Missouri Laws 574.120 – Making a terrorist threat, second degree — penalty.
Current as of: 2018 | Check for updates | Other versions
574.120. Making a terrorist threat, second degree — penalty. — 1. A person commits the offense of making a terrorist threat in the second degree if he or she recklessly disregards the risk of causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building, inhabitable structure, place of assembly or facility of transportation and knowingly:

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 574.120
person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(1) Communicates an express or implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life; or

(2) Communicates a false report of an incident or condition involving danger to life; or

(3) Causes a false belief or fear that an incident has occurred or that a condition exists involving danger to life.

2. The offense of making a terrorist threat in the second degree is a class E felony.

3. No offense is committed under this section by a person acting in good faith with the purpose to prevent harm.

seems like (3) would apply here.

(1) Communicates an express or implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life; or

The implied threat is what I see as how he broke the law. Even before Open Carry it was legal to carry long guns openly, but not in a "menacing" way. In my opinion, carrying an AR across your chest qualifies as menacing. It's just as easy to spin it around your back, then it would appear more like typical open carry.

That said, picking this week to walk through a WalMart with an AR, menacing or not, is not a wise decision from what I've seen, it's been handled as it should. No shots fired, suspect detained.

I suspect if he didn't say anything and didn't point weapon they will be letting him go once they get a handle on what is going on.

Agreed, but the statute(s) that BigBob posted sure leave a lot of room for interpretation/judgment regarding what constitutes "implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life". Could go either way, but the guy is a friggin' idiot for sure.

I agree that an AR slung across your chest, while wearing a tactical vest and body armor will likely be considered “menacing”.

Disagree. They’re going to make an example out of this dude. If he can afford high prices lawyers he might avoid prosecution, but if he can’t he’s likely in trouble.

and I'm ok with that. idiot.

So if there hadn't been an el Paso shooting he would be ok? I assume open carry is only ok if you approve, how bout those idiots in Texas going into restaurants doing the same? I think he is an idiot and should be beat but you are really reaching with implied threat here

3 different walmarts have had threats since el paso. your damn right it's an implied threat.

So it's ok to walk into a Kroger's or an Academy strapped up

now that's reaching, but if you want to, by all means go ahead. but if you so much as twitch with that rifle...

Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.

yep.

I'm just asking for thought provocation here, do I like what the guy did no, but if you have open carry allowed I dont think the fact that he had on tactical gear makes it a crime, people have been shot at gas stations for years, every day, you gonna apply that concept there. It's an emotional response to be pizzed, offended, shocked, I'm just not sure there is much meat on the bone legally. I think he has done this on purpose. If open carry upsets you at walmart it should upset you in all public places, if carrying long arms upsets you in this instant it should apply to all instances. Implied threat is meaningless because there are different standards people use. Some people are threatened by the mere sight of a gun in a public place.

And I agree, if the fireman had blown him away I would have no gripe.

it would be interesting to see if they would have called it justified. I'm sure he's happy it turned out like it did.

He is an idiot for choosing to do as he did. But a person that has no use for guns sees no difference between a someone carrying a rifle than the person with an open carry pistol. They both can be considered threats, but both are also considered legal carries in Missouri.

If fireman would have killed him. Fireman would be charged. And it would get played out in court.

That's my point. The police and prosecutors will jack with him and run him through the ringer but I dont see a conviction coming, one could argue the the NRA should stand behind him on this.

Personally I don’t like open carry, but to each his own. All I’m saying is with the current environment it’s a terrible idea to provoke in this manner, and make no mistake he was aiming to provoke. Why risk getting shot, or why risk what your perceiving as a potential over reach on the charges? Guys like this and the 2A audit guys will expedite the end of open carry. I can’t think of a single logical explanation as to why someone would strap an AR to to chest with a single point sling and walk into Wal Mart, Kroger, Academy or anywhere else for that matter. Unless it’s the Zombie apocalypse and you’re looking for Twinkie’s.

for the record, not a fan of open carry either, but it solved the imprinting issue.

The 2A Auditors do nothing but waste public resources while putting gun owners in a bad light. This sort of activity doesn’t strengthen the Second Amendment but it does give us bad press. Most of these fedora wearing freaks couldn’t spell Second Amendment much less fully understood what it is. They are simply striving for their fifteen minutes of fame. The firefighter did okay especially in light of what has already occurred this week. Common sense is simply lacking in some folks and this idiot was a prime example.

And likewise if he had blown the fireman away it could easily be seen as justified self defense.

"574.120. Making a terrorist threat, second degree — penalty. — 1. A person commits the offense of making a terrorist threat in the second degree if he or she recklessly disregards the risk of causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building, inhabitable structure, place of assembly or facility of transportation and knowingly:"

Most of my friends would be guilty of this after eating bbq.

He may win his case, but his stunt is going to cost him big $$'s in legal fees. Plus, he's now been arrested and that alone means he's going to spend some time in jail until he posts bond. Lastly, I doubt he's going to get his rifle back anytime soon. Just wait until he gets hit by the civil suits from Walmart for the disruption to their business and the emotional damage suits from the people who fled the scene and now can't sleep or leave their house because they have anxiety. So all in all, he did a great job proving the point that he could open carry his AR (sarcasm).