My very first post to this forum in March of 2010 was about the absurdity in the law pertaining to 97-37-1. My hat goes off to Rep. Gipson and all the other legislators who voted for it, so that it finally...FINALLY became a reality. Each year I have followed the various incarnations of bills that would purport to address the situation of open carry in MS. Each year I've watched all of them "die in committee", most of them deservedly so, for they were not written well, and could have caused more problems than they solved. We are lucky, in that Rep. Gipson did everything exactly right.
In the past there were bills written with "Constitutional Carry" in mind that would seem to be saying no permit required for concealed or open carry. One little problem: The Constitution ALLOWS for regulation of concealed carry. They would write these type bills, and similar ones then not amend 97-37-1 (which always was the root of the problem), so you would simply have one section of code contradicting the other one.
In my previous message, before the bill was signed, I said I thought the less said about this at the time, the better. The reason being is that up to that point, it had pretty much skated by the main stream media. I could imagine what would happen if the anti-gun media got its mitts on certain talking points about this bill. Now that it's done, and it will become law, hopefully, decades of mumbo jumbo, law officers and judges "interpreting" what the law was, and all the railroading law abiding citizens IS OVER.
As of July 1st, 2013 there will be no doubt whatsoever, no weasel wording in the law, no question that ONLY concealed carry is regulated, and that the ONLY carry that can be deemed illegal is, carrying concealed without a firearms permit. If you have a firearms permit, there's no way you can carry that IS illegal. There are places that would make it illegal, but not ways. If you don't have a firearms permit, and wish to carry, then the weapon will have to be open and in plain sight. Well, I'm a happy camper, at least now the law conforms to the Constitution. Truthfully, I didn't think I'd ever see it happen.
Ok, here's what I'm going to do, and I will suggest to those of you who have the time and ability might want to do also:
I'm going to print out a copy of HB2 as it was approved by the Governor, and read it several times especially concentrating on the changes that were made. This will be the actual text of what becomes law on July 1st for 97-37-1.----- 45-9-101 is still subject to some word changes before the end of the session, but it's about record keeping and nothing to do with carry, so for the pertinent parts, you can fairly well depend on that too.
Once I'm satisfied that I know it well enough, I am going to request a meeting with my Chief of Police and/or Sheriff prior to July 1st to make sure he is aware of the changes, and ask if he has a policy for his officers so they know the law, and how to handle the situation when some "concerned citizen" freaks out and calls them because they see someone wearing an openly displayed sidearm. If he has any questions, or misconceptions about the law, I will be well versed, and have a copy with me for him to read. Doing this could head off a LOT of unnecessary harassment or actions by uninformed law enforcement officers. This would seem to be the way to go, rather than waiting until you have to argue with a patrol officer and come out on the short end of the stick.
If anyone can add to this, or has other ideas, please feel free.
Reb
