A witness mentioned a white cloud of smoke. Home made black powder?
Smokeless powder is just that relatively smokeless. Black powder makes a thick grey cloud that hangs around for a few seconds as it disperses. This was almost assuredly homemade powder, the images show the hanging smoke and he used electric ignition you can see the batteries under the wooden plank of the “gun” you also can see the breaches capped off this was an electric fired muzzleloader. Potassium nitrate is not a controlled substance in small quantities, you actually could use sodium nitrate or ammonium nitrate as well. Charcoal is the fuel, with sulfur or sugar as a catalyst. Aluminum powder brings up the brilliance and also make a thick white smoke, magnesium as well. Black powder is a invention from BC times you literally can make potassium nitrate from your own urine if you had the time and could take the smells. In the middle.ages the Kings would send out their niter men to gather the stable earth as in horse stables they would take the dirt and straw that the horses had pissed on and mile.it up in niter piles a year later after it ferments you wash it with water mixed with wood ash and set the funk liquid to dry out. Midway through it’s drying crystals will form harvest those as they are nearly pure potassium nitrate it’s how gunpowder was made for thousands of years.