St. Matthews Mall Ban's O.C.

Was spending the day with my wife at St. Matthews Mall Shopping when as I entered seen a Mall Cop and noded at him because he was staring at me. I had on my NRA Shooting shirt, and my Beretta PX4 Storm on my hip. After walking threw a few store's The Local St. Matthews Police walked up to me and asked if I had a CCDW. I said no, Kentucky is a right to Open Carry state that I didn't need a CCDW. The police officer told me "Not in the St. Matthews Mall you don't" to go put it in my truck. Now when I walked in the Mall, there were not sign's on the doors saying no weapons or side arm's. So with out making a seen, I put my side arm in the truck. After doing so, talked to one of the officers and he said it was the Mall cop who called them.......Can they do that? make you put your side arm away in your car/truck in a public place like a mall? If not, maybe we should have a shopping spree at the mall of St. Matthews. All us AMERICAN citizens who O.C. in the state of Kentucky go shopping on a weekend. Would there be any laws broke if we did this?.....

charles said:

Was spending the day with my wife at St. Matthews Mall Shopping when as I entered seen a Mall Cop and noded at him because he was staring at me. I had on my NRA Shooting shirt, and my Beretta PX4 Storm on my hip. After walking threw a few store's The Local St. Matthews Police walked up to me and asked if I had a CCDW. I said no, Kentucky is a right to Open Carry state that I didn't need a CCDW. The police officer told me "Not in the St. Matthews Mall you don't" to go put it in my truck. Now when I walked in the Mall, there were not sign's on the doors saying no weapons or side arm's. So with out making a seen, I put my side arm in the truck. After doing so, talked to one of the officers and he said it was the Mall cop who called them.......Can they do that? make you put your side arm away in your car/truck in a public place like a mall? If not, maybe we should have a shopping spree at the mall of St. Matthews. All us AMERICAN citizens who O.C. in the state of Kentucky go shopping on a weekend. Would there be any laws broke if we did this?.....

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As far as I know the mall itsself is owned and operated on a private property. Many businesses reside there and there is a lot of general public that visit which would give the impression of public property. But the real question would be what are the policy;s regarding the mall in mind? If the mall owner doesnt want firearms in the building that is the choice they have made. They can ask you to disarm or leave - if you do not do either then it is criminal tresspass.

The mall is a private property.. then yes.. they have every right to do that, just as you have every right to try another mall or do your shopping elsewhere.

http://www.ggp.com/properties/mall-properties/mall-st-matthews

that is the private company that operates and leases the mall in question, there are contacts on that page you may be able to get in touch with and speak to them about policy and notifying you are legally carrying. Maybe you can make a difference and a change.

Hope this helps!

And on the mass people in the forum meeting up for an OC event at a mall that has expressed through security that it doesn't want firearms in it? Personally I would not want part of it as there are other manners of settling this debate than o push our view on people forcefully. It would 100% end up with police and a big scenario that would maybe be avoided by alerting the property management and settling it in a professional manner, just my .02.

Another thing to think about, it the privately owned businesses in the mall, they would also have the right to ask you to leave the store space they rented. This may be a long fight to take on...

Disclaimer: I agree with the OC movement and I agree that it is legal and a right, I OC'd for years before my CDWL - still do on occasion.. I am not saying to be passive on the subject, only practical and professional about te scenario. you may gain more ground...

good luck!

Well I guess I wont shop there any more. But don't you think they would have sign's on the doors? I mean whats the dif between O.C. and CCDW? If there rules are not to have armed citizens in there mall, shouldn't that cover CCDW citizens too?

Out of sight. Out of mind.

not sure about st matt mall, but i was in oxmoore the other day and noticed a sign that said the mall reserves the right to search you and every bag you have if they choose.....YEAH, let me see you try and do that.....

There is no legal matter, what you were doing was perfectly legal, as is what they did, regardless of posted signs, "banning" weapons they hold no weight(legally speaking) they can only ask you to leave or much like they did to leave it in your truck. Now if you refuse either without leaving then you have a criminal trespassing charge. Having said that I have OC'ed many times at St. Matthews and Oxmoor and haven't had any problems. Just timing and different people I guess, I even did so just this weekend. It's weird because you hear stories like this, and have heard local stories of people being approached by officers to thank them for "properly" exercising their 2nd amendment rights.

charles said:

Well I guess I wont shop there any more. But don't you think they would have sign's on the doors? I mean whats the dif between O.C. and CCDW? If there rules are not to have armed citizens in there mall, shouldn't that cover CCDW citizens too?

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Though it shouldn't be this way, chances are if you had had your CCDW, the officer's in question would've simply asked or told you to cover it up if you were going to be shopping there. I know that I've OC'ed in many malls in Kentucky without any incidents thus far. In Lexington"s Fayette Mall, no one seemd to even notice or if they did, they sure didn't care. Ashland's Ashland Mall & Kyova Mall were the same, no one noticed or if they did, they never said a word.

gutshot said:

The mall is private property and the owner of that property can do as they see fit. They can ban blue shirts if they want to. They can ban left handed people, if they want to. They can ask you to leave for almost any reason they want, just like you can ask anyone you want to leave your home. If you refuse to leave you can be charged with trespass. Public property is a different story. Public property is owned by the government, the government is the people, so the people own public property. The government is restrained by the constitution, private owners are not. So, yes, they can do that on their property.

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So the mall can ban a black man from entering their premisis because he is black and allow only whites to shop?

In a truly free society, yes, but we live in America and civil rights laws prevent this.