Municipal: Unattended Vehicle Ordinance-Preemption

Staff Report//May 7, 2026//

Listen to this article

Defendant appealed the trial court’s grant of plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on his complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief challenging the enforcement of defendant’s unattended vehicle ordinance, which prohibited storing firearms in an unattended vehicle except in a locked container permanently affixed inside the vehicle.

Where state law barred local ordinances that involved the regulation of firearms or regulated the means by which firearms could be kept or transported, the trial court correctly determined that defendant’s unattended vehicle ordinance fell within the scope of the state law preempting local firearms regulation.

Judgment is affirmed.

Roth v. City of Saint Louis (MLW No. 84718/Case No. ED113811 – 16 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Clayton, J.) Appealed from circuit court, City of St. Louis, Whyte, J. (Nathan S. Puckett and Inez J. Ross for appellant) (Matthew B. Vianello for respondent)