Zoo gun ban goes before St. Louis judge

After a St. Louis Circuit Judge issued a temporary order this summer upholding a St. Louis Zoo policy banning visitors from carrying weapons on the premises, parties on both sides of the argument may soon have their day in court.

Judge Joan Moriarty set a Dec. 8 due date for lawyers to file briefs in the case to determine whether the zoo’s rule will stand.

The case comes roughly six months after a Cincinnati gun rights activist entered the zoo with an empty holster in protest of the ban. The activist has since filed a countersuit asking the policy be dropped.

Zoo officials want the judge’s temporary ban made permanent on the grounds the zoo qualifies as an amusement park under Missouri state law and runs child education programs on-site.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.