JACKSON, Miss.–Open carry is in the state constitution of 1890 and has been legal in Mississippi since 1817, but strapping a gun on your hip and carrying it in public may be a little iffy, at least until Monday. The State Supreme Court declined to overturn Hinds County Judge Winston Kidd’s injunction temporarily blocking this tear’s House Bill that clarifies what the state constitution already says.
“It’s already in the constitution,” said State Rep. Andy Gipson, who authored House Bill 2. He pointed out that the senators who went to Judge Kidd to get the injunction all voted for the bill, not once, but twice. The House and Senate bills passed the Senate unanimously.
“I am confident that the court will ultimately validate House Bill 2,” Gipson said in a Tuesday news release. “The constitution remains in effect today just as it has since Mississippi became a state.”
It was Atty. Gen. Jim Hood who asked for the Supreme Court to overturn the injunction, handed down Friday by Kidd, on the grounds that a circuit judge may not have the authority to pull off an injunction against state legislation and against the state constitution.
It may not be a clear victory for the plaintiffs’ A three judge panel issued the ruling on “procedural grounds”, meaning the court did not issue any opinion on the merits of the case, brought by Hinds County D.A. Robert Schuler-Smith, Senators Kenny Wayne Jones, John Horhn, Hinds Co. Sheriff. Tyrone Lewis and a number of law enforcement officers.
“Yes he (Kidd) has the authority to do it,” Jones told News Mississippi. “Once they looked at it we asked him to go ahead and issue that restraining order…and that won’t be the last thing that happens with that bill.”
A hearing before Judge Kidd is set for Monday.
