Mr. R.K. Houston

*1 Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter and has assigned it to me for reply. In your letter you state:

*1 “I have been asked by the Mayor and Board of Alderman of the Town of Bay Springs, Mississippi, to seek an opinion from your office concerning whether the Town is empowered through MCA 45–9–101 by ordinance to proscribe the carrying of a pistol or revolver at the Town's municipal airport, notwithstanding the prohibition set forth in MCA 45–9–51.

*1 As you know, in 1986, MCA 45–9–51 and 45–9–53 were passed. As I appreciate those statutes, a municipality may not adopt an ordinance restricting the possession of firearms except in those limited instances set forth in 45–9–53.

*1 MCA 45–9–101 became effective in 1991. That statute authorized the Department of Public Safety to issue licenses to some persons to carry concealed pistols and revolvers. MCA 45–9–101(13) reads in part as follows:

*1 (13) No license issued pursuant to this section shall authorize any person to carry a concealed pistol or revolver ... (identifying several particular places and meetings). In addition to the places enumerated in this subsection, the carrying of a concealed pistol or revolver may be disallowed in any place in the discretion of the person or entity exercising control over the physical location of such place by the placing of a written notice clearly readable at a distance of not less than ten (10) feet that the “carrying of a pistol or revolver is prohibited” ...

*1 It is the opinion of this office that Section 45–9–53(1)(f), Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, does not encompass municipal airports and therefore a municipality can not rely upon the above authority to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of a concealed pistol or revolver on municipal airport property. However, Section 45–9–101(13), Mississippi Code of 1972, provides that an individual may not in general carry a concealed weapon in a airport passenger terminal even with a gun permit.