Miss. Const. art. 3, Section 12 protects the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of home, person, or property, or in aid of the...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Miss. Const. art. 3, Section 12 protects the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when legally summoned, and expressly leaves the Legislature power to regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.
Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(24) says a license "is not required for a loaded or unloaded pistol or revolver to be carried upon the person in a sheath, belt holster or shoulder holster or in a purse, handbag, satchel, other similar bag or briefcase or fully enclosed case." That permission is conditional. It applies only if you are not engaged in criminal activity other than a misdemeanor traffic offense, are not otherwise prohibited from possessing a pistol or revolver under state or federal law, and are not in a location prohibited under Section 45-9-101(13).
Subsection (24) sets no age of its own. The floor comes from Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-14, which makes it an act of delinquency for a person who has not attained 18 to knowingly possess a handgun, with exceptions for firearms safety courses, authorized ranges, and organized competition.
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-1(1) opens "Except as otherwise provided in Section 45-9-101," then makes it an offense to carry concealed on or about one's person a pistol, revolver, machine gun or any fully automatic firearm or deadly weapon, a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches, a shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches, a listed knife, metallic knuckles, a blackjack or a slingshot, or any muffler or silencer for any firearm, whether or not it is accompanied by a firearm, or to use or attempt to use an imitation firearm against another person. Penalties escalate:
| Conviction | Grading under Section 97-37-1(1) |
|---|---|
| First | Fine of $100 to $500, or up to 6 months in county jail, or both |
| Second | Fine of $100 to $500, and 30 days to 6 months in county jail |
| Third or subsequent | 1 to 5 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections |
| Any person previously convicted of any felony | 1 to 10 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections |
Two carve-outs sit inside the same statute. Section 97-37-1(2) says it is not a violation for a person over 18 to carry concealed within the confines of his own home or place of business, any real property associated with the home or business, or within any motor vehicle. Section 97-37-1(3) covers a person engaged in, going to, or returning from a "legitimate weapon-related sports activity," defined as hunting, fishing, target shooting, or any other legal activity that normally involves a weapon. Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-9 adds defenses to a Section 97-37-1 charge, including service in a church or place of worship security program meeting Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-171 and certification under a School Safety Guardian Program under Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-181.
Section 97-37-1(4) defines "concealed" as hidden or obscured from common observation, and excludes a loaded or unloaded pistol carried in a sheath, belt holster, or shoulder holster that is wholly or partially visible, or in a scabbard or case that is wholly or partially visible. Section 45-9-101(14)(b) matches from the licensing side: the licensing requirements do not apply to a weapon "that is not concealed as defined in Section 97-37-1." Open carry of a handgun therefore falls outside the Section 97-37-1 offense.
The Department of Public Safety issues the license under Section 45-9-101, not county sheriffs. A license is valid throughout the state for five years, unless the applicant chooses under subsection (25) to have it appear as a notation on a driver's license or identification card, in which case it expires and renews with that card.
Core eligibility under Section 45-9-101(2):
Fees run in two tracks: Section 45-9-101 sets $80 new, $40 renewal, $20 at 65 and older, and a $15 late fee, while the Department of Public Safety fee schedule lists counter totals of $112 first time, $72 renewal, $52 renewal at 65 and older, and $32 for listed military, law enforcement, and disabled veteran applicants. The fees section of this guide breaks that down.
Three practical reasons to hold the license even though permitless carry exists:
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-7(2) is the operative authority. A person licensed under Section 45-9-101 who 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 another organization approved by the Department of Public Safety, may carry in courthouses except in courtrooms during a judicial proceeding, and in any location listed in Section 45-9-101(13) other than a place of nuisance as defined in Miss. Code Ann. 95-3-1, a police, sheriff, or highway patrol station, or a detention facility, prison, or jail. Two alternative paths qualify service members and veterans with handgun training, and honorably retired law enforcement officers and veterans, each on an affidavit attesting that the applicant has read, understands, and agrees to comply with the enhanced carry law.
The same subsection limits "courtroom" to the proceeding room plus jury rooms, witness rooms, chambers, and staff offices, so hallways, lobbies, grounds, and parking lots are not courtrooms. A trial judge keeps the right to restrict firearms there.
The Department of Public Safety describes the civilian path as a qualifying 8-hour course and states that training from another state does not qualify. The administrative rule at 31 Miss. Code R. 1-15.1 governs instructor recognition and requires at least one hour of legal training on concealed carry and justifiable homicide. Section 97-37-7(2) controls; the rule is implementation detail.
Section 45-9-101(13) lists where a license does not authorize carry, except for a Section 45-6-3 law enforcement officer holding a distinct Department of Public Safety license: any place of nuisance under Section 95-3-1; police, sheriff, or highway patrol stations; detention facilities, prisons, or jails; courthouses and courtrooms; polling places; meetings of a governmental body or of the Legislature or its committees; school, college, or professional athletic events not related to firearms; the portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption that is primarily devoted to dispensing them, and the portion of an establishment primarily devoted to on-premises consumption of beer, light spirit product, or light wine; elementary and secondary school facilities; junior college, community college, college, and university facilities except for an authorized firearms-related activity; the passenger terminal of an airport, other than a firearm encased for checking as baggage on a lawful flight; churches and other places of worship except as provided in Section 45-9-171; and anywhere federal law prohibits carry.
An enhanced endorsement reopens most of that list, as described above, but not a place of nuisance, a law enforcement station, or a jail. Because Section 45-9-101(24) conditions permitless carry on not being in a location prohibited under subsection (13), the same list binds a person carrying without a license, and no endorsement is available to lift it.
Subsection (13) also lets any person or entity controlling a location disallow carry by posting a notice readable at ten feet that the "carrying of a pistol or revolver is prohibited," and it withholds authorization from participants in a permitted parade or demonstration. That posting power is framed as additional to the enumerated places, so an enhanced endorsement should not be read as overriding a private posting. The Department of Public Safety says the endorsement does not "allow a person to violate a prohibition against carrying firearms posted by written notice."
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-17(2) makes possession of a firearm on educational property a felony: a fine up to $5,000, up to three years in the custody of the Department of Corrections, or both. Subsection (6) exempts a non-student whose firearm stays within a motor vehicle and is not brandished in a careless, angry, or threatening manner.
Miss. Code Ann. 97-3-15(3) presumes a person who uses defensive force reasonably feared imminent death, great bodily harm, or a felony when the other person was unlawfully and forcibly entering or had entered a dwelling, occupied vehicle, business, or place of employment, or was removing someone against their will, and the person using force knew or had reason to believe that was occurring or had occurred. The presumption drops away if that person had a right to be there, if the person using force was engaged in unlawful activity, or if the person is a law enforcement officer performing official duties. Section 97-3-15(4) removes any duty to retreat before using deadly force under subsection (1)(e) or (f) for a person who is not the initial aggressor, is not engaged in unlawful activity, and is where he has a right to be, and bars the finder of fact from treating a failure to retreat as evidence the force was unnecessary, excessive, or unreasonable. Section 97-3-15(5)(b) requires a court to award a defendant fees, costs, lost income, and expenses incurred defending a civil action brought by a plaintiff if it finds the defendant acted under subsection (1)(e) or (f), and grants immunity from any civil action for damages arising from the same conduct after an acquittal on those grounds.
Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-51 bars any county or municipality from adopting an ordinance restricting possession, carrying, transportation, sale, transfer, or ownership of firearms, ammunition, or components, and bars public housing authorities from restricting lawful possession in dwelling units. Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-53 preserves local authority over discharge, zoning and fire code, insurrection and disaster response, explosives storage, pawnshop receipts, and carrying at public parks, public meetings, political rallies and parades, and nonfirearm-related athletic events. A person adversely affected must give the Attorney General written notice first, and the locality gets 30 days to cure before suit proceeds. An elected official in whose jurisdiction the violation occurred can be personally liable up to $1,000 plus fees.
Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-55 stops public and private employers from prohibiting transport or storage of a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area, excepting private lots whose general public access is restricted by a gate, security station, or other means, and not reaching employer vehicles used in the business. Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-57 lets a county regulate discharge within a platted subdivision.
As of the 2025 Mississippi Code, the state has not enacted an extreme risk protection order statute. Section 45-9-171 is the Church Protection Act and creates a security program with civil immunity, not a firearm surrender procedure. Federal disqualifiers still attach independently, including 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8) for a person subject to a qualifying restraining order.
Section 45-9-101(18) bars reading the licensing statute to require or allow registration or serial numbers, and Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-207, effective January 1, 2024, bars anyone but the owner or the owner's representative from knowingly and willfully keeping a list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or their owners, apart from records kept in a criminal investigation and prosecution or as law otherwise requires.
No Mississippi statute requires you to announce that you are carrying. Section 45-9-101(1)(b) does require a licensee to carry the license with valid identification and to display both on demand by a law enforcement officer; a violation is a noncriminal violation carrying a $25 penalty enforceable by summons.
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-5 makes it a felony for a person convicted of a felony in any state or federal court to possess a firearm: a fine up to $5,000, one to ten years in the custody of the Department of Corrections, or both, unless the person has a pardon, federal relief from disability, or a certificate of rehabilitation. Federal law adds the categories in 18 U.S.C. 922(g), including unlawful users of controlled substances, persons adjudicated as mentally defective or committed, and persons dishonorably discharged. Section 45-9-101(24) says medical cannabis use by a registered qualifying patient under the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act does not disqualify a person under that subsection solely because of the federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3). That speaks only to Mississippi's permitless carry rule. It does not change federal law, so raise the conflict with a Mississippi attorney before relying on it.
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-37 adds five years of nonreducible, nonsuspendable imprisonment for using or displaying a firearm during any felony, and ten consecutive years for a convicted felon who does so.
Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-81 through 45-9-85 were enacted as Laws 2023 ch. 461. Section 45-9-85 would bar muffler and silencer prosecutions under Section 97-37-1 and Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-31, and Section 6 of the same act would repeal Section 97-37-31 outright. Neither has happened: Section 7 makes the whole act effective only on a contingency turning on a United States Supreme Court ruling that has not occurred. So Section 97-37-31 stays live: making, manufacturing, selling or possessing a device that will arrest or muffle the report of a firearm, by anyone not duly authorized under federal law, is a misdemeanor, a fine of up to $500, up to thirty days in the county jail, or both. Federal National Firearms Act rules are separate. Check the official code and ask a Mississippi attorney.
The permit basics and application process sections cover the license and the endorsement. The permitless carry section works through Section 45-9-101(24), and the use of force section covers Section 97-3-15. For the current status of any form, fee, or reciprocity agreement, check the Department of Public Safety Firearm Permit Division directly. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
This page covers one part of our Mississippi concealed carry guide.
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