Open carry

I do agree with clarifying the law.
At some point in these discussions/debates/arguments, someone will paste in a wall of text quoting the law (which doesn't make sense to most people).
If we are going to have open carry in a holster in MS...fine.
If CC is the only way to carry.....fine.
Just clear it up for crying out loud.

What we need is a rational proposal we could take to our Reps.

What we have to do is convince one to sponsor a bill to amend the law. We gotta sell it....

I'm just not sure how to go about it...I'm not a lobbyist..

Anyway, while I'm extremely passionate about our gun rights ....my position on OC is pretty well known...but that doesn't mean I don't want it available for the next guy...so I say its worth working for. Its gotta drive Ms LEO's nuts to some degree...I want them doing their job...not wasting time on a cloudy matter.

still thinking....

gunluvinatty wrote:No offense intended, but that post wasn't a bit helpful. Let's try to move the ball forward in this thread.

My apologies. My intent was to echo your statements.

Has anyone in Ms made an attempt to get the AG to render an opinion on the current carry law?

If so, How did it go ?

well...that answered that question....I can see where that makes sense...else the AG would never get anything done with all the requests

Someone could be a guiena pig...make an issue of it...go through all the legal hassle...it would probably go all the way to Ms Supreme Court...not a bad gig if you are the lawyer getting paid...

That's the hard way....The in your face way...generally that's my style...but not on this...

Ok gunluvin...give us a few hints on what you think a good approach is.

I've been looking around for what other States may have done...so far I'm batting zilch...

I would think we need to talk to our respective representativies and get all of them on board we possibly can. Haveing allies inside the state government body would seem to be a no brainer. I'm going to give my rep a call. He is a dem, but he's pretty much pro gun judgeing from my few past conversations with him. He even went as far to say as he wanted to vote in a more gun friendly house leader for whatever thats worth. But our reps are one place to start I guess.....

You can search the AG opinions on the AG office website. The only one I could find about open carry was a Depty asking what he could charge a person with a CWP who was carrying ,I assume openly, with the pistol stuck in the back of his pants.

AG opinion is confusing, says a person with a permit may carry a pistol or revolver but doesn't say openly and also he doesn't say the person who Depty was asking about could be charged for open carry either.

http://weblinks.westlaw.com/result/default.aspx?action=Search&cfid=1&cnt=DOC&db=MS%2DAG&eq=search&fmqv=c&fn=%5Ftop&method=WIN&n=12&origin=Search&query=open+carrying+of+a+firearm&rlt=CLID%5FQRYRLT12200482115246&rltdb=CLID%5FDB64951472115246&rlti=1&rp=%2Fsearch%2Fdefault%2Ewl&rs=WEBL2%2E92&service=Search&sp=msag%2D1000&srch=TRUE&ss=CNT&sskey=CLID%5FSSSA47951472115246&sv=Split&vr=2%2E0

This is a link to MS State Legislature
Also MS House of Representatives
And also MS State Senate

I am not very familiar with the lay of the land here. But if anyone knows any members of legislature who might be inclined to support our efforts, that would be a place to begin. Same for LE.

We have an upcoming Gov/Lt Gov election - I think virtually all of the Republican candidates are affirming their belief in 2nd Amendment rights - except one and he's a moyor, forget which town, and a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (Bloomberg's baby). MAIG will be resisting any change in carry laws. Lt Gov Phil bryant is probably going to win the Republican primary for Gov (more money, more name recognition, etc). Anybody know anything about this guy? Other than his being a former deputy sheriff of Hinds county.

Maybe gunluvinatty will have something for us...

Are we looking for an addition or an omission? Adding definitions might help. Omitting language such as "or in part" could be helpful as well. These changes are so small that it could pass with little or no friction.

I am not a regular OCer but I still want the law changed, since open carry is constitutionally protected. I have sent numerous letters (both email and physical letters) to our congressmen. Senators Chris McDaniel and Joey Fillingane appear to favor unlicensed open carry based on my replies. My last letter was a suggested definition for concealed in whole or in part. "Concealed in part" should be defined as a holstered firearm whose exposed portion is covered by clothing. I think this is similar to Montana's definition. But omitting "or in part" would probably be easier.

I didn't find any definition in the SD statue which would be helpful in defining open carry. Also, SD statute's definition of "concealed", seems restrictive and open to "printing" charges.

In the ND statute, they adequately define "concealed", but unless I missed it, there is no mention of open carry.

Our problem lies not with a lack of a "concealed carry" definition, but with our lack of a reasonable and understandable definition of what constitutes "open carry". Mississippi is an open carry state; however, this confusion arose because during a sidebar comment by a judge, he declared that (paraphrasing) a gun cannot be carried without some part of it being concealed, therefore( I guess) all guns can only be carried concealed. I read that somewhere.

Well the only place I've ever read that MS is an Open carry state is opencarry.org....and they are not exactly unbiased on this subject...

If it were so cut and dried....we wouldn't be discussing getting a confusing law clarified...would we ?

I think the best way to solve this is to try and get legislation, that would allow firearms permit holders the option of carrying guns in exposed holsters, the same way police do.

I think Fla made an attempt at this in SB234 this year

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-01-29/news/fl-gun-laws-mayocol-b013011-20110129_1_gun-law-gun-proponents-florida-gun-owners

I know a lot of gun rights folks won't go for that suggestion because of my statement said allow "current firearms permit holders"...

I think you must be willing to take some bad with the good. Compromise is an evil term in the firearms community....I know

Currently Ms doesn't require any proof of firearms training to obtain a permit...They could force that issue some with holstered carry. Personally I wish the term open carry was not even used. I'm thinking "holstered carry" gets us 95% of the way there.

Ya'll gotta think outside of the box a little on this...the legislature doesn't wanna scare the hell out of the public. When you see a LEO or security guard carrying a gun you can usually assume that they have had to prove as least some level of competency with the weapon....yeah that's a joke I know....

In other words...just like a DL...its a privledge and that's where a lot of this breaks down....because we have the "right" to carry guns...

Personally, I'd trade a training or qualification requirement for the ability to carry openly in a holster without fear of harassment...it doesn't bother me a bit.

But some would see a training requirement as an infringement and a financial burden on a God given right....

I get it....I really do

So....How do we go from talking about it on here....to getting it changed...

I'm a put up or shut up kinda guy...and I'm pretty much out of words on this..its frustrating at times to not be trained in the law.

MS is already an open carry state. Why adopt any change which would make open carry by permit only? Would not amending the wording of SEC. 45-9-101. License to carry concealed pistol or revolver "concealed in whole or in part" to "concealed in whole or in part" do the job?

Personally, I think defining the concealed carry of handguns should break off from:

bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, slingshot, pistol, revolver, or any rifle with a barrel of less than sixteen (16) inches in length, or any shotgun with a barrel of less than eighteen (18) inches in length, machine gun or any fully automatic firearm or deadly weapon, or any muffler or silencer for any firearm, whether or not it is accompanied by a firearm,

and be put in its own paragraph - providing language exclusion from other deadly weapons.

Libertyrules wrote:MS is already an open carry state. Why adopt any change which would make open carry by permit only? Would not amending the wording of SEC. 45-9-101. License to carry concealed pistol or revolver "concealed in whole or in part" to "concealed in whole or in part" do the job?

Personally, I think defining the concealed carry of handguns should break off from:

bowie knife, dirk knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife, metallic knuckles, blackjack, slingshot, pistol, revolver, or any rifle with a barrel of less than sixteen (16) inches in length, or any shotgun with a barrel of less than eighteen (18) inches in length, machine gun or any fully automatic firearm or deadly weapon, or any muffler or silencer for any firearm, whether or not it is accompanied by a firearm,

and be put in its own paragraph - providing language exclusion from other deadly weapons.

I think better wording would be holstered carry of a handgun...strike the whole term concealed in whole or in part

Just keep it simple.... holstered handgun...anyone can understand that...just leave us concealed carry folks with the option to conceal if that's what we want to do.

I have a AZ permit...AZ is a true OC state...to carry concealed, you have to have the permit. BTW, AZ requires several days of training and proof of abilities to obtain their permit

and yes I think its worthy of its own paragraph

PS...If we are ever gonna get anything done on this...we need other Mississippi gun owners to chime in....