According to Firearm Chronicles
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is among those weighing in on the mayor of Jackson’s unilateral usurping of the Second Amendment rights of Jackson residents by banning the open carrying of firearms during the state’s emergency declaration. In a letter to Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, the AG says there’s nothing in state law that would allow a mayor to suspend the constitutional rights their constituents, even in an emergency. “The Governor’s Proclamation does not authorize you to suspend the right to open carry, or any other statute or constitutional provision governing firearm possession. While the Order seeks to suspend the “open carry of firearms,” it does not identify any specific statute or statutes that it seeks to suspend. The right to keep and bear arms is a natural right, enshrined in the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Mississippi. In an effort to provide safeguards to the diminution of this right, the Mississippi Legislature has imposed strict limitations on a municipality’s authority to regulate “ the possession, carrying, transportation, sale, transfer or ownership of firearms or ammunition or their components. ” Further, in addition to the Attorney General’s broad authority to see that Mississippi’s laws are properly enforced, the Legislature has charged my office with ensuring local governing authorities do not exceed their statutory power to restrict certain firearm possession.