Kirkwood Weapons Charges Lawyer

Missouri Weapons Charges We Defend

Chapter 571 of the Missouri Revised Statutes defines the state’s weapons offenses, and the classifications range from a misdemeanor to a felony carrying mandatory prison time.

Charge	Statute	Classification
Unlawful use of a weapon	§571.030	Class E to Class B felony (misdemeanor in some cases)
Unlawful possession of a firearm	§571.070	Class C felony (Class B with a qualifying prior)
Armed Criminal Action	§571.015	Felony, served consecutively to the underlying felony
Carrying into a prohibited location	§571.107	Class A misdemeanor (felony for schools or government buildings)

Unlawful Use of a Weapon

Unlawful use of a weapon (§571.030) is the broadest weapons charge. It covers exhibiting a weapon in an angry or threatening manner, carrying a concealed weapon where it is not allowed, possessing a firearm while also holding a felony amount of a controlled substance, and discharging a firearm unlawfully. Most forms are felonies, and the serious discharge offenses, such as shooting at or from a vehicle or into an occupied building, are Class B felonies.

Unlawful Possession of a Firearm

Missouri and federal law bar certain people, including anyone convicted of a felony, from possessing a firearm. Unlawful possession of a firearm (§571.070) is a Class C felony, and it rises to a Class B felony when the person has a prior dangerous felony or a prior unlawful-possession conviction. The validity of the underlying conviction that created the prohibition is often worth examining, because a defective prior may not support the charge.

Armed Criminal Action

Armed Criminal Action (§571.015) is charged when a person commits any felony while armed with a deadly weapon. It is not limited to violent crimes, and it carries a sentence that runs consecutively to the underlying felony, adding at least three years to a first offense and more for repeat offenses. Because it stacks on top of the main charge, it can sharply increase the time a person faces.

Concealed Carry and Related Offenses

Even where carrying is otherwise legal, carrying a concealed weapon into a prohibited location (§571.107), such as a school, a courthouse, or a government building, can be a charge on its own. The firm also defends related offenses, including illegal discharge of a firearm, defacing a firearm, and unlawful transfer of a weapon.

Missouri’s Permitless Carry and Its Limits

Since 2017, Missouri has allowed anyone 19 or older who can legally possess a firearm to carry it concealed without a permit (§571.101). Permits remain available and offer benefits such as recognition in other states, but they are no longer required to carry. What has not changed is who may not carry at all. A person convicted of a felony, a person under a domestic violence order, and others barred by law remain prohibited, and the permissive nature of the statute does not protect them. Many weapons charges arise exactly here, when someone who believes carrying is legal is in fact prohibited, or is in a place where firearms are not allowed.

Armed Criminal Action Can Multiply the Exposure

Of all the weapons charges, Armed Criminal Action is the one that most often changes the shape of a case. Because it can be added to any felony committed with a weapon, a single incident can produce two charges instead of one, with the second running consecutively to the first. A felony that might have carried a manageable sentence on its own can become a much longer one once Armed Criminal Action is added. Challenging whether a weapon was truly used, and whether the underlying felony holds up, is often central to the defense.

What a Weapons Conviction Can Cost

A felony weapons conviction carries prison exposure and lasting consequences. It results in the loss of the right to possess a firearm under both Missouri and federal law (18 U.S.C. §922(g)), and it leaves a felony record that affects jobs, housing, and licensing. Restoring firearm rights is complicated: an expungement under Missouri law can restore state rights for some offenses while the federal prohibition remains, and the two do not always move together. Because the stakes reach a constitutional right, these cases deserve careful handling from the start.

Defending a Kirkwood Weapons Charge

The search and seizure. Most weapons cases begin with a stop or a search, and the Fourth Amendment limits both. A stop without cause, or a search without a warrant or a valid exception, can lead to the firearm being suppressed, and the charge can fall apart without it.

Who possessed the weapon. When a firearm is found in a shared car or a shared home, the state must prove that a particular person knew about it and controlled it. Being near a weapon is not the same as possessing it.

The threatening-manner element. Charges based on exhibiting a weapon require proof that it was done in an angry or threatening manner. Context, witness accounts, and video often tell a more complete story than the initial report.

The validity of a prior conviction. For an unlawful-possession charge, the prohibition depends on a valid prior conviction. If that conviction was constitutionally defective, or has since been cleared, it may not support the current charge.

Lawful authority. In some cases, the person had every right to possess or carry the weapon, and the defense is simply proving it.

Where Kirkwood Weapons Cases Are Heard

A misdemeanor weapons charge can be handled in the Kirkwood Municipal Court, while felony weapons charges are prosecuted by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney and heard in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, the 21st Judicial Circuit, in Clayton. Weapons cases, especially those involving firearms and drugs together, are also sometimes charged in federal court, where the penalties can be significantly higher.

What to Do After a Weapons Arrest in Kirkwood

The steps taken right after a weapons arrest can shape the case. Because so many of these cases turn on how the firearm was found, it helps to note exactly where the stop or search happened and what was said, and to avoid explaining the situation to police without a lawyer present, since those statements become evidence. It also matters not to handle, move, or discuss any other firearms while a case is pending, which can create new problems. The sooner counsel reviews the stop, the search, and any prior record behind the charge, the more room there is to challenge it before the first court date.

Flat-Fee Weapons Defense in Kirkwood

Rose Legal Services handles most weapons cases on a flat fee set at the start, so the cost is clear from the beginning. Criminal defense and DWI are the firm’s only work, and every case is prepared as if it is going to trial, which means obtaining all discovery, especially video, on every case, and conducting the witness interviews a client asks for.

The firm represents people who have been charged, arrested, or investigated, whether they were wrongly accused or made a mistake, and on the second chances a strong defense can preserve. The main office in nearby Sunset Hills sits minutes from Kirkwood and serves the surrounding St. Louis County communities, with the phone answered around the clock, because arrests do not keep business hours.

Call or text 24/7 for a free case evaluation.

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References

• §571.015, RSMo [Armed Criminal Action]
• §571.030, RSMo [Unlawful use of weapons]
• §571.070, RSMo [Unlawful possession of a firearm]
• §571.101, RSMo [Permitless carry; concealed carry permits]
• §571.107, RSMo [Locations where carrying a firearm is prohibited]
• §556.061, RSMo [Dangerous felony definition]
• §558.019, RSMo [Dangerous felony, 85 percent minimum served]
• 18 U.S.C. §922(g) [Federal firearm prohibitions]