ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Saint Louis Zoo says it didn't ask to be part of a now seven year controversy over what a man believes is his Second Amendment right to carry a gun inside the park. So the zoo wants him to pay for some of its $150,000 in legal fees.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty agreed with the zoo that it qualifies as both a school and gated amusement park – both of which are places where Missouri’s open carry law forbids firearms, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Saint Louis Zoo isn't alone, as other major U.S. zoos in Atlanta, Dallas and Seattle don't allow guns either.
The Saint Louis Zoo's legal battle began in 2015, when gun rights activist Jeffry Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio planned to challenge the zoo's firearm ban by marching through the property with dozens of gun-carrying companions. The zoo quickly filed a restraining order against him, which kept others away, but not Smith.
He still showed up on June 13, 2015 with an empty gun holster clipped to his side. His attorney says he was coming to St. Louis either way, because he had to pick up his son from college.
Three years later, Smith won an appeal that reversed the zoo's restraining order. So the case was sent back to Moriarty, who again ruled in the zoo's favor as a "gun-free zone" in 2020.
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“Given these facts, plus the readily apparent underlying public policy of protecting children in educational settings from the dangers and distractions of firearms, this court has no difficulty in concluding that the entire gated campus of St. Louis Zoo constitutes an elementary/secondary ‘school facility,’” Moriarty said.
In August, the zoo filed a new motion which called for Smith to pay some of its legal fees complied since 2015 because he created the controversy. Smith’s lawyer Jane Hogan called the motion "ludicrous."
Hogan said the zoo could have avoided the lawsuit in the first place by simply enforcing its policy against Smith instead of going to court. Hogan also argued in court filings that the zoo’s gun ban shouldn’t have been upheld in court, and Smith believed he was within his Second Amendment rights to carry a gun into the zoo.
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