Are guns allowed in Kansas City’s Crown Center? What mall rules and state laws say
A shooting Wednesday night at Kansas City’s Crown Center shopping mall injured six people and involved at least three firearms — one used by a security officer, one by a mall patron and at least one by another shooter or shooters.
Armed security officers are not uncommon in busy public spaces. But what were those other firearms doing inside the building in the first place?
While Crown Center security declined Friday to comment on the shopping mall’s firearms policy, the family-friendly entertainment area has multiple posted signs prohibiting weapons, “including concealed firearms.”
A Missouri state law prohibits local governments from enacting most types of gun safety legislation, meaning Kansas City can’t place more restrictive rules on concealed weapons in public places than the state does.
But state law still allows private businesses to ban firearms as long as their signage follows certain criteria.
Here’s what to know about Missouri’s laws regulating where you can bring a gun, and whether Crown Center is allowed to ban them from the premises.
Is it legal to openly carry firearms in Kansas City?
Carrying firearms openly is allowed in much of Missouri — but local municipalities can restrict so-called “open carry” to those who have state permits. Kansas City is one of them, meaning open carry is more restricted than concealed carry within city limits.
“A person commits the ordinance violation of unlawful use of weapons if he or she… openly carries a firearm readily capable of lethal use,” city code states. The exception is when the gun owner has a permit for concealed carry issued by Missouri or another state.
Is it legal to carry concealed firearms in Kansas City?
As of 2017, Missouri doesn’t require residents to get a permit in order to carry a concealed weapon — and it prevents municipalities from restricting the practice in most cases.
However, it does place some restrictions on where concealed firearms can be carried — even with a permit in hand.
Here are some places where you can’t bring a concealed weapon anywhere in Missouri:
Any law enforcement agency or jail
Any government building, including courthouses
Within 25 feet of a polling place on Election Day
Inside schools and childcare facilities
Liquor stores, riverboat casinos or amusement parks
Houses of worship
Hospitals
Sporting venues that hold more than 5,000 people
Private property with posted signs that follow certain criteria
Does Crown Center have the authority to prohibit firearms?
State law specifies that a private individual or business can prohibit concealed firearms on their property. To do so, they must post a sign that’s at least 11 by 14 inches, with letters that are at least one inch tall.
Crown Center is a private business, and has this type of sign in several locations, including on the glass front doors that lead to the atrium and food court area where Wednesday night’s shooting occurred.
The sign is approximately 10 inches wide by 15 inches tall, and has lettering approximately one inch tall.
Police have not yet released details about whether any of the firearms used by civilians Wednesday were being carried openly.
But regardless of whether they were open or concealed, Crown Center’s rules indicate that they were not allowed inside the shopping center.
The Star’s Eleanor Nash contributed.
Do you have more questions about firearm legislation in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
