Mississippi high court: Judges can't regulate concealed guns

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled that some local judges were wrong to ban people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses from taking guns into courthouses.

The high court said Thursday that 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 2011 saying that people with enhanced concealed-carry licenses may take guns into courthouses but not into courtrooms.

Judges in the 14th Chancery District issued an order banning guns in and around all parts of courthouses in the district in Chickasaw, Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.

A man with an enhanced concealed-carry license challenged the judges’ ban.