Gun ruling includes Mississippi history lesson from state Supreme Court justice
Two citizens outside the Chancery Court building give their opinion on whether guns should be allowed in courthouses. Jimmie E. Gates A Mississippi Supreme Court decision about guns in courthouses provided different perspectives from several justices, including a history lesson about gun rights from Justice Leslie King, the only African-American currently serving on the nine-member court. The majority of justices ruled Thursday that some chancery judges were wrong to ban people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses from taking guns into courthouses. The ruling said judges in the 14th Chancery District overstepped their authority because the Mississippi Constitution specifies that only the Legislature "may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons." The Legislature enacted a law in July 2011 saying that people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses may take guns into courthouses, although not into courtrooms. Judges in the 14th Chancery District issued an order in November 2011 banning anyone other than law enforcement officers from having concealed guns in and around all parts of courthouses in the district in Chickasaw, Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties. A resident with an enhanced concealed-carry license challenged the chancery judges’ ban, and the matter made its way to the state Supreme Court. In a dissenting opinion Thursday, King provided a different perspective about which branch of government had intruded on the powers of another branch. King wrote that the Mississippi Constitution specifies the judicial branch is in charge of the administration of justice, and he said the Legislature had encroached on judges’ responsibility to […]
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