State law enforcement advises what concealed carry permit does
WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Laws regarding how and where someone can carry a firearm vary from state to state.
But a bill making its way through Congress might change that.
H.R. 38, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, would create a nationwide framework that would allow gun owners with concealed carry permits in one state to carry firearms in other states that allow concealed carry.
Across the United States, who can carry a firearm and where and how they can carry it is subject to a crazy quilt of state laws.
What is legal in one state may not be in another.
Supporters of the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives say if it becomes law, it would streamline concealed carry regulations and minimize gun owners’ confusion.
It would create a framework allowing people with valid concealed carry permits in one state to carry firearms in any state that permits concealed carry.
Until that happens, Mississippi law officers look for certain factors when investigating the use and misuse of firearms under state law.
Webster County Sheriff David Gore said the state does not require a concealed carry permit.
“There’s two types of permitted carry, the regular permit and you have an enhanced permit,” Gore said. ” On the enhanced permit that means that you have to get training in one but you have training to show that you are at a level of responsibility of a firearm that you know what to do and operate it and how to use it and carry it. You will be permitted in most of those places.”
The enhanced permit allows you to enter certain environments with a concealed firearm including government buildings.
Gore said some Mississippi and some other states already have reciprocity on the books, and that can make law enforcement’s job easier.
“States agree to accept the other states rule or law,” Gore said. “That is the way we look at it. If someone from Louisiana come from over here, we have laws of reciprocity, Alabama, Tennessee and different places as law enforcement that is the way we look at it.”
While in Mississippi it is legal to carry without a permit, the handgun must be in a holster or sheath.
“I do believe people are to be knowledgeable about firearms especially in rural areas because it may be the way to protect you and your family,” Gore said. ”
Bills similar to The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act have been introduced throughout the years, but have not passed.
In Mississippi concealed weapon permits are issued at the state level by the Department of Public Safety.
H.R. 38 is currently in committee in the House of Representatives.
