mmdkyoung123
Regular Member
I recieved a message from someone from Open Carry In Missouri on my facebook page. I tried to answer the question but am not sure if I did a good enough job. below is the original post and response. If I missed something please let me know so I can let the OP know so they don't get into trouble.
Original Question
I have been searching through the Missouri Attorney General's website about this issue. I know that it IS perfectly legal to carry a holstered handgun-or even to carry a rifle without any kind of permit whatsoever in the state of Missouri as long as it is NOT concealed. Does anybody know of a page on the Missouri Attorney General's website that states this with their seal on it, etc that we can download and print out and carry with us to show law enforcement officers who try to approach us while Oc-ing if they think we are breaking the law? This would be a WONDEFUL thing to have I just can't find one.
Thank You
My Response
Grant,
I tried to reply to this on my Iphone but I am not sure that it went through. I want to make sure that you get this as I believe that you are under a mistaken impression that it is legal to open carry ANYWHERE in MO. This is FALSE. Missouri has no state wide pre-emption on open carry, therefore each municipality is able to make their on statutes governing the legality of open carry. For instance, it is LEGAL to open carry in KC MO, but it is ILLEGAL to open carry in North Kansas City MO. This is what makes it such a sticky subject here in MO. You have to be VERY careful and make sure you FULLY research the laws of anyplace you are going to make sure you don't stumble into a jurisdiction where it is illegal.
You have a great idea about carrying something that states the laws, but you would have to do the research and print it out yourself. For instance, I live in Independence. I have researched the statute that covers open carry in Independence, and I printed it out on a sheet of paper, with the statute number and the language. I also printed the cities around me that I frequent such as KC, Blue Springs, ETC.
The statutes that you are looking for will say something along the lines of "A person commits the crime of....... if the carry CONCEALED on or about their person..." The Concealed is the key word here. Because they only mention concealed, It is legal to carry openly. For it not to be they would have to address open carry by saying "If they carry on or about....". This last sentence would make it illegal to carry a gun at all and it would have a clause making it legal if you have a CCW license. I believe this is how St louis does it but I am not sure as I don't travel there and I haven't researched their laws. I am going off of other members of opencarry.org mentioning it is illegal to OC in St Louis.
Hopefully this has cleared it up for you and given you some answers. If not or you have other question please feel free to ask as I would hate to see you get in trouble for trying to exercise your RIGHTS. I don't know everything but I am very handy with a computer, and frequent a couple of forums, that are always happy to help and answer a question.
Original Question
I have been searching through the Missouri Attorney General's website about this issue. I know that it IS perfectly legal to carry a holstered handgun-or even to carry a rifle without any kind of permit whatsoever in the state of Missouri as long as it is NOT concealed. Does anybody know of a page on the Missouri Attorney General's website that states this with their seal on it, etc that we can download and print out and carry with us to show law enforcement officers who try to approach us while Oc-ing if they think we are breaking the law? This would be a WONDEFUL thing to have I just can't find one.
Thank You
My Response
Grant,
I tried to reply to this on my Iphone but I am not sure that it went through. I want to make sure that you get this as I believe that you are under a mistaken impression that it is legal to open carry ANYWHERE in MO. This is FALSE. Missouri has no state wide pre-emption on open carry, therefore each municipality is able to make their on statutes governing the legality of open carry. For instance, it is LEGAL to open carry in KC MO, but it is ILLEGAL to open carry in North Kansas City MO. This is what makes it such a sticky subject here in MO. You have to be VERY careful and make sure you FULLY research the laws of anyplace you are going to make sure you don't stumble into a jurisdiction where it is illegal.
You have a great idea about carrying something that states the laws, but you would have to do the research and print it out yourself. For instance, I live in Independence. I have researched the statute that covers open carry in Independence, and I printed it out on a sheet of paper, with the statute number and the language. I also printed the cities around me that I frequent such as KC, Blue Springs, ETC.
The statutes that you are looking for will say something along the lines of "A person commits the crime of....... if the carry CONCEALED on or about their person..." The Concealed is the key word here. Because they only mention concealed, It is legal to carry openly. For it not to be they would have to address open carry by saying "If they carry on or about....". This last sentence would make it illegal to carry a gun at all and it would have a clause making it legal if you have a CCW license. I believe this is how St louis does it but I am not sure as I don't travel there and I haven't researched their laws. I am going off of other members of opencarry.org mentioning it is illegal to OC in St Louis.
Hopefully this has cleared it up for you and given you some answers. If not or you have other question please feel free to ask as I would hate to see you get in trouble for trying to exercise your RIGHTS. I don't know everything but I am very handy with a computer, and frequent a couple of forums, that are always happy to help and answer a question.