Concealed and Open Carry in Mississippi to Conform to the Constitution

Although the Mississippi Constitution has undergone a number of iterations in the last hundred years, it seems clear when it comes to the carrying of weapons:

1817 Mississippi:  Every citizen has a right to bear arms, in defence of himself and the State.

1832 Mississippi:  Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defence of himself and of the State.

1868 Mississippi:  All persons shall have a right to keep and bear arms for their defence.

1890 The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.

While the legislature was clearly given the power to “regulate or forbid” the carrying of concealed weapons in 1890, they were expressly not given the power to regulate the open carrying of weapons.

However, in 1992, the legislature passed a shall issue concealed carry law that forbid the carrying of a pistol or revolver, if it were "concealed in whole or in part" without a permit.

In an obscure court case, that law had been interpreted to mean that a person could not carry a handgun openly, because part of the firearm, even if it were suspended by a thong around the neck, was concealed.

This bit of judicial idiocy seems insane, as the Constitution only gives the legislature the power to regulate or forbid concealed carry, and yet the court is saying that all carry is concealed carry, making a mockery of the state Constitution.

On 4 March, 2013, reason prevailed in Mississippi. The offending language was removed from the statute. The law is now in concurrence with the state Constitution. It will go into effect on 1 July of 2013.

Open carry in Mississippi, will clearly be legal without a permit, as the Constitution requires. Those who have a permit to carry concealed need not worry about legal consequences if some part of their personal defensive weapon is inadvertently revealed through a gust of wind, a reach to an upper shelf, or a “wardrobe malfunction”.

Link to Mississippi constitutional provisions

Link to discussion of the law and the court case

Link to article discussing passage of the reform statute

©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.