The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday vacated a motion made by a lower court out of Lowndes County that banned possession of firearms in courthouses.
The case goes back to July 2011, when the state Legislature amended Mississippi Code Section 97-37-7, granting enhanced concealed carry licensees the privilege of carrying concealed firearms in courthouses across Mississippi.
The only restriction came in courtrooms, which the Legislature left up to the decision of local judges.
Despite the decision by the Legislature, the three chancellors for the Fourteenth Chancery District - Judge Dorothy Colom, Judge Kenneth Burns and Judge H.J. Davidson, Jr. - issued a court order In November 2011 prohibiting enhanced concealed-carry licensees from possessing a gun in and around courthouse buildings in their district.
The court prohibited concealed carry within 200 feet of any door to any courtroom of Fourteenth Chancery District courthouses in Lowndes, Oktibbeha Clay, Noxubee, Chickasaw and Webster counties.
Ward, along with the state Attorney General Jim Hood and the National Rifle Association, argued that the order was invalid.
Following the court order, enhanced concealed-carry licensee Ricky Ward filed a petition to modify or dismiss the order. The chancellors then issued an order denying the petition and doubled down on their order blocking concealed carry permit holders from bringing guns into the courthouse.
Ward moved forward, though, and requested the Mississippi Supreme Court vacate the order as unconstitutional and in conflict with state law.
The state’s highest court agreed, calling the orders “unconstitutional on their face.”
The Mississippi Constitution, according to the interpretation of the state Supreme Court, says judges do not have “inherent power” to control security beyond their courtrooms, which is the responsibility of the executive branch of government - such as sheriff’s offices and police departments.
As it relates to concealed weapons, those decisions are left up to the Legislature, which means the judicial branch of government in the state of Mississippi has no say in enforcing concealed carry laws.
“The chancellors have good and noble intentions, and their concerns are well-founded,” the Supreme Court stated in its conclusion. “However, their personal fears and opinions do not trump, and cannot negate, constitutional guarantees.”
Justice James D. Maxwell, who concurred with the opinion to vacate the motion, said he understands and shares some of the concerns of the chancellors.
“I do, however, emphasize that our judiciary has inherent constitutional authority to secure its courtrooms,” Justice Maxwell wrote. “But the orders here broadly apply to non-judicial hallways, rooms and offices located with the District’s courthouses - areas that by no definition quality as courtrooms.”