Mississippi High Court: Judges Can't Regulate Concealed Guns

Associated Press
June 8th. 2018



JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A majority of Mississippi Supreme Court justices ruled Thursday that some local judges were wrong to ban people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses from taking guns into courthouses.

The high court said judges in the 14th Chancery District overstepped their authority because the Mississippi Constitution specifies that only the Legislature "may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons."

The Legislature enacted a law in July 2011 saying that people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses may take guns into courthouses but not into courtrooms.

In November 2011, judges in the 14th Chancery District issued an order banning anyone other than law enforcement officers from having concealed guns in and around all parts of courthouses in the district in Chickasaw, Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.

A resident with an enhanced concealed-carry license, Ricky Ward, challenged the chancery judges' ban.