Honorable Greg Stewart
Office of the Attorney GeneralFebruary 25, 1994
1994 WL 69345 (Miss.A.G.)
Office of the Attorney General
State of Mississippi
*1 Opinion No. 93-0840
*1 February 25, 1994
Re: Gun Permits for Private Guards on Private Property
*1 Honorable Greg Stewart
*1 Tunica County Attorney
*1 P.O. Box 745
*1 Tunica, MS 38676–0745
Dear Mr. Stewart:
*1 Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion from this office and has assigned it to me for research and reply. In your letter you state:
*1 Are privately employed security guards, on private property required to obtain a gun permit from the Department of Public Safety if not otherwise bonded by the local sheriff?
*1 Please see our prior opinion to Mr. A.A. McMullen, a copy of which is attached for your convenience. In essence that opinion states that the sheriff may issue a permit to security guards. A security guard permit also may be issued by the Commissioner of Public Safety. [In addition, the commissioner of public safety may issue “general” permits to carry concealed weapons pursuant to 45–9–101. This authority concerning “general” permits does not apply to true security guards since there is a specific type of weapons permit for security guards]. A privately employed security guard carrying a concealed weapon should obtain a permit as a security guard to carry the weapon concealed. This permit may be from the sheriff, for one county only, or from the Commissioner of Public Safety, for all of Mississippi.
Note
TO RETRIEVE THE FULL TEXT OF THE ATTACHED OPINION(S) SET FORTH AT THIS POINT, ENTER THE FOLLOWING FIELD SEARCH:
DA(7–22–1992) & PR(A.A. +2 McMullen)
Attachment 1
§ 97–37–7. Deadly weapons; persons permitted to carry weapons: bond; permit to carry weapon; grounds for denying application for permit.
*1 (1) 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, 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 are under bond in a sum of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for the lawful and faithful performance of their duties, the cost of which bond shall be paid by the employer of such persons; and further provided that such persons first made written application and obtained an annual permit so to do from the sheriff of the county in which they are employed. Provided, however, that where the duties of any person covered by the provisions of this paragraph may carry him into more than one county, such person may file a bond in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) with the Commissioner of Public Safety, for the lawful and faithful performance of his duties, the cost of the bond shall be paid by the employer of such person, and provided further that such person has first made written application with and obtained a permit so to do from the Commissioner of Public Safety, and said permit shall be valid as a statewide permit, for which the Commissioner of Public Safety shall collect a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.00), which shall be an annual fee to be collected each year. No such 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.
*2 (2) It shall further 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, investigators employed by the Attorney General, criminal investigators employed by the district attorneys, 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 judges of the Mississippi Supreme Court, circuit, chancery and county courts. 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.
*2 SOURCES: Laws, 1973, ch. 437, § I; 1974, ch. 323 § 1; 1981, ch. 415, § 1; 1986, ch. 372; 1990, ch. 483, § I; 1991, ch. 609, § 5, eff from and after July 1, 1991.
1994 WL 69345 (Miss.A.G.)
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