La Grange, MO Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Section 215.426, Copper Wire or Cable, Collectors and Dealers to Keep Register, requires every purchaser or collector of, or dealer in, junk, scrap metal or any secondhand property to keep a register containing a written or electronic record for each purchase or trade in which each type of metal subject to the Section is obtained for value, with separate records for copper, brass or bronze; aluminum wire, cable, pipe, tubing, bar, ingot, rod, fitting or fastener; and metal knowingly used for farming purposes as defined at Section 350.010, RSMo.

Subsection A requires the record to include a copy of the seller's driver's license or government-issued photo identification showing a current address, plus the date, time, place and full weight-based description of the transaction. Subsection B requires those records to be kept for a minimum of twenty-four months and made available for inspection by any Law Enforcement Officer on request. Subsection D exempts three categories: transactions of fifty dollars or less, transactions with an established business the dealer already knows and has an existing relationship with, and transactions where the regulated metal is only a minor part of a larger item, except equipment used in generating or transmitting electrical power or telecommunications.

The Code pairs this register duty with related scrap-metal sections: Section 215.427 bars buying or possessing metal beer kegs except from the brewer, Section 215.428 bars buying metal traceable to cemeteries, utilities or political subdivisions without written authorization, and Section 215.429 requires payments of five hundred dollars or more to be made by check or a bank-recorded method.