Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

I know this is not Mississippi but I have been trying to get some clarification about a provision in Mississippi carry laws and have not been real successful. I have searched their Department of Public Safety and other web sites and have not found what I am looking for.

In their statute 45-9-101it states it is illegal to carry in "any portion of an establishment, licensed to despense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, that is primarily devoted to the despensing of alcoholic beverages; any portion of an establishment in which beer or light wine is consumed on the premisis, that is primarily devoted to that purpose."

Now to me, the non-lawyer, it seems that by using the words "primarily devoted", it sounds like they are trying to differentiate between bars and restaurants. However I called this morning to a person in their Department of Public Safety and spoke with a person in their firearms unit and she stated that their law prohibits carrying in ANY establishment that serves alcohol for on site consumption.

I know people would say that if their Department of Public Safety representative stated it that way then that is the way it is but I guess I thought it was not. If it is, then I believe their law as written is ambigous and confusing. Does anybody know if there is a link to an organization such as TFA in Mississippi where this question can be answered?

Based on the information you posted, I think it would be difficult to interpret a normal restaurant with an alcohol license as a place you could not carry. It IS very vague. How is a customer supposed to know before he walks into the door whether the place serves 51% alcohol or 51% food?

The sad part is that the only way to get a definitive answer is to carry and get arrested. Only in court will the law actually be challenged. I see this as a serious problem with our legal system. It takes someone with the determination, time, and money to go through the court process to get a bad law overturned or defined.