My hands confirm they are thorns. I will try and get better pictures. I have postively ID honey locust and black locust on property. Their leaves are different.
The small bunches of ruby red berries are ready to be picked when they are a deep, cherry red and firm but springy to the touch. Take a look at one of our favourite recipes using these delicious berries below Read The Present Tree's blog, Hawthorn Berry Relish Recipe.
The thorny trees that immediately come to mind for your area are mesquite, hawthorne, or locust. None of those look right. Then I thought of mock orange. Does that fit?
There are dozens of different kinds of hawthorns that occupy almost every kind of soil in every part of the state. These members of the rose family are closely related to apples. Hawthorns (species in the genus Crataegus) are shrubs or small trees, often with two or more trunks, spreading...
mdc.mo.gov
Good site on different Hawthorn trees. Will have to go looking to see if they come this far north.