Three people were charged by police for openly carrying holstered pistols in a Missouri Mall.

Three people were taken into custody Saturday at the West Park Mall for openly displaying handguns, according to a news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

The news release said about 1:20 p.m., security officers at the mall contacted the police department to notify it of four people who had entered the mall, some with weapons.

Cape Girardeau police officers responded and discovered three people carrying weapons, according to the report.

Sheila R. Waeltermann, 22, of Park Hills, Mo.; Fawn F. Chambers, 50, of Doniphan, Mo.; and Robert E. Chambers, 42, also of Doniphan, were taken into custody for violating a city ordinance that prohibits openly carrying a firearm readily capable of lethal use, the news release said.

It is not known at this time whether the trio was protesting Cape Girardeau City Ordinance 17-98, or if they simply ran afoul of the hodgepodge of local laws in the state.

It appears that Missouri is yet another state where the state legislature needs to pass a law preventing local gun ordinances.