Sheriff Claude Davis

*1 Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your opinion request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. You ask whether or not it is legal for a person occupying the position of county attorney to carry a firearm on his person.

*1 Section 97-37-1, Miss. Code Ann. (1972), makes it a crime to carry, “concealed in whole or in part, any...pistol, revolver, or any rifle with a barrel of less than sixteen (16) inches in length, or any shotgun with a barrel of less than eighteen (18) inches in length, machine gun or any fully automatic firearm or deadly weapon....” Section 97-37-7, Miss. Code Ann. (1972), as amended, grants permission for certain persons to carry firearms. County attorneys are not included in this list. Therefore, although like anyone else, a county attorney might have a valid defense to a charge of carrying a concealed weapon, Section 97-37-9, Miss. Code Ann. (1972), as amended, it is the opinion of this office that he is not by virtue of his position permitted to carry a concealed weapon.

*1 If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.