Booze, after-hours club, no control: We debate who’s responsible for violence | Opinion
Editor’s note: Welcome to Double Take, a conversation in Star Opinion that tackles news with differing perspectives and respectful debate. Today, Opinion Editor Yvette Walker and Senior Opinion Columnist Mará Rose Williams discuss after-hours, unlicensed night clubs.
Yvette Walker: My colleague, Toriano Porter, perhaps said it best in his column: “Shut it down.” I agree, there is absolutely no cause for unlicensed after-hours nightclubs. I simply can’t see a single benefit for the city or the community.
A flyer distributed around the internet for last weekend’s “Big Mama’s Playhouse presents: First Friday After Hours” showed scantily clad women, a $10 charge for men and $5 for women. After the party let out, a shooting occurred a block away that resulted in nine people injured.
But as bad as that was, I’m not just talking about the shooting. I’m also referring to the unmonitored drinking and consumption of other substances. This “after-hours” party began at midnight, after some people had already been partying and perhaps were intoxicated.
The unbelievable shootout early Saturday is something that certainly is enough to outlaw these so-called clubs, but to those who say that was a one-off happening, that these parties are just good fun that take place often without incident, I encourage you to remember the deadly shooting in 2023 at one of these places.
And it’s clear the police can’t protect patrons or residents of the neighborhoods around these places.
But, OK, let’s say this was a particularly terrible incident that doesn’t happen all the time. I’ll give you that. So, instead of saying, “Shut it down,” I’m going to say, “Regulate it.”
Kansas City should make anyone holding one of these parties get a permit (like a parade permit) and be accountable for any violence that occurs inside and around the area resulting from a lack of security.
Here’s why I think getting a permit would help: It would force these unlicensed clubs to act more like a business under Kansas City business codes. Under Kansas City’s code of ordinances:
“No retail licensee, nor employee of the licensee, shall sell, give away or otherwise dispose of any alcoholic beverages or suffer the same to be done on or about the licensed premises between the hours of 1:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.” (Of course, allowances are being considered during World Cup matches, which I think is a mistake, but oh well.)
Why not force these clubs to operate like businesses (last call at 1:30) and hold them accountable?
Police responsibility
Mara Williams: I don’t disagree that these establishments — in fact, any establishment that is selling alcohol — should be regulated. And that means they should only serve partiers 21 and older — the legal age to consume alcohol. Liquor sales in Missouri are regulated by the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. They are the ones responsible here.
I take issue with the idea that anyone would suggest that somehow police are responsible for the violence. They are not.
Walker: I don’t think the police are responsible for the violence, but if they don’t know these things are happening, how can they be held responsible? Of course, in this case, the event was highly promoted and people reportedly complained to the city. Those reports were passed on to KCPD. I can see that police might just think of these places as nuisances, but they are more than that.
If these parties have to have a permit, it’s on record, and therefore police should be responsible for being aware of the occasions (like a parade or a rally) and be available for any problems that might arise. Likewise, the parties should be required to card and turn away juveniles, and require professional security. The flyers did say “25+” – which I assume means 25 years old – but come on — do you really think underage people are not getting in?
Sex plus liquor
And let’s not forget the sexual innuendo mentioned in the flyers: to bring lots of $1 bills for the “dancers.”
Williams: And so what if young women dance for patrons at the party, as long as they, too, adhere to whatever city codes are in place regarding that type of entertainment at a liquor-serving establishment in the city?
Walker: Well, my biggest concern here is the combination of unlicensed and unregulated alcohol, unchecked underage partiers, sexual tension and whatever substances might be ingested. Frankly, I’m not against outlawing these things altogether.
Williams: Unfortunately, outlawing them won’t stop them. In fact, technically they are outlawed. If this unlicensed party place is charging folks to get in and selling alcohol, it is breaking the law. That’s at least a class A misdemeanor. Selling alcohol without a license can also rise to felony level in Missouri. The operators probably know that but do it anyway. I’d be curious why.
Walker: If that’s the case, why do they exist? Why aren’t the police shutting them down?
Williams: I’ll bet police already know where a lot of these places exist in the city. Parties like the one where the shooting took place are most likely happening every weekend around Kansas City. But there isn’t a shooting happening at an unlicensed club every weekend. With so much access to guns in Missouri, I’m surprised that the last time it happened, that we know of, was two years ago.
People can’t shoot people without guns, and drunk teens with guns is a bad combination.
But police can’t run around trying to keep a watch all night on these establishments waiting for something to go down. If they did, that’s all they would do. Police are not security guards. They show up after or during a crime. And closing clubs at 1:30 doesn’t mean there won’t be young folks hanging out in parking lots getting into altercations. Especially during the summer.
When I was a kid on Long Island, we used to hang out all night in the summer. Sometimes, on occasion, there were fights. But you know what we didn’t have? No one had a Glock tucked in their waistband.
I’m not saying Kansas City shouldn’t try to put the kibosh on illegal party houses that sell alcohol to underage partygoers. What I’m saying is that it would be like playing a never ending game of Whac-A Mole. Putting police on this just pulls them from elsewhere.
Walker: Which brings me to back to permits and overall accountability. Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson, would you prosecute these club organizers if police cracked down on the unlicensed clubs?
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:08 AM.
