JACKSON, Miss.–Signs across Mississippi keep going up telling customers of businesses not to bring weapons in the store and citizens to forget their weapons on city and county property. It’s all in reaction to the state’s new Open Carry law, which restates what is already in the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, that you have a right to carry a firearm in the open. A hearing in Hinds County Circuit Court was set to either affirm that right, or spark a new debate after a suit was filed two weeks ago.
The suit seeks to put a stop to the Open Carry law, so Hinds County Judge Winston Kidd placed a temporary injunction on the law just three days before it went into effect. The injunction was sought by the plaintiffs, which include, among others, State Senators Kenny Wayne Jones and John Horhn, Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, and several other law enforcement officers.
It should be noted that Senators Jones and Horhn both voted in favor of the Open Carry law, not once, but twice in the Senate. Jones told News Mississippi he changed his mind when he discovered what he believes is a provision that would allow open carry of knives grenades and pistols with 12 inch barrels.
The gun debate, as it usually does, has attracted many Second Amendment supporters to the spotlight. A large gun show in Jackson attracted thousands at the Mississippi Trade Mart over the weekend. Meanwhile, in Corinth, a Second Amendment rally brought in gun rights supporters and state legislators to reaffirm Mississippi is an open carry state. Organizer Jay Anthony said Mississippians should protect their Second Amendment rights.
