Sheriff Howard L. Hobbs
Office of the Attorney GeneralJanuary 26, 1982
1982 WL 43977 (Miss.A.G.)
Office of the Attorney General
State of Mississippi
*1 January 26, 1982
*1 Re: Weapons Permit/On The Job
*1 Sheriff Howard L. Hobbs
*1 Harrison County
*1 Post Office Box 1480
*1 Gulfport, Mississippi 39501
Dear Sheriff Hobbs:
*1 Attorney General Bill Allain has received your letter of January 5, 1982, and has assigned it to me for reply. In your letter you state:
*1 “The City Prosecutor of Biloxi, Mississippi, is of the opinion that an individual who is issued a permit, by the sheriff and posts a performance bond in accordance with the above captioned statute of the Mississippi Code, is subject to the following:
*1 “(1) that the permit is valid only while the person is in the actual performance of the duties of the job which entitled him to such a permit.
*1 “(2) that if the person granted the said permit continues to carry the firearm while engaged in personal activities, he is subject to prosecution for carrying a concealed weapon.
*1 “On behalf of the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, I respectfully request an opinion from you as to the fact if a permit issued in accordance with Section 97-37-7 and bond being posted, is valid only while the permitee is in the actual performance of his duties of the job which entitled him to such a permit, and further if a person is carrying a firearm while engaged in personal activities and does bear a permit issued by the sheriff in accordance with the aforementioned section, would be subject to prosecution for carrying a concealed weapon?”
*1 Section 97-37-7 of the Mississippi Code, Annotated, 1972, as amended, provides that the sheriff may issue a permit to carry a suitable weapon to persons in certain occupations and that it is not a violation for such person to carry said weapon “while actually engaged in the performance of their duties.”
*1 Section 97-37-9 (i) of the Mississippi Code, Annotated, 1972, as amended, provides that it is a defense to the charge of carrying a concealed weapon that one held a permit from a sheriff and “was then actually engaged in the performance of his duties.”
*1 It is our opinion that these statutes allow a person to carry a concealed weapon under a sheriff's permit only while actually engaged in the performance of his duties of one of the occupations established by Section 97-37-7.
*1 This opinion should not be read to imply that such a person could not also carry the weapon to and from work.
*1 We enclose copies of Section 97-37-7 and Section 97-37-9.
1982 WL 43977 (Miss.A.G.)
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