Mississippi recognizes licenses to carry stun guns, concealed pistols, or revolvers issued by other states outright. If your license is valid,...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Mississippi recognizes licenses to carry stun guns, concealed pistols, or revolvers issued by other states outright. If your license is valid, unrevoked, and unexpired, Mississippi recognizes it. The statute sets no other condition: it does not ask which state issued the license, whether that state honors Mississippi licenses in return, or whether the two states have signed anything.
That is a blanket-recognition model rather than a list model. Nothing in Mississippi law makes recognition depend on an approved-state roster or on an administrative finding that another state's standards are comparable, so the rule changes when the Legislature changes the statute and not when an agency updates a list.
Written reciprocity agreements do exist in Mississippi. The agreements Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(19) authorizes run the other direction: the Department of Public Safety signs them so that other states will honor Mississippi licenses, not so that Mississippi will honor theirs.
The operative provision is Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(19), in the 2025 Mississippi Code. It is two sentences, and the split between them is the whole design:
Any person holding a valid unrevoked and unexpired license to carry stun guns, concealed pistols or revolvers issued in another state shall have such license recognized by this state to carry stun guns, concealed pistols or revolvers. The Department of Public Safety is authorized to enter into a reciprocal agreement with another state if that state requires a written agreement in order to recognize licenses to carry stun guns, concealed pistols or revolvers issued by this state.
Read the first sentence carefully. Recognition is mandatory ("shall have such license recognized"), it turns only on the license being valid, unrevoked, and unexpired, and it attaches to the license rather than to the issuing state. Nothing in the sentence asks whether the issuing state honors Mississippi permits back.
The second sentence is the agreement power, and it is narrow. It authorizes DPS to sign a written agreement with another state in one situation: where that state requires a written agreement before it will recognize Mississippi licenses. The agreements are an outbound tool for Mississippi permit holders traveling elsewhere.
One open question sits in the wording itself. Subsection (19) says "issued in another state," and it names neither the District of Columbia nor the U.S. territories. If your permit was issued by a jurisdiction that is not one of the fifty states, confirm your standing with the Department of Public Safety Firearm Permit Division before you rely on it.
Residence is not part of the test. Subsection (19) turns on the license being issued in another state and draws no distinction between that state's resident permit and its nonresident permit, so a nonresident permit issued by another state is within the text as written.
Subsection (19) assigns the agreement power to the Department of Public Safety, and its Firearm Permit Division is the office that answers firearm permit questions. The DPS Frequently Asked Questions page files this one under that division: "With what other states does Mississippi have reciprocity? (Whose permits do we honor, who honors ours?)" The published answer restates the statute, that Mississippi recognizes valid, unrevoked, and unexpired licenses to carry stun guns, concealed pistols, or revolvers issued in other states and that DPS may enter a reciprocal agreement where another state requires a written one. Ask the division which agreements are currently signed.
Take the roster from DPS rather than from a secondhand map. Those subsection (19) agreements only matter in the outbound direction, so the destination state's published position is the one that governs your trip.
Mississippi already allows a broad category of carry without any license, which changes what recognition is worth. Under Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(24), no license is required to carry a loaded or unloaded pistol or revolver on your person in a sheath, belt holster, or shoulder holster, or in a purse, handbag, satchel, other similar bag, briefcase, or fully enclosed case. Three conditions attach: you are not engaged in criminal activity other than a misdemeanor traffic offense, you are not otherwise prohibited from possessing a pistol or revolver under state or federal law, and you are not in a location prohibited under subsection (13).
Separately, Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-1(4) defines "concealed" as hidden or obscured from common observation and expressly excludes a pistol carried in a sheath, belt holster, or shoulder holster that is wholly or partially visible, or in a scabbard or case for carrying the weapon that is wholly or partially visible. Carry in a visible holster is therefore not concealed carry at all, and 45-9-101(14)(b) confirms that the licensing requirements do not reach a weapon that is not concealed as defined in 97-37-1.
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-1(2) adds that carrying a firearm or deadly weapon concealed is not a violation for a person over eighteen within the confines of their own home or place of business, on real property associated with either, or within any motor vehicle. Subsection (3) does the same for a person engaged in, going to, or returning from a legitimate weapon-related sports activity, which the statute defines as hunting, fishing, target shooting, or any other legal activity that normally involves a firearm or other weapon. The DPS FAQ points travelers to 97-37-1(2) when they ask how to bring a handgun through the state.
So what does recognition add? It reaches carry the permitless route does not cover. Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-1(1) makes carrying a concealed pistol, revolver, or other listed deadly weapon an offense "Except as otherwise provided in Section 45-9-101," and 45-9-101(19) puts a recognized out-of-state license inside that exception for stun guns, concealed pistols, and revolvers. A recognized license covers concealed carry outside the carry methods 45-9-101(24) lists, and it covers a concealed stun gun, which subsection (24) does not mention.
The grading matters if you get this wrong. Under 97-37-1(1), a first conviction draws a fine of $100 to $500, up to six months in county jail, or both. A second conviction draws a fine of $100 to $500 and thirty days to six months in county jail. A third or subsequent conviction draws one to five years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. A person previously convicted of any felony who is convicted under the section draws one to ten years. Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-9 separately lists defenses a person indicted or charged for a violation of 97-37-1 may show, among them that he was traveling and was not a tramp. See the permitless carry section of this guide.
One boundary the statute does not resolve: 45-9-101(13) lists the places a license issued under that section does not authorize carry, including courthouses, any police, sheriff, or highway patrol station, detention facilities, polling places, elementary and secondary school facilities, any church or other place of worship except as provided in Section 45-9-171, and any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises that is primarily devoted to dispensing alcoholic beverages. Subsection (24) expressly bars the permitless route from those same locations, so a visitor relying on 45-9-101(24) is out of them by the statute's own terms. Subsection (13) speaks to licenses "issued pursuant to this section," and 45-9-101(19) does not spell out how the place list applies to a recognized out-of-state license. Treat the subsection (13) list as your outer boundary in Mississippi regardless of which route you are carrying under.
Posted premises are the second boundary. The same subsection (13) lets the person or entity exercising control over a physical location disallow carry of a stun gun, concealed pistol, or revolver there, by posting a written notice clearly readable at a distance of not less than ten feet that the "carrying of a pistol or revolver is prohibited." That sentence speaks to the carrying of the weapon rather than to a particular license, so read a posted notice as binding whichever route you are carrying under. Subsection (13) also withholds authority from participants in a parade or demonstration for which a permit is required.
Carry the physical permit and photo identification. Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(1)(b) requires a licensee under that section to carry the license with valid identification at all times while carrying and to display both on demand by a law enforcement officer, and it makes a violation a noncriminal violation with a $25 penalty enforceable by summons. That text is written for Mississippi licensees, and subsection (19) does not restate it for recognized permits, but a permit you cannot produce is a permit an officer cannot recognize.
Mississippi's enhanced carry endorsement sits in Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-7(2). It lets a qualifying holder carry in courthouses (though not in courtrooms during a judicial proceeding) and in the locations listed in 45-9-101(13), except any place of nuisance as defined in Section 95-3-1, any police, sheriff, or highway patrol station, and any detention facility, prison, or jail.
The endorsement is available to "A person licensed under Section 45-9-101 to carry a concealed pistol" who has voluntarily completed an instructional course in the safe handling and use of firearms from an instructor certified by a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training or by another organization approved by DPS, or who qualifies through the statute's military or retired law enforcement paths. DPS then places an endorsement on that person's permit.
Recognition under 45-9-101(19) does not carry the endorsement with it. A visitor holding an out-of-state license is not licensed under Section 45-9-101 and holds no DPS endorsement, and whatever upgrade another state stamps on its own permit, that permit is still an out-of-state license here and 97-37-7(2) does not reach it. DPS answers the training half of this directly: asked whether training from another state can be used to obtain the enhanced endorsement, the FAQ says no, and points to DPS-certified instructors or the military and law enforcement training defined in 97-37-7(2)(b). The eligibility clause in 97-37-7(2) reads more broadly than that answer, so confirm your instructor with the Firearm Permit Division before paying for a course.
There is a route in for a frequent visitor. Miss. Code Ann. 45-9-101(2)(a) lets DPS waive the Mississippi residency requirement for an applicant who possesses a valid permit from another state, and the DPS application asks that question on its face. A nonresident permit holder can apply for a Mississippi permit and then pursue the endorsement with acceptable training.
Mississippi law cannot make another state honor a Mississippi license. What Mississippi contributes is the second sentence of 45-9-101(19), the authority for DPS to sign a written agreement where the destination state conditions recognition on one.
Recognition by another state carries no exemption from that state's rules on where you may carry, what you must tell an officer, or how a firearm travels in a vehicle. Those follow the ground you are standing on.
The enhanced endorsement adds nothing here. Section 97-37-7(2) authorizes carry in Mississippi courthouses and Mississippi locations listed in 45-9-101(13). It says nothing about carry in another state, and another state's recognition decision runs to your Mississippi license under that state's own law.
Before you cross the state line with a Mississippi permit:
Miss. Code Ann. 97-37-7(3) covers out-of-state, full-time commissioned law enforcement officers who hold a valid commission card from the appropriate out-of-state agency plus photo identification. This one is genuinely conditioned on an agreement: the subsection applies only if the state employing the officer has entered into a reciprocity agreement with Mississippi that allows full-time commissioned Mississippi officers to lawfully carry or possess a weapon in that state. The Commissioner of Public Safety is authorized to enter those agreements.
An officer relying on 97-37-7(3) should confirm with DPS that the agreement covering their state is in place, because unlike the permit provision, this authority does not exist without one.
One carve-out that is not an out-of-state authority sits inside the place list itself. Subsection (13) opens by excepting a law enforcement officer as defined in Section 45-6-3 with a distinct license authorized by the Department of Public Safety, and 45-9-101(14)(a) directs the Commissioner of Public Safety to promulgate rules and regulations providing licenses under Section 45-9-101 to those officers who choose to obtain one, carrying an "active duty" distinction and an endorsement to carry in the locations listed in subsection (13). That is a license issued under Section 45-9-101 rather than a recognized out-of-state credential.
The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act runs independently of Mississippi's recognition rule. Under 18 U.S.C. 926B, a qualified law enforcement officer carrying the photographic agency identification described in subsection (d) may carry a concealed firearm that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, notwithstanding any other provision of the law of any state, subject to subsection (b). 18 U.S.C. 926C does the same for a qualified retired law enforcement officer who carries the identification that section requires.
Both sections keep two categories of state law intact. Neither supersedes or limits state laws that permit private persons or entities to prohibit or restrict concealed firearms on their property, or state laws that prohibit or restrict firearms on state or local government property, installations, buildings, bases, or parks. Both also exclude machineguns, silencers, and destructive devices from the firearms they cover.
This page covers one part of our Mississippi concealed carry guide.
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