2A News Special Alert — February 28, 2016
2016 Mississippi Gun Bills (with apologies to list members not in MS)
I missed the first deadline due to the Legislature changing its schedule.
Next deadline: March 3 for original floor action. I will try to send updates after major deadlines. You can view bills at http://www.legislature.ms.gov/Pages/default.aspx under “Legislation.”
SALES, RECORDS, SUPPRESSORS
HB 536
Rep. Scott
Jud. B – DEAD
Requires dealers to keep records of rifle & pistol ammo sales.
HB 554
Rep. Gipson
Jud. B – DEAD
Opens code section on silencers for potential law change.
HB 568
Rep. Denton
Jud. B – DEAD
Requires DPS to maintain a list of persons adjudicated mentally incompetent, or voluntarily or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or mental health treatment facility.
HB 570
Rep. Holland
Jud. B – DEAD
Requires notification of DPS by courts & mental health professionals concerning mental competency of individuals.
HB 778
Rep. Bomgar
Jud. B – DEAD
&
HB 1288
Rep. Gipson
Jud. B – DEAD
Requires that CLEOs shall certify federal firearms applications whenever legal to do so.
HB 1345
Rep. Barnett
Jud. B – DEAD
&
SB 2313
Sen. Tindell
PASSED Jud. A
PASSED SENATE – goes to House
Removes silencer registration requirement from state law.
SB 2515
Sen. Hill
PASSED Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
PASSED SENATE – goes to House
Exempts the records of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks relating to applications for and holders of hunting licenses from the provisions of the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Records shall be released only upon proper court order or to law enforcement upon request.
SB 2575
Sen. Jackson (32nd)
Jud. A – DEAD
Requires each centerfire rifle or pistol cartridge sold to be serialized.
RANGES
HB 787
Rep. Walker
Jud. B – DEAD
Requires approval of sport shooting range in Leake County by local church within 1500 feet.
HB 1300
Reps. Hood, Crawford
PASSED Jud. B
Opens code sections on sport shooting ranges for potential law change.
EMPLOYMENT
HB 581
Rep. Staples
Jud. B – DEAD
Creates MS Employee Firearm Protection Act allows public and private employees to legally keep guns locked in cars on employer’s property.
HB 790
Reps. Rushing, Shirley
Jud. B – DEAD
Prohibits public employers from prohibiting their state employees with enhanced CCW permits from legal CCW on agency property.
SB 2368
Sen. Hopson (By request)
Jud. A – DEAD
&
SB 2677
Sen. Hopson
Jud. A – DEAD
Requires employers to provide legal means, allowed by employer, for employees to store guns while at work.
PREEMPTION
HB 561
Rep. Banks
Jud. B – DEAD
Repeals state preemption law against local gun control ordinances.
HB 758
Reps. Hood, Morgan, Patterson, Mettetal, Beckett, Rogers (61st), Tullos, Oliver, Baker, Kinkade, Hale, Rushing, Formby, Chism, Byrd, Mims, Criswell, Willis, Currie, Boyd, Henley
PASSED Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE – goes to Senate
&
HB 771
Reps. Gipson, Morgan, Patterson, Mettetal, Beckett, Rogers (61st), Tullos, Oliver, Baker, Kinkade, Hale, Rushing, Formby, Chism, Bomgar, Weathersby, Shirley, Crawford
Jud. B – DEAD
Adds state agencies, commissions and boards to the preemption law generally prohibiting their adoption of firearms restrictions or taxes. This is desperately needed.
HB 1294
Reps. Frierson, Moore
PASSED Jud. B
Adds knives and knife businesses to local ordinance preemption law.
CCW PERMITS, $
HB 592
Rep. Mettetal
Jud. B – DEAD
Reduces CCW license fees for those aged 65 or over.
HB 600
Rep. Gipson
PASSED Jud. B
Revises CCW license renewal process: Extends expiration notice time, adds alternating on-line renewals, reduces senior renewal fees, provides that DPS shall promulgate rules and regulations to certify firearms instructors (including standards for certification, documentation of certification, a listing of all certified firearms instructors within the state, and fees for certification — i.e., what they’re doing now without legal authority).
HB 1397
Rep. Rushing
Jud. B – DEAD
Exempts retired LEOs (i.e., citizens) from CCW permit requirement.
HB 1408
Reps. Carpenter, Arnold, Bell (21st), Boyd, Chism, Criswell, Denny, Eubanks, Frierson, Hopkins, Horan, Lamar, Mangold, Morgan, Rogers (61st), Rushing, Shows, Staples, Touchstone
Jud. B – DEAD
Exempts military members, with appropriate ID, from CCW permit requirement.
HB 1414
Rep. Hood
Jud. B – DEAD
Reduces CCW permit fees.
HB 1416
Reps. Henley, Hale
Jud. B – DEAD
Adds exemption from training for enhanced CCW for honorably discharged or retired military veterans and removes related requirement that such military service include handgun or law enforcement training.
CARRY, PLACES, RESTRICTIONS
HB 542
Rep. Arnold
Jud. B – DEAD
Prohibits “no guns” signs at highway welcome centers and rest areas plus specifically allows CCW there with enhanced permits.
HB 571
Reps. Gipson, Morgan, Patterson, Mettetal, Beckett, Rogers (61st), Tullos, Oliver, Baker, Kinkade, Hale, Rushing, Formby, Chism, Byrd, Criswell, Boyd, Currie, Bomgar, Weathersby, Shirley, Moore, Crawford
PASSED Jud. B
Clarifies the meaning of “courthouse” and “courtroom” in existing CW law. This is the part that many judges and court officers are currently violating. I don’t know why they would obey this bill any better than they do current law.
HB 786
Reps. Representatives Gipson, Morgan, Mettetal, Beckett, Rogers (61st), Tullos, Oliver, Baker, Kinkade, Hale, Rushing, Formby, Chism, Miles, Bain, Mims, Criswell, Willis, Currie, Boyd, Bomgar, Hopkins, Weathersby, Moore, Shirley, Arnold, Staples, Monsour, Barnett, Crawford, Dixon
PASSED HOUSE – goes to Senate
Authorizes churches to authorize armed security members & immunizes churches from related liability if such members are enhanced permit holders.
HB 1346
Rep. Criswell
Jud. B – DEAD
Creates the Mississippi Constitutional Carry and Citizens Self-Defense Act, which appears to allow open or concealed carry by lawful adults without any permit, but also seems to remove the benefits of the enhanced permit by making the extra places you can currently carry with the enhanced permit off limits to everyone. Or maybe that part is in conflict with other parts of the law.
HB 1352
Reps. Criswell, Bomgar, Formby, Foster, Hale, Hopkins, Johnson (87th), Kinkade, Mettetal, Oliver, Rushing, Touchstone, Willis, Henley
Jud. B – DEAD
Provides that “no [CCW] license shall be required under this section for a loaded or unloaded pistol or revolver which is carried and partially concealed in a holster, provided that such holster and pistol or revolver are on the person’s body and concealed from normal view.”
CRIMES
HB 541
Rep. Clarke
Jud. B – DEAD
Makes shooting a gun “near any business or property that contains flammable or explosive petroleum products and such discharge is likely to cause the petroleum products to ignite or explode” a felony crime.
HB 598
Rep. Gipson
Jud. B – DEAD
Creates felony offense of willfully shooting at, or into, any occupied train, bus, truck, motor vehicle, depot, station, or any other transportation facility.
HB 1350
Rep. DeLano
Jud. B – DEAD
Prohibits alteration/obliteration of firearm serial number and possession/transfer of such firearm. Misdemeanor. (Already prohibited under federal law.) Includes felony violation “where death occurs.”
HB 1400
Rep. Dixon
Jud. B – DEAD
Makes murder by method of shooting unarmed person in the back a capital offense regardless of circumstances.
HB 1415
Rep. Henley
Jud. B – DEAD
Provides that weapons seized due to use in a crime be returned in the case of an acquittal or dismissal, to the owner instead of to the accused from whom it was seized.
SB 2164
Sen. Jordan
Jud. B – DEAD
Makes theft of firearm of any value grand larceny.
SB 2651
Sen. Tindell
Jud. A + Appropriations – DEAD
Requires Attorney General to represent citizens by investigating, suing, or prosecuting public employees and officials who allegely violated said citizens’ rights.
SB 2757
Sen. Wiggins
Jud. A – DEAD
Clarifies that domestic abuse perpetrators and those subject to a temporary domestic abuse protection order are prohibited from possessing guns.
House Concurrent Resolution 45
Rep. Dixon
Rules + Constitution – DEAD
Removes defense of double jeopardy, which protects a person against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal or conviction and against multiple punishments for the same offense, from any person, including a law enforcement officer, who is accused of killing an unarmed person.
FEDS
HB 760
Rep. Frierson
Jud. B – DEAD
&
HB 782
Reps. Formby, Gipson, Morgan, Patterson, Mettetal, Beckett, Rogers (61st), Tullos, Oliver, Baker, Kinkade, Hale, Rushing, Chism, Byrd, Criswell, Currie, Boyd, Bomgar, Weathersby, Shirley, Barnett, Moore, Crawford
PASSED Jud. B
&
HB 1306
Reps. Formby, Moore
Jud. B – DEAD
&
SB 2110
Sen. Hill
Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks – DEAD
&
SB 2234
Sen. Watson
Rules – DEAD
Prohibits enforcement by MS public employees of federal firearms laws which violate the Mississippi Constitution.
Here’s another posting of this information by attorney Reed Martz.