Brandishing and Defensive Display in Missouri: What RSMo 571.030 Actually Says

Missouri's controlling statute is Section 571.030 RSMo, titled "Unlawful use of weapons." The current version, last amended by 2026 Senate Bill 1421 and effective August 28, 2026, lists eleven separate ways a person can commit this offense. The one that covers drawing, pointing, or displaying a gun at someone is subdivision (4) of subsection 1:

"A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons... if he or she knowingly: ... Exhibits, in the presence of one or more persons, any weapon readily capable of lethal use in an angry or threatening manner."

That is the entire "brandishing" law in Missouri. There is no separate statute, no specific word for it, and no carve-out for "I was just trying to scare him off." Under subsection 8(1), exhibiting a weapon this way is a class E felony, Missouri's lowest felony tier, but a felony record all the same.

Here's where self-defense comes in. Subsection 5 of 571.030 states plainly:

"Subdivisions (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10) of subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to persons who are engaged in a lawful act of defense pursuant to section 563.031."

That cross-reference to Section 563.031 RSMo, "Use of force in defense of persons," is the whole ballgame. If your decision to pull or show a gun qualifies as a lawful act of defense under 563.031, the exhibiting charge under 571.030.1(4) simply does not apply to you. If it doesn't qualify, you're looking at a felony.

Section 563.031 lets a person use physical force when he or she "reasonably believes such force to be necessary" to defend against the "use or imminent use of unlawful force" by someone else, so long as you weren't the initial aggressor and weren't committing a forcible felony yourself. Deadly force specifically requires a reasonable belief it's necessary to prevent death, serious physical injury, or a forcible felony, or is used against someone unlawfully entering your dwelling, residence, vehicle, or property you own or lease.

Missouri also has no duty to retreat. Subsection 3 of 563.031 says a person doesn't have to retreat from a dwelling, residence, or vehicle they're lawfully in, from property they own or lease, or from "any other location such person has the right to be." That's Missouri's stand-your-ground rule, and it applies whether you end up firing a shot or just showing the gun to stop a threat before it escalates.

Key Point: Merely displaying a firearm, without firing it, is generally treated as a lesser use of force than pulling the trigger. If deadly force would have been justified under 563.031, showing the gun to de-escalate the same threat is on even firmer legal ground. But the reasonable-belief standard still has to be met. A gun can't come out just because you're mad.

A guy in a bar parking lot in Springfield gets into a shouting match that's going nowhere physical, and he pulls his pistol and points it at the other guy to "make him back off." No weapon on the other side, no blows thrown, no reasonable belief of imminent deadly force. That's a textbook 571.030.1(4) exhibiting charge, and the self-defense exception in subsection 5 doesn't save him because there was never a lawful act of defense to begin with.

A woman is home alone in a house outside Columbia when someone kicks in her back door at 2 a.m. She grabs her revolver off the nightstand and points it at the intruder, who turns and runs before she fires. This is squarely covered. The intruder was unlawfully entering her dwelling, she had no duty to retreat under subsection 3, and her act of pointing the weapon qualifies as a lawful act of defense under 563.031. The exhibiting statute does not apply to her.

A driver on I-70 near a construction zone gets cut off, follows the other car for a mile, then holds a handgun up to the window during a shouting match at the next red light. No one has threatened him with force at that point, just bad driving and bad manners. Road rage display like this is exactly the fact pattern Missouri prosecutors use 571.030.1(4) for, because there's no imminent unlawful force to justify it.

A clerk at a convenience store in Kansas City is working the counter when a man pulls a knife and demands the register. The clerk, who has a holstered pistol, draws it and points it at the robber, who flees. The robber was committing a forcible felony (armed robbery), the clerk reasonably believed deadly force might become necessary, and drawing the gun to stop that threat is a lawful act of defense under 563.031. No exhibiting charge applies.

Self-defense under 563.031 is the exception every civilian relies on, but it is not the only one built into 571.030. Subsection 2 of the statute carves out a separate list of people who can exhibit a weapon as part of their job without it being a crime, provided the conduct is "reasonably associated with or necessary to the fulfillment of" their official duties.

These two exceptions, civilian self-defense and official duty, are legally separate. A police officer who pulls a gun outside the scope of his job doesn't get to claim the official-duty exemption, and he'd fall back on the same 563.031 self-defense analysis as anyone else.

A class E felony conviction means a permanent felony record in Missouri, and under federal law a felony conviction strips you of the right to possess a firearm at all going forward. Subsection 11 of 571.030 also bars a suspended imposition of sentence for anyone who's already gotten one on a prior firearms-related felony, so a second brush with this law tends to hit harder than the first.

People search for "Missouri brandishing law" because that's the word used almost everywhere else. Missouri's own code never uses it. The actual language is "exhibits... in an angry or threatening manner," and that phrasing matters because it requires both the display itself and the angry or threatening context, not just the presence of a visible gun.

Open carrying a holstered firearm, where it's otherwise lawful to do so, is not exhibiting under this statute. The crime requires showing the weapon in a hostile manner, not simply having it visible on your hip while you walk through a parking lot.

Some people assume a self-defense claim has to be formally proven in court before the exception even applies. In practice, subsection 5 of 563.031 puts the initial burden on the defendant to "inject the issue" of justification, meaning you have to put forward some evidence supporting it. From there, depending on which part of the statute is at issue, the burden can shift to the state to disprove your justification beyond a reasonable doubt.

Finally, "he was being a jerk" or "I felt uneasy" is not the same as a reasonable belief of imminent unlawful force. Missouri's self-defense exception is tied to an objective standard, not just how scared or angry you personally felt in the moment.

• RSMo Section 571.030, Unlawful Use of Weapons
• RSMo Section 563.031, Use of Force in Defense of Persons

Last Reviewed: October 24, 2026