Ozark and gun purchase.

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Prof Young

New member
So was watching the Netflix series Ozark. In one episode a guy buys an AR at Walmart, and walks out with it that day, no background check, no questions asked.

Is that a real depiction of buying a gun in Missouri? I've only bought guns in IL, so don't know how things are in other states.

Life is Good
Prof Young
 
They used to sell AR's at Wal-Mart. At least in my town. Awhile back they quit. I believe they still have the mini 14. Less scary looking.. no mags or anything though. Always wished they would dip into that market. One of my sergeants was able to buy an AR fairly cheap when they quit selling them. I forget make, but I believe he said it was around $400. He also got a "tactical" shotgun for cheap too since those are also scary, and had to go.
 
Walmarts up here in Alaska still sell ARs.

Haven't seen the show Ozarks, but if its one of those 'reality' type shows, good chance its actually scripted and it was filmed so as to make it appear like they could walk in and out buying a rifle without a NICS check.
 
I've only bought guns in IL, so don't know how things are in other states.
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If that's your only experience, then yes, things in other states are MUCH simpler.

You'll always fill out the 4473, so if that wasn't shown, it could be an agenda to make it look even easier than it is. Or they just skipped it because it's not a documentary and/or they don't know or care about the actual laws anyway.

After the 4473 is filled out, some states exempt you from the NICS phone call if you have a concealed permit. MO isn't one of those states, so a phone call would be made. But you could walk out in under 30 minutes.

Educate your IL friends - there's no reason to put up with the FOID registration nonsense.
 
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In the las 3 months I have bought an AR, a 9mm semi-auto and a revolver. I walked in, paid my money, filled out the form and walked out with my gun. The NICS check was done over the phone while I was getting my receipt.
Isn't that the way it is supposed to be done?
 
That's the way it's done in my state (MS).

4473...NICS check, unless you have a firearms permit, in which case, there's no NICS check...give them your money...walk out with firearm.

However, Wal-Marts in our area quit selling ARs about 2 years ago.
 
I don't live in MO, but I do live in AR (Arkansas, not Armalite), and I grew up in the AR Ozarks. As far as I can tell, gun laws in MO and AR are very similar. While Wal-Mart doesn't sell ARs (Armalites this time), I can walk into any gun store, plunk down my cash, fill out the 4473, and walk out with my gun 10 minutes later. Based on the link that zoomie provided, my CHCL exempts me from the background check. However, the last couple of times I bought guns, the FFLs called NICS, anyway. Typically, the only question asked is, "You need ammo?"

ETA: For a real eye-opener, ask us about private sales . . .
 
I bought a marlin 60 from them here In Ohio, only the rural walmarts sell guns the ones near the cities just carry ammo.

Like was said, NICS, pay, go.

They walked me out of the store before handing me the gun (which was in a box).. weird.
But this was before the internet was such a good source of deals on guns and could not find one for a decent price at my usual LGS.
 
In the las 3 months I have bought an AR, a 9mm semi-auto and a revolver. I walked in, paid my money, filled out the form and walked out with my gun. The NICS check was done over the phone while I was getting my receipt.
Isn't that the way it is supposed to be done?
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Depends where you live and what you have for credentials.
 
Works that way in Florida - immediate handgun possession requires and concealed license otherwise it's a 3-day wait.
 
Don P said:
Depends where you live and what you have for credentials.
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And what those credentials mean. In many states, a carry license/permit is evidence of a background check, and no further background check is needed. In other states, even with a carry permit the FFL has to call in for a background check.

As Don P wrote, it depends on where you live.
 
Prof Young,

I will assume you are referring to the Down syndrome character named Tuck who makes a straw purchase of a rifle for 13-year old Jonah Byrde. That scene is from Ozark’s Season-1/Episode-9. Maybe I’m being picky, but a couple of corrections are needed here: The store was not a Walmart and the rifle was not an AR, it was a Ruger Mini-14 Tactical Semi-Auto Rifle.

The store depicted in the scene didn’t come close to resembling the inside of a Walmart. It was a fictitious big-box sporting goods store named “Ozark Superstore” - as printed on a large sign above the counter and on the salesman’s company shirt and again on his nametag.

The fictitious store was made to look more like the inside of a chain sporting goods outlet like Sportsman’s Warehouse. They are well known for their large taxidermied animal’s placed throughout their stores which were copied in scenes throughout the fictitious store as well.

Interestingly that scene was not actually filmed in Missouri, but rather in Georgia - which does have Sportsman’s Warehouse chains – and whereas Missouri does not.

Ozark - the Netflix series - is supposed to take place around resorts on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, but most of the filming is actually done in the Georgia area at Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona because it is cheaper to film there.

As for your question, the answer was “NO”. The scene was not accurate to a real world purchase, but only because the liberal producers did not take the 3 seconds needed to film the counter clerk calling in the mandatory NICS background check as required by law.

Otherwise the sale of the rifle was fairly accurate to an actual firearms purchase that would occur in both Missouri and Georgia.

Suspiciously the producers meticulously took the time to show all the other proper steps for a gun purchase except the background check. The picture ID was properly requested and the ATF form 4473 was required to be filled out, but conspicuously the producers couldn’t be bothered to add the NICS background call.

The producers did however find the time to have the store clerk ask if Tuck wanted a “high-capacity” magazine with his purchase; a buzzword incorrectly used by liberal anti-gunners to create panic when describing the ordinary “standard-capacity” magazine that is already included with practically every tactical 5.56 caliber rifle purchased these days.

Worse than that however was a scene later in the episode where the producers had the 13-year old boy test fire the Mini-14 in the woods only to shockingly discover it fired fully automatic. That was absolute crap.

Not only is there no such thing as an off-the-shelf fully automatic Mini-14 offered in stores today, but even if there were, it would still have required months for Tuck to wait for his $200 tax stamp application to be approved by the ATF and the gun would have cost $10,000 or more to acquire from the few collectors willing to part with one after production stopped back in the 90’s.

I am quite confident the omission of a NICS check, the “high-capacity” comment, and the outrageous fully automatic capability were overtly intentional and can be attributed to the ignorant Hollywood mentality and their constant attempts to create a false narrative to help drive the liberal anti-gun agenda.

For anyone interested, the scope purchased in that scene was a Vortex Crossfire II 3-9x40 Riflescope.
 
G-ManX said:
I am quite confident the omission of a NICS check, the “high-capacity” comment, and the outrageous fully automatic capability were overtly intentional and can be attributed to the ignorant Hollywood mentality and their constant attempts to create a false narrative to help drive the liberal anti-gun agenda.
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You can't have it both ways, IMHO. The "inaccuracies" in the portrayal were either due to ignorance, or due to a deliberate attempt to convey a false impression. It can't be both. My guess is that it was the latter -- especially the full-auto part. Pretty much any production that uses firearms has a "gun wrangler" associated with the production, and that person would certainly know that you can't walk into a big box store and walk out with a full-auto firearm.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
You can't have it both ways, IMHO. The "inaccuracies" in the portrayal were either due to ignorance, or due to a deliberate attempt to convey a false impression. It can't be both. My guess is that it was the latter -- especially the full-auto part. Pretty much any production that uses firearms has a "gun wrangler" associated with the production, and that person would certainly know that you can't walk into a big box store and walk out with a full-auto firearm.
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Aguila Blanca,

There are no two ways about it. I was pretty clear it was “intentional”. Thereafter I merely explained the causation for their “intentional” acts as being the result of their overall “ignorant Hollywood mentality”. Such a mentality is what compels them, “to create a false narrative to help drive the liberal anti-gun agenda”.

In other words, my inference to their “ignorance” was not in regard to their culpability or intellect towards creating the deceptive scene in the show – as that was quite “intentional” - but rather it was a reference to their “ignorant” liberal state-of-being which compels them to “intentionally” construct deceptive scenes they know to be a “false narrative” in the first place.

They are unaware they lack integrity, and are willing to “intentionally” do anything deceptive as long as it serves their selfish purpose – therein lies the “ignorance”. Otherwise you and I wholeheartedly appear to agree.
 
Thanks G-ManX

G-ManX
Thanks for all the clarification. Much appreciated. Being in IL we wait overnight for long guns and three days for a hand gun. Some times longer as the last two times I bought a hand gun the background check was put "on delay." Anyway, for me, walking into any gun store and walking out with a gun on the same day is a novelty. I forgot about the full auto part. Seriously amazing inaccuracy.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Prof Young said:
I forgot about the full auto part. Seriously amazing inaccuracy.
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Considering the source, not all that amazing. And not so much "inaccuracy" as "propaganda," i.e. disinformation.

I'm going to have to take issue with G-ManX regarding ignorance. "Ignorant" means "unknowing." The Hollywood types are not unknowing. They know about the Second Amendment, and they know we can't stroll into a Wal-Mart and walk out with a machine gun. So their intentional misrepresentations of reality are not "ignorant," they are malicious misrepresentations.

Remember Hanlon's Razor? "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"[ I ascribe to that theory. In this case, I don't believe the misrepresentations can be adequately explained by stupidity (or ignorance). I think we have to accept that they are due to malice, not ignorance.
 
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Aguila Blanca said:
The Hollywood types are not unknowing. They know about the Second Amendment, and they know we can't stroll into a Wal-Mart and walk out with a machine gun. So their intentional misrepresentations of reality are not "ignorant," they are malicious misrepresentations.
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While I too believe for the most part that the "Hollywood types are not unknowing", I have a hard time believing that their "intentional misrepresentations" are with malice. I just see a small budget production of a made for T.V. series using props and a script that need not be completely accurate in order to entertain the majority of their targeted audience. Some of it is embellished to create more drama and suspense, but not seriously intended for anti-gun propaganda. Unless one rally wants to read that into it. Many hard core pro-gun folks interpret the 2nd amendment to state there should be no restrictions as to who can buy what firearm...........basically what the show is portraying. Anti's could say the show is pro gun propaganda as to how a gun purchase should be....again, whatever some folks want to read into it. To me it is just a stupid show with an inaccurate scrip and props, with the director, producer and writer, hoping most folks won't notice.
 
It's all about entertainment - not reality

I am reasonably certain that the producers, writers and directors of Ozark know you cannot purchase a fully automatic rifle at a store similar to Walmart. And, even if there were some involved with Ozark who did not know, someone would have let them know before the script for episode 9 was finalized.

Most producers/writers/directors of entertainment drama are not that concerned with fact checking the correctness of a script - even if the show is a supposed documentary. Don't we all know that? Entertainment value is the primary quality determining decisions on such matters.

Personally, if I had directed episode 9 - I would have shown the "National Instant Criminal Background Check System" telephone call step in acquiring a "modern" rifle. I think it would have increased entertainment value for the scene. Therefore, I am guessing the director/writer purposely made the scene an anti-gun-fake-news type of thing in order to tick off gun hobbyists and 2nd amendment supporters.
Why would a director/writer do that? Because it increases viewership, social media buzz and therefore profits.

The idea that the director/writer is stupid is unlikely. The idea that the writer/director is an anti-gun-nut with a hidden agenda foisting fake-news is unlikely.

Granted, the whole point of the scene was to show that it is too easy for an individual to acquire a modern firearm. But, if you want to make a politically compelling argument for that, you would not do it with obvious lame inaccuracies - inaccuracies which just defeat an effort to make a compelling argument.
 
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To me it is just a stupid show with an inaccurate scrip and props, with the director, producer and writer, hoping most folks won't notice
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Since a huge number of the population are not gun aficionados, they wouldn't know if it was right or wrong - called creative license. And when every second counts for ad revenue, something that doesn't add excitement winds up on the cutting room floor.
 
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