Sheriff Larkin I. Smith
Office of the Attorney GeneralMarch 5, 1985
1985 WL 70649 (Miss.A.G.)
Office of the Attorney General
State of Mississippi
*1 March 5, 1985
*1 Sheriff Larkin I. Smith
*1 Harrison County Sheriff's Department
*1 Post Office Box 1480
*1 Gulfport, Mississippi 39502
Dear Sheriff Smith:
*1 Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your opinion request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. In your letter you describe a conflict between your department and the Board of Trustees of Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College, stemming from the school's policy of prohibiting students, including law enforcement officers attending classes required for training, from having weapons while on campus. As you note, the pertinent statute, Section 97-37-17, Miss. Code Ann. (1972), states as follows:
*1 A student of any college, university, or school, who shall carry, bring, receive, own, or have on the campus, college or school grounds, or within two miles thereof, any weapon the carrying of which concealed is prohibited, or a teacher, instructor, or professor who shall knowingly suffer or permit any such weapon to be carried or so brought, received, owned, or had by a student or pupil, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, be fined not exceeding three hundred dollars or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding three months, or both.
*1 Since the legislature did not exempt law enforcement officers from this section, we must conclude that while they are attending classes they are included within the meaning of “student.” That being the case, the board's policy of prohibiting all students from having weapons on campus is wholly consistent with the plain wording of the statute and is therefore, in our opinion, proper.
*1 If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
1985 WL 70649 (Miss.A.G.)
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