PROTECTION: Real estate isn’t all cheery open houses and glitzy listings. Here’s why 1 in 6 agents carries a gun.

Scott Smith works as a real estate agent in Baltimore. He’s in and out of properties every day, never knowing what he could encounter. He protects himself thanks to a concealed carry permit he received legally.

Smith, who has also worked as a firearms instructor, says he’s never used the gun he legally carries when he’s conducting business. But he trains regularly so he’s prepared, knowing fellow real estate agents who have been assaulted or robbed in the course of just doing their jobs. Smith has had his own scare.

“I was completely taken off guard,” he explained. “There was a person hiding in the house. Actually they were hiding in the shower. I had no clue they were there, and that was obviously pretty scary.”

Real estate, by its very nature, is an industry that comes with some risk. Real estate agents regularly visit homes with floor plans they’ve never seen. They often meet strangers at the homes they’re trying to sell. A 2018 report from the National Association of Realtors showed 33 percent of those surveyed experienced a situation that made them fear for their safety. The survey reported 5 percent of respondents claimed they’d been the victim of crime at work.

John Smaby is a Minnesota Realtor who grew up in real estate thanks to a Realtor father. He’s been in the industry for decades and was recently installed as the new president of the NAR.

Smaby told Circa, “The real estate business is really an individual business, so we many times meet people in places that could put ourselves in peril. We can’t do it blind.”

Smart.