Mississippi - Legislature To Consider<BR>Right-To-Carry Bill Soon

This past Tuesday, March 9, was the committee action deadline for bills filed in the 2004 session of the Mississippi Legislature. Several NRA-backed bills are on the move and headed to the full State House and Senate for consideration.

HB 989 by Rep. Warner McBride (D-Courtland) amends Mississippi`s Right To Carry law to provide for true concealed pistol permit reciprocity. It deletes the current requirement that another state`s law be "substantially similar" to Mississippi law in order to qualify for a reciprocal agreement and establishes that Mississippi shall recognize any state which, in turn, recognizes Mississippi carry permits. This will vastly increase the number of states where Mississippi permit holders may lawfully protect themselves when traveling for business or personal reasons. Several other changes to the carry law were adopted as part of a "committee substitute" for the bill -- these changes were necessary to maintain the current exemption for permit holders from the federal background check requirement when they purchase a firearm. You can view the bill as filed and the committee substitute by visiting www.state.ms.us and clicking on "Government" and then "Bill Status."

HB 989 has been reported out of the House Judiciary B Committee and will be considered by the full House early next week. Please call and email your State Representatives and urge them to support HB 989.

SB 2705 by Sen. Walter Michel (R-Jackson) is the Senate companion bill to HB 989. SB 2705 has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary B Committee and will be considered by the full Senate next week. Please call and email your State Senators and urge them to support SB 2705.

SB 2623, also by Sen. Michel, creates a specialized NRA license plate for the cost of $30. Twenty-four of those dollars will go to the NRA Foundation State Fund Account for Mississippi, to be used as grant money for youth hunter education, firearms safety training, shooting range development, and wildlife conservation programs. Money raised from the purchase of these plates will stay in Mississippi. Each session, a large number of bills are filed to create specialized tags for different civic and membership groups and trade associations. This year, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, pro-gun Sen. Tommy Robertson (R-Moss Point), chose the NRA bill as the "lead bill" and rolled all the specialized plate bills into SB 2623 in the form of a committee substitute. SB 2623 has been reported out of the Senate Finance Committee and awaits consideration by the full Senate. Please contact your State Senators and urge them to support SB 2623 as well.

Thank you for your support and we`ll keep you posted as these bills continue moving through the process.