
Pucci's business is based on vendor fees and admission revenue, while the gun dealers and other merchandisers get to keep whatever they generate in sales.
Dan Mattson, a Marshfield merchandiser who has been on the Bob and Rocco circuit for three years, never misses a show.
Noting that other gun show organizers in Wisconsin have faded away in recent years, Mattson said Pucci's shows are probably the biggest and best still running. He fears that government interference soon will have Bob and Rocco in retreat, too.
"The anti-gunners might win by attrition," he said.
