Bill Text: MS SB2528 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Retired law enforcement officers; concealed carry license/permit.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Failed) 2020-03-03 - Died In Committee [SB2528 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2020-SB2528-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) Boyd, McLendon, Sparks
Senate Bill 2528
AN ACT TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 45-1-101, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 45-1-103, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE FORMER EMPLOYER OF AN HONORABLY RETIRED OR SEPARATED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WITH AT LEAST TEN YEARS' SERVICE TO ISSUE CREDENTIALS ENTITLING THE OFFICER TO CARRY A CONCEALED WEAPON ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES UNLESS PROHIBITED BY OTHER LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 97-37-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW AN HONORABLY RETIRED OR SEPARATED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WITH AT LEAST TEN YEARS' SERVICE TO OBTAIN AN INSTRUCTOR-CERTIFIED PERMIT IF THE PERSON COMPLIES WITH FEDERAL LAW REQUIRING ANNUAL TRAINING; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 45-1-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
45-1-101. (1) This section may be referred to as the "HR218 Qualification Law."
(2) Any retired law enforcement officer who resides in this state and for whom the law enforcement agency from which the officer retired does not participate in the necessary certification for the retired officer to be certified according to the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 found at Title 18, Chapter 44, Section 926B, USC, or who does not reside in convenient proximity to the law enforcement agency from which the officer retired, may obtain the necessary certification from the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police.
SECTION 2. The following shall be codified as Section 45-1-103, Mississippi Code of 1972:
45-1-103. Any retired or honorably separated law enforcement officer who resides in this state, who had statutory powers of arrest or apprehension while employed as a law enforcement officer, and who is honorably retired or separated from a public law enforcement agency under good standing, with at least ten (10) cumulative years of service, is entitled upon request to credentials issued by the officer's previous agency entitling the officer to carry a concealed weapon as authorized under federal law if the person meets the standards set forth at Section 18 USC 926 and is not prohibited from carrying a weapon under any other law.
SECTION 3. Section 97-37-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-37-7. (1) (a) It shall not be a violation of Section 97-37-1 or any other statute for pistols, firearms or other suitable and appropriate weapons to be carried by duly constituted bank guards, company guards, watchmen, railroad special agents or duly authorized representatives who are not sworn law enforcement officers, agents or employees of a patrol service, guard service, or a company engaged in the business of transporting money, securities or other valuables, while actually engaged in the performance of their duties as such, provided that such persons have made a written application and paid a nonrefundable permit fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) to the Department of Public Safety.
(b) No permit shall be issued to any person who has ever been convicted of a felony under the laws of this or any other state or of the United States. To determine an applicant's eligibility for a permit, the person shall be fingerprinted. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. The department shall charge a fee which includes the amounts required by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the department for the national and state criminal history record checks and any necessary costs incurred by the department for the handling and administration of the criminal history background checks. In the event a legible set of fingerprints, as determined by the Department of Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, cannot be obtained after a minimum of three (3) attempts, the Department of Public Safety shall determine eligibility based upon a name check by the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and a Federal Bureau of Investigation name check conducted by the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol at the request of the Department of Public Safety.
(c) A person may obtain a duplicate of a lost or destroyed permit upon payment of a Fifteen Dollar ($15.00) replacement fee to the Department of Public Safety, if he furnishes a notarized statement to the department that the permit has been lost or destroyed.
(d) (i) No less than ninety (90) days prior to the expiration date of a permit, the Department of Public Safety shall mail to the permit holder written notice of expiration together with the renewal form prescribed by the department. The permit holder shall renew the permit on or before the expiration date by filing with the department the renewal form, a notarized affidavit stating that the permit holder remains qualified, and the renewal fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00); honorably retired law enforcement officers shall be exempt from payment of the renewal fee. A permit holder who fails to file a renewal application on or before its expiration date shall pay a late fee of Fifteen Dollars ($15.00).
(ii) Renewal of the permit shall be required every four (4) years. The permit of a qualified renewal applicant shall be renewed upon receipt of the completed renewal application and appropriate payment of fees.
(iii) A permit cannot be renewed six (6) months or more after its expiration date, and such permit shall be deemed to be permanently expired; the holder may reapply for an original permit as provided in this section.
(2) It shall not be a
violation of this or any other statute for pistols, firearms or other suitable
and appropriate weapons to be carried by Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and
Parks law enforcement officers, railroad special agents who are sworn law
enforcement officers, investigators employed by the Attorney General, criminal
investigators employed by the district attorneys, all prosecutors, public
defenders, investigators or probation officers employed by the Department of
Corrections, employees of the State Auditor who are authorized by the State
Auditor to perform investigative functions, or any deputy fire marshal or
investigator employed by the State Fire Marshal, while engaged in the
performance of their duties as such, or by fraud investigators with the
Department of Human Services, or by judges of the Mississippi Supreme Court,
Court of Appeals, circuit, chancery, county, justice and municipal courts, or
by coroners. Before any person shall be authorized under this subsection to
carry a weapon, he shall complete a weapons training course approved by the
Board of Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training. Before any criminal
investigator employed by a district attorney shall be authorized under this
section to carry a pistol, firearm or other weapon, he shall have complied with
Section 45-6-11 or any training program required for employment as an agent of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A law enforcement officer, as defined in
Section 45-6-3, shall be authorized to carry weapons in courthouses in
performance of his official duties. A person licensed under Section 45-9-101
to carry a concealed pistol, who (a) has voluntarily completed an instructional
course in the safe handling and use of firearms offered by an instructor
certified by a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers
firearms training, or by any other organization approved by the Department of
Public Safety, (b) is a member or veteran of any active or reserve component
branch of the United States of America Armed Forces having completed law
enforcement or combat training with pistols or other handguns as recognized by
such branch after submitting an affidavit attesting to have read, understand
and agree to comply with all provisions of the enhanced carry law, * * * (c) is an honorably retired law enforcement
officer or honorably retired member or veteran of any active or reserve
component branch of the United States of America Armed Forces having completed
law enforcement or combat training with pistols or other handguns, or (d)
who qualifies under Section 45-1-103, after submitting an affidavit
attesting to have read, understand and agree to comply with all provisions of
Mississippi enhanced carry law shall also be authorized to carry weapons in
courthouses except in courtrooms during a judicial proceeding, and any location
listed in subsection (13) of Section 45-9-101, except any place of nuisance as
defined in Section 95-3-1, any police, sheriff or highway patrol station or any
detention facility, prison or jail. For the purposes of this subsection (2),
component branch of the United States Armed Forces includes the Army, Navy, Air
Force, Coast Guard or Marine Corps, or the Army National Guard, the Army
National Guard of the United States, the Air National Guard or the Air National
Guard of the United States, as those terms are defined in Section 101, Title
10, United States Code, and any other reserve component of the United States
Armed Forces enumerated in Section 10101, Title 10, United States Code. The
department shall promulgate rules and regulations allowing concealed pistol
permit holders to obtain an endorsement on their permit indicating that they
have completed the aforementioned course and have the authority to carry in
these locations. This section shall in no way interfere with the right of a
trial judge to restrict the carrying of firearms in the courtroom.
For purposes of this subsection (2), the following words shall have the meanings described herein, unless the context otherwise requires:
(i) "Courthouse" means any building in which a circuit court, chancery court, youth court, municipal court, justice court or any appellate court is located, or any building in which a court of law is regularly held.
(ii) "Courtroom" means the actual room in which a judicial proceeding occurs, including any jury room, witness room, judge's chamber, office housing the judge's staff, or similar room. "Courtroom" shall not mean hallways, courtroom entrances, courthouse grounds, lobbies, corridors, or other areas within a courthouse which are generally open to the public for the transaction of business outside of an active judicial proceeding, the grassed areas, cultivated flower beds, sidewalks, parking lots, or other areas contained within the boundaries of the public land upon which the courthouse is located.
(3) It shall not be a violation of this or any other statute for pistols, firearms or other suitable and appropriate weapons, to be carried by any out-of-state, full-time commissioned law enforcement officer who holds a valid commission card from the appropriate out-of-state law enforcement agency and a photo identification. The provisions of this subsection shall only apply if the state where the out-of-state officer is employed has entered into a reciprocity agreement with the state that allows full-time commissioned law enforcement officers in Mississippi to lawfully carry or possess a weapon in such other states. The Commissioner of Public Safety is authorized to enter into reciprocal agreements with other states to carry out the provisions of this subsection.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.
