Mississippi Schools Board Updates Policy, Clearing Way for Some Staff to Have Guns on Campus

Mimi Nguyen LyJuly 25, 2022

Education officials in Mississippi voted on Thursday to remove a requirement that blocked guns in public schools. The move allows school districts in the state to determine their own rules on school security, including to potentially allow some staff to carry guns on campus.

The vote by the Mississippi Board of Education updates an internal policy adopted in 1990 that prohibited the possession of firearms and weapons in any form “by any person other than duly authorized law enforcement officials on school premises or at school functions.”

Jean Cook, director of communication for the Mississippi Department of Education, said that the policy update is “part of an ongoing review of State Board policies to make sure all are up to date and in compliance with current law.” She added that about 30 policies have been updated over the past six months.

Deputy Attorney General Michael Lanford said in a statement (pdf) that under state law, “A school district may, in its discretion, prohibit or allow its employees who hold enhanced conceal carry licenses to possess weapons at the school. In the alternative, a school district may, in its discretion, allow its employees with enhanced carry licenses to carry weapons and may expend funds for those employees to be trained for such purpose.”

He added: “Other persons with enhanced carry licenses may enter onto school facilities without violating the concealed weapons statutes; and may enter onto the public areas of those schools without being subject to a possible charge of trespass. School districts may bar persons, including persons with enhanced carry permits, from areas of the school to which the general public is not allowed.”

Policy Updated to Align with State Law

The Mississippi Board of Education determined that the 1990 policy conflicted with Mississippi’s 2011 enhanced conceal carry law, which allows people with enhanced gun