What underground gun dealers in the "shoot-me state" think about the new concealed carry l

Disclaimer: All these photos were shot with a crappy cell phone camera. I didn't bring a camera because I knew the pair of us wouldn't be welcome at a gun show in Jefferson City, mid-Missouri. And that wasn't my biggest elephant to shoot that day. (puns)

I wanted to know how dealers at underground gun shows felt about the new SB 656, the legislation that transformed Missouri into the "shoot-me state," according to the New York Times.

There are a cornucopia of opinions and shouting matches when it comes to discussing this gun law in a gun show. Anyone can walk into a gun show and buy something as deadly and notorious as an assault rifle, regardless of their intentions. Unlicensed dealers without background checks can simply judge based on intuition.

While this bill allows concealed carriers to use deadly force if they think it's necessary, which could disproportionately impact people of color, another component is that the bill doesn't require the same gun-safety training when buying a gun from a federally licensed dealer.

I asked many dealers in this Jefferson City gun show a question: We need to train and pass safety tests to drive a car, to prevent ourselves from putting other civilians in harms way and to protect ourselves. So shouldn't the same idea apply to guns? What do you have to say about that?

Not surprisingly, many weren't open to talking. Some dealers and customers scratched their heads and said they hadn't thought about it that way.

But then they would mumble something about "journalists" and "the government" and continue to browse for a rifle. Maybe they would wrap their purchase in brightly colored paper for a family Christmas gift? Or maybe that sweet old woman in the hideous camouflage-print jeggings could actually have other intentions. A dealer wouldn't know where these guns could end up, and what's often worse is that they don't care, as long as a profit is made.

Gun shows are still an all-you-can-buy buffet, anything from AK-47 machine guns to old-style WW2 rifles from a private collection. However, some of the dealers I spoke with in this particular gun show, both private dealers and federally licensed, had a beef with the new law. One man with TRUMP/PENCE stickers all over his merchandise said that he agreed with Gov. Jay Nixon's decision to veto the bill. Another man who was a federally licensed dealer selling at a gun show said that the law was just "plain stupid."

This is Scott Hamlin, not a licensed dealer, who has a soft spot for old-time rifles. Between the guns he collects and the guns he is currently trying to sell, his total inventory is somewhere between 50-60 guns. In this Jefferson City show, this is his process for selling a gun:

"I’d ask to see if they have a Missouri state driver’s license. We don’t do any kind of background checks. Technically I don’t know if they can legally own or not. You ask them. That doesn’t stop them from lying to you. You can kind of tell by a person, if they’re sketchy or not. How they dress. How they act. The demeanor goes a long way. If I saw someone, for lack of a better word, seemed like a thug or criminal type, I would refrain from selling to them."

He's behind the bill no matter what his other gun-dealing buddies think, and he believes that every person regardless of age, sex, and gender should be able to protect themselves:

"To be able to say that to protect yourself you have to go to the sheriff, you have to go through a background check, you have to get your fingerprinted, you have to get licensed. Sometimes that’s cost-prohibitive for people to do. Who’s to say that person can’t protect themselves versus someone who can afford it? So by making it where you don’t have to get a license now, I think more people will be able to carry and protect themselves. And to me, that’s the whole reasoning behind the bill."

An anonymous gun and knife dealer from Jefferson City.

I asked another private dealer named Ed Keyser if he thought that the new law had it's problems. I asked if someone isn't forced to demonstrate how to safely operate a gun, could this be more dangerous to law enforcement and to civilians at the end of the day?

"It could be. You could go through the training and still something bad happens and you’ll get in trouble. I think people, before they carry firearms, should have some degree of training. Just to protect them and the people they’re around. I don’t think anyone and everyone should have the right to carry a firearm. Concealed or otherwise. I think that it’s very very beneficial to go through the training that includes both the castle doctrine, plus the live fire experience and earn the right to carry a concealed permit."

But Keyser is still selling at a gun show, without a federal license, without background checks...to me this seemed a bit hypocritical.

Like every other unlicensed dealer at the show, I asked Keyser how he evaluates an individual before selling them a gun:

"I probably wouldn’t ask somebody too many questions, I’d probably observe them, make sure they’re sober. I’ll ask for identification. And that’s about it. If they have the money, I’ll sell them the gun, if I think they’re responsible enough. A lot of the dealers in here are selling personal weapons, they’re not required to go through a background check. They're just like me. I wouldn’t even know how to do a background check on a person. It’s my personal obligation to make sure, to the best of my ability, that my guns don’t end up in the hands of irresponsible owners."

Talking to Keyser was like sitting in a leaky kayak full of water and trying to empty it with a bucket. Yes, he's had arguments over the law with his buddies. Yes, he believes that the law has it's weaknesses in wording and policy overall. But he's not federally licensed and sells without background checks or permits. The only thing he requires is a Missouri driver's license, obviously easy to fake in the first place.

His last statement was this:

"I guess it’s everybody’s right to carry a gun in this country. But I don’t think it is. There’s some personal responsibility involved in it. I’m not disappointed that the bill passed, that the governor's veto was overthrown. I’m not disappointed. But I’d rather it stayed the way it was. I’m a minority there, amongst my cohorts."

Needless to say, I left the gun show around 15 minutes after I was threatened by another man in a hideous camouflage jacket. (Apparently my camera was making the vendors nervous. Not like the entire set-up of selling assault rifles to random strangers was scarier or anything.)

I already had everything I needed, but somehow still felt more confused than ever before.