Mississippi Open Carry Law Still On Hold
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 4 months ago
John Richardson (via David Codrea).
Judge Winston Kidd extended his Temporary Restraining Order against HB 2 until Friday according to “Jackson Jambalaya” who attended the proceedings this afternoon. The state argues that HB 2 only clarified the definition of concealed and that open carry is allowed under the MS Constitution of 1891.
Rep. Andy Gipson (R-Rankin) who authored HB 2 released this statement earlier today before the beginning of the hearing.
“The Amended Complaint filed with the Hinds County Circuit Court on July 1, 2013 alleges that House Bill 2 (which defined the term “concealed”) is unconstitutional on three grounds:
1) “Unconstitutionally vague” …
2) “Overbroad” …
3) “Arbitrary and Capricious.” This is where it gets most interesting. The complaint alleges that the definition “is arbitrary and capricious in excusing persons who wish to openly-carry firearms from the license requirements imposed on persons who wish to carry concealed firearms.” TRANSLATION: HINDS COUNTY OFFICIALS WANT TO REQUIRE GUN LICENSING AND REGISTRATION OF ALL GUNS BEING CARRIED BY MISSISSIPPIANS. THIS IS THE SAME LINE OF THINKING BEING PUSHED IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND NEW YORK CITY, RIGHT HERE IN OUR OWN BACKYARD.”
Vagueness has no bearing whatsoever on the latitude given to a judge, or in other words, this isn’t a good justification for barring a law, and the judge has no right under the rubric of “vagueness” to do such a thing.
Same with “overbroad.” But it is indeed most interesting that arbitrary and capricious is included, and it makes the case for judge Kidd doing what he did laughable. Many laws are arbitrary and capricious – the legal drinking age, speed limits, most traffic laws, zoning regulations, etc. My point isn’t that we should change the legal drinking age or amend the speed limit to 100 MPH.
The point is that if judge Kidd were going to use arbitrary and capricious as a justification for throwing a law out (rather than the more classic reason that a law does not comport with the constitution), he’s got a lot of work to do and most laws would disappear from the books.
No, judge Kidd has another agenda, and it is this agenda that does not comport with the constitution.
Prior:
Mississippi Supreme Court Denies Petition To Undo Open Carry Block
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment