FLASH!  John Ross Now UTAH Certified! You can now be legal to carry in Missouri and 27 other states for 5 years with a $59 license by taking his class!

    Missouri is a shall-issue Carry state.  To qualify, the applicant must have received specific, CCW-appropriate training by a firearms instructor authorized under the statute to provide the specific training mandated by the statute. 

    This $125 (or $100) is for the 4-hour classroom session.  At the end of class you will receive course completion certificates that will allow you to immediately apply for Utah, Maine, and Florida non-resident permits, as these states do not require the range session.  Most opt for the Utah permit as it is good in 28 states, lasts 5 years, and costs only $59.

    John encourages everyone to come to the range session (it's fun and you learn a lot) but ammunition costs have risen to the point that John can no longer supply so much ammo to so many people as he has in the past. To shoot his guns with his ammo on range day, after May 1, 2006, it will cost an additional $20, payable when you show up at the range.  Given that he now qualifies people for a 28-state, 5-year $59 permit, his class is an even better deal than it was when ammo was included.  The $20 covers range time (on John's private range--no distractions), guns, ammo, targets, hearing protection, and a grilled lunch. John has some eye protection but asks you to bring yours if you have any. 

    Classroom time is currently held in one 4 1/2-hour session on a variety of weekday evenings 6PM-10:30PM, and (for Missouri-issued permits) a four-hour live-fire and discussion portion completed on the weekends.  You do not have to do the live-fire weekend session on the weekend immediately following your class--you can do it on a later weekend if you have schedule conflicts.  You can do your live-fire session BEFORE the classroom session, if that is more convenient. 

Glock 9mm
Beretta 9mm
S&W 9mm
SIG 9mm
Ruger 9mm
1911 .45
S&W .38/357s in various sizes & weights
Seecamp & Kel-Tec .32s
Full auto Glock 18 9mm machine pistol
Full auto M1A1 .45 Thompson submachine gun
Full auto H&K MP5 9mm submachine gun
Full auto suppressed UZI 9mm submachine gun
Full auto Steyr AUG .223 select fire battle rifle
Full auto AK-47 7.62x39 select fire battle rifle
Full auto BAR machine gun
S&W .500 Magnum revolver
27 ounce .44 Magnum revolver

9mm Tracer ammo is available.

    Tracer ammo, free food, and exotic guns to shoot--Do the other classes you've looked into offer that?  Why full autos and tracers in a Concealed Carry class?  Because making any course more interesting, exciting, and memorable promotes both learning and knowledge retention.  No wonder people come from other states just to take John's course!

    Email  jrinvest@earthlink.net  Put "CCW Training" and the date of the class in the subject line.  Make sure you put all your phone numbers in your email.

Phone (314) 308-8261    Leave message with callback number if email is inconvenient.

I'm not in St. Louis County.  Will my sheriff accept a training certificate from your class?  
Yes.  Statute 571.094 RSMo specifies what credentials the instructor needs and what material must be taught. John Ross has three accepted credentials (only one is needed) and his course has specifically been designed to comply with the new Missouri law.  His credentials and course syllabus are on file with every sheriff in the state.  If your sheriff tells you that he's accepting only training certificates given by certain people (i.e. his deputy), he is not complying with the law and will soon be compelled to do so by a judge.  As a practical matter, John has trained a large number of people already and both he and his course are rapidly becoming known in Missouri counties other than St. Louis.  Furthermore, his credentials are on file in all 114 counties. Your sheriff may have a specific form he wants John to sign.  Get one of these forms in advance and bring it to John's class.

About Your Instructor

    Machine pistol, submachine gun, light machine gun, and heavy machine gun shoots and instruction also available on a daily rate plus ammo costs basis, for private citizens, clubs, and groups as well as police officers.  This includes aerial and moving target shooting and instruction with rifle and submachine gun, if desired.  Go here for details.

    John Ross was instrumental in the fight to get Missouri's carry rights back.  (Go here to get the whole story.) In 1992 he was the person who personally hired a professional lobbyist to find a helpful legislator and get a Right-To-Carry bill introduced in Missouri for the first time, where it passed overwhelmingly in the House but not the Senate.  From that moment, the push was on to rescind Missouri's 1874 prohibition on carrying a firearm for protection.  Between 1994 and 1996 John served as President of the Missouri Legislative Issues Council (now Missourians for Public Safety), the parent organization for all the pro-rights groups in the state who were working to make Right-To-Carry happen.  During that period, John was averaging two days a week in the Missouri Capitol working to get concealed carry passed.  Each year from 1992 on, support for Right-To-Carry in Missouri grew, and more and more people came on board to fight for their rights.  In recent years John spent less time in Jefferson City but kept up the pressure in other ways.  In May 2003 he wrote a pro-Right-To-Carry editorial for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that was widely quoted in the Capitol.  This editorial helped sway key legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, to the point of building a majority big enough to override the Governor's veto.  John is very proud to have been a part of the alliance that worked together and made the dream a reality on September 11, 2003.

    Legal Updates

4/21/06

Legal Defense Fund UPDATE: 

11/2/05 

The Bond Recovery Case has been resolved and the surrounding issues will be concluded in about 30 days.  Tim Oliver received the latest billings from the Legal Team.  The invoiced amount through Oct. 31, 2005 was $53,996 for services rendered.

The License To Carry Legal Defense Fund is not accepting further contributions, as the Fund now has the ability to see that the Legal Team is paid in full.  Of course, there may be further small charges.  Tim expects the final bill from Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard on or about December 1. When the legal bills are all paid, the leadership of the grassroots groups who were major contributors to the Fund will be consulted concerning use of remaining monies to help in the fight for Second Amendment Rights in Missouri.

8/20/05:

The Legal Defense Fund still needs money to pay legal fees.  The MissouriCarry forum is having a picnic and raffling off guns to raise money.  Unfortunately, there has been an unpleasant and totally unnecessary pothole in the road.  A so-called "gun rights group" has widely circulated a flier urging gunowners to NOT contribute to the fund, claiming that our legal team did little for the cause and since we now have concealed carry in place, give your money to his "organization" instead.

Here is what you should know about all this: This so-called organization is one person, with a couple of his friends as putative "officers".  Under the bylaws, there are supposed to be regular meetings for the members to vote on issues.  There aren't, because this man knows he would immediately be voted out.   So there aren't any meetings, there isn't a newsletter, there are only a few people soliciting donations (not membership dues, as there are no members) and selling flea-market type trinkets off the website.  All money donated to the so-called organization is just charity for this one person.  The money goes straight into his pocket. 

There are a number of fine gun rights organizations in the state: Gateway Civil Liberties Alliance, Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, Missouri Sport Shooters Association, and Missourians for Public Safety come immediately to mind.  In addition, there are several of us, like Tim Oliver and myself, who have acted in concert with ALL these gun rights groups to get good laws enacted and bad laws repealed. ALL of the people in all of these organizations are volunteers.  Everybody does it for free.  EXCEPT THIS ONE PERSON. 

This person is now making the laughable claim that the legal team at Sandberg, Phoenix, & VonGontard didn't do much for the cause.  Oh really?  Greg Jeffery put it quite well, so I'll quote him here:

"The ONLY reason there is $250,000 of the anti's money on the line at all today is because of the legal team. Judge Ohmer was discussing the bond money that the plaintiffs should be required to put up to cover any damages that their lawsuit may cause. Mr. Newman, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, informed the judge that $5,000 should cover it nicely. Judge Ohmer than asked the assistant AG for his opinion and the AG's rep had no problem with $5,000.

"But because the LDF legal team had been previously recognized by Judge Ohmer as being an intervenor to the lawsuit, Judge Ohmer then asked for the opinion of Peter Von Gontard, attorney for the intervenor. I will never forget when Peter did some quick calculations before the court and informed the judge that he thought the bond should be somewhere between $1 million and $1.5 million. I will NEVER forget the look on the faces of Mr. Newman and Mr. Miller when that figure floated out over the court room and their jaws hit the table.

"The judge took the discussion under advisement and retired to his chambers to deliberate the issue of the amount of the bond. When he returned, Judge Ohmer [say what you want, but he could've easily said $5,000] informed the court that the bond would be $250,000... FIFTY times HIGHER than what the plaintiffs wanted. I will never forget the looks on the faces of Newman and Miller as they rushed to find out where they could raise $250,000 before the deadline that was rapidly approaching. [Note: if they could not raise the bond money, the injunction would have been stopped right then].

"So if you have any questions about the effectiveness of the LDF team, this was just one of the opening shots of the process.

"IF the LDF Team had not been there, the bond very likely would have only been $5,000. But again... BECAUSE the LDF Legal Team was there AND an intervenor in the case, the $5,000 bond became $250,000... and the fate of that $250,000 is still up in the air. In the end, the anti's may lose all the $250,000... most of the $250,000... part of the $250,000... a little of the $250,000... or none of the $250,000.

Whether or not they eventually lose any of it, please do NOT forget that IF their $250,000 had NOT been put AT RISK as bond money, the anti's would have had that money to do more legal "mischief". But with the $250,000 on the line, they had to rein in some of what they could have done, and the threat of this loss of funds helped us out more than most will ever realize. And this is just one of the many contributions to the court battle made by the LDF Legal Team."

"I would add that since their money is still at risk, and has been for almost TWO YEARS, these people have been very reluctant to back up their other threats of lawsuits in every county, etc."

Anyway, we have one guy in Missouri trying to divert funds from the Legal Team and into his own pocket because of his inability to earn a living on his own merits.  Ignore him.  He's irrelevant.

4/6/04 Rev. B.T. Rice (one of the plaintiffs against us) advocates carry...sort of.  From the Associated Press (and I am not making this up):

    "The Rev. B. T. Rice said he and other ministers will demand today that St. Louis police retrain officers in deadly force and take other corrective steps because two patrolmen fired 28 shots into a car carrying three young children last week.
    "The prominent clergyman said he expects to carry his distress directly to Police Chief Joe Mokwa.
    "Rice said he was so outraged that his first draft of a public statement urged blacks to take advantage of Missouri's concealed weapons law to protect themselves from 'trigger-happy' police. He said he toned down his remarks in the final version, but remains quite upset."

    For those unfamiliar with the story, here is how the Post-Dispatch reported it:

    "Police have said that Emanuel Khaafidh, 34, of Pagedale, got into a scuffle with an officer who had stopped him for weaving on Page Boulevard. Khaafidh was sprayed with pepper spray and he drove away, knocking the officer down, police said.
    "Two other officers used their patrol cars to box in Khaafidh's vehicle in Wellston and together fired 28 shots when Khaafidh rammed both cars in getting away. The officers said they were in fear of their safety, and did not know that Khaafidh's children, 1, 3 and 5, were in the car. One of the officers told superiors he also did not realize that Khaafidh's wife, Venecia, was there too.
    "Only Emanuel Khaafidh was hit. Despite a minor arm wound, he drove to the Pagedale City Hall, where he was arrested with no more shooting. He was later charged with resisting lawful detention, a misdemeanor."

Perhaps Rev. Rice should urge people to download and watch this Chris Rock Public Service Announcement (11meg file) which gives many helpful tips to avoid this exact type of problem. 

3/30/04  Supreme court DENIES plaintiff's motion for rehearing.  Decision is final.

3/9/04 Several other permits issued in other counties.

3/1/04 First Missouri permit issued to Larry Crawford, sponsor of the new law.  Many counties have started taking applications, and others are gearing up to do so shortly.  According to the St. Louis newspaper, St. Louis County intends to bring a Hancock challenge and not issue permits.  This may be bluster and rhetoric, but be advised our legal team is exploring our options here, and things are looking very good.

2/26/04 WE WON A BIG VICTORY! Read the MOSC opinion HERE.  Here's the short version: We won on constitutionality.  We won on vagueness.  We won on usurping the will of the people.  We won (for now) on Hancock in the 110 counties that did not testify for either side.  In the four counties (Jackson, Camden, Cape Girardeau, and Greene) that did introduce testimony, the state is enjoined from enforcing the act, but only to the extent it constitutes an unfunded mandate imposed on these counties.  In other words, these four counties may elect to not issue permits until specific funding is authorized.  In actual fact, the last three of these counties testified for our side that they would all MAKE money on the permit system, and will be taking applications shortly.  Thus, car carry, out-of-state permits, etc. are all good to go everywhere, including these four counties.  (Bills are being written right now that let the fee money be used for all expenses.)  Note the last sentence of the majority opinion: The issue of the bond money goes back to Ohmer's court.  Note also that the majority opinion was five justices.  The two that dissented did so on only one issue: They thought the Hancock ruling should be applied now to all counties.  The verdict that CCW is constitutional was unanimous.

The Supreme Court can, theoretically, change its opinion until March 12, and that is the reason some officials are bleating that car carry and carry with a permit from another area is still illegal.  I'm not a lawyer, so don't ask me for legal advice, but the Supreme Court DISSOLVED Ohmer's injunction.  To me that means car carry and carry with a permit are legal RIGHT NOW.  Yes, the Court could change its mind next week, issue a new opinion that carry is unconstitutional, and reinstate the injunction, at which time car carry would be illegal again.  But the injunction is not in place right now, so the law stands as written and passed. (Since all seven justices agreed the legislature has the authority to make laws regarding concealed carry, four of them would have to flip by March 12 to reinstate the injunction. I think that unlikely.)  However, you may want to wait two weeks before exercising your rights.  It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

The Bad News:  Other counties (and taxpayers in those counties) can, in the next fifteen days, bring suits claiming their county can't afford to process CCW applications and demanding an injunction to prevent the county from processing applications.  Burton Newman is actively soliciting clients to bring such suits.  We may see some counties "opt out" of issuing endorsements. 

The Good News:  Suits seeking injunctions such as Newman is soliciting all have one thing in common: In each case, the plaintiffs must post a bond.  There may be a limited number of people willing to risk losing their houses to preserve the doctrine of victim disarmament in their county.  Burton Newman allegedly put up $75,000 of the $250,000 bond needed with Ohmer's now-dissolved injunction, and that money is still at risk.  Perhaps Newman will be willing to post the bonds for the various new injunctions he's trying to encourage.

What is actually happening:  Some anti-rights police officials are vowing to ignore the Supreme Court's ruling and arrest anyone who has a gun in his car.  This is to be expected, as it ALWAYS happens whenever a freedom-enhancing measure is passed.  Look back to the Civil Rights era.  It was police chiefs that ordered the police dogs and water cannons to be turned loose on the freedom marchers.  It was police chiefs who ordered their officers to keep blacks out of the Forest Park Highlands amusement park in St. Louis right up until it burned down in 1964, even though "Separate but equal" had been struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court almost a decade earlier. 

What to do:  Do not be discouraged.  When the Berlin Wall came down, it took almost a year for East German government to collapse and the last of the thugs who had been in power to leave the area.  America has a similar history, and we are repeating it here in Missouri. 

When you hear Ron Battelle or Bob McCulloch on the television or radio talking about arresting citizens for car carry or carry with a permit from another area, remember the public officials a generation ago who screamed "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" after the Civil Rights Act passed. 

When you hear Burton Newman spout his lies about the law on the radio, remember the Klan lawyers a generation ago who used every false statement they could to thwart the newly restored rights of black citizens. 

When you hear Lyda Krewson pounding on the coffin of her murdered (by a carjacker) husband, demanding that YOU be forced BY LAW to be as defenseless as he was, remember Darnell "Boss Man" McGee.  McGee was the HIV-positive East St. Louis man who, upon discovering his condition, set about to make others share his misery by infecting as many other people as he could before he died.  He succeeded in giving at least 18 Missouri women the AIDS virus before he was killed during a robbery, but his total is several times that, as Illinois health officials refuse to release the number of women McGee infected in his home state.  There will always be people like McGee and Krewson around, trying to make your life as bad as theirs.  Accept that fact, and deal with it.  Shun such people for their reprehensible behavior.

Keep the pressure on!  Sheriffs are elected, and they want to stay in office.  The sheriff of Cape Girardeau about had a stroke when he saw the Supreme Court ruling that implied he wanted to opt out of accepting applications. He was a witness for OUR SIDE in the hearing, and is accepting applications right now.