Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 31 - Public Safety › Part 1 - DRIVER SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE CODE › Chapter 15 - Enhanced Conceal and Carry Administration › Rule 31-1-15.1 - Enhanced Conceal and Carry Endorsement

Current through June 25, 2024
1. Pursuant to
				House Bill 506, which amended Mississippi Code Section
				97-37-7,
				the Gun Permits Division of Driver Services shall recognize individuals that
				have received advanced training in weapons handling and Mississippi laws
				relative to concealed carry with an enhanced endorsement. This enhanced
				endorsement shall only be given to an individual if they have taken and
				satisfactorily completed a course of the safe handling of firearms as given by
				a licensed and certified firearms instructor which has met the requirements of
				the Department of Public Safety ("Department"). The Department shall maintain a
				list of instructors which the Department has determined are certified within
				the meaning of current Mississippi laws relative to enhanced
				endorsements.
2. Instructors which
				desire to be recognized by the Department for the purpose of qualifying
				individuals for an enhanced endorsement must contact the Gun Permit Division of
				Driver Services and provide copies of their credentials as being certified to
				provide instruction by a nationally recognized entity that customarily offers
				firearm instruction or training. The instructors shall also provide contact
				information. They may be required to provide additional information in order to
				conduct a background check if they are not already a conceal and carry license
				holder registered in the State of Mississippi. There may be a background check
				fee associated with this requirement.
3. The instructor, after having provided the
				requisite information to the Department, will then be required to sign a
				Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU will contain, among other things, a
				requirement of at least one (1) hour of legal training relative to concealed
				carry and justifiable homicide as well as any other pertinent laws for the
				individuals that will be instructed for the purpose of the enhanced
				endorsement. When all information is submitted and the MOU is signed, the Gun
				Permit Division shall issue a sample certificate to the instructor that is to
				be given to the individuals that complete their respective classes. This
				certificate will be turned over to the Gun Permit Division by the applicant for
				enhanced endorsement, and shall serve as an indicator that the individual
				completed the required training to receive said endorsement on their conceal
				and carry permit. The Department reserves the right to contact the instructor
				named on the certificate to verify its authenticity.
4. The Gun Permits Division shall maintain
				records on the information submitted by certified instructors.
5. The Gun Permits Division shall maintain
				records on the information submitted by those individuals seeking and obtaining
				enhanced endorsements.
6. The Gun
				Permits Division shall affix a sticker to the individual's conceal and carry
				permit that indicates that they have taken the requisite class and maintain an
				enhanced endorsement.
7. The
				recognition of the enhanced endorsement shall be valid indefinitely, unless
				reason is present to revoke the gun permit associated with the endorsement. In
				that scenario, the permit holder may be required to take the enhanced
				endorsement class again.
8. The
				Department maintains the right to revoke the enhanced endorsement of an
				individual for cause. If the Department determines that it should revoke the
				endorsement for cause, it shall notify the individual in writing and provide
				for a hearing on the merits with the aggrieved individual.
9. Instructors shall be allowed to conduct
				on-line training courses upon seeking and receiving written approval from the
				Gun Permits Division. Instructors will be required to pre-submit their on-line
				curriculum and plan of action relative to conducting the on-line course. The
				requirements within the existing MOU between the Instructors and the Gun Permit
				Division shall still be in place. Moreover, applicants will be required to pass
				an in person shooting course before being eligible for their certificate of
				completion.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI
				  DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND
_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
WHEREAS, Mississippi Code Section
				  97-37-7(2),
				  Mississippi Code of 1972, states (inpart) that, "a person licensed under
				  Section
				  45-9-101
				  to carry a concealed pistol, who has voluntarily completed an instructional
				  course in the safe handling and use of firearms offered by an instructor
				  certified by a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers
				  firearms training, or by any organization approved by the Department of Public
				  Safety, shall be authorized to carry weapons in courthouses, except in
				  courtrooms during a judicial proceeding, and any location listed in subsection
				  (13) of Section
				  45-9-101,
				  except any place of nuisance as defined in Section
				  95-3-1,
				  any police, sheriff or highway patrol station or any detention facility, prison
				  or jail."
WHEREAS, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shall
				  promulgate rules and regulations allowing concealed pistol permit holders to
				  obtain an endorsement on their permit indicating that they have completed the
				  course and have authority to carry a concealed pistol in these
				  locations.
WHEREAS, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety will
				  approve certified firearms instructors certified by nationally recognized
				  organizations that customarily offer firearms training, as well as certified
				  instructors from other organizations deemed appropriate by the Department, that
				  are willing and able to provide the required training for individual trainees
				  to receive the endorsement noted in MS Code Section
				  97-37-7.
NOW THEREFORE, THE PARTIES AGREE AS FOLLOWS:
I. PURPOSE
This is an agreement between the Mississippi Department of
				  Public Safety and _________________________ as a part of the Department's
				  recognition of this individual/entity as an approved firearm instructor,
				  possessing the necessary knowledge, skill and training to instruct Mississippi
				  Conceal and Carry permit holders to the extent that they are eligible for
				  endorsement in view of Section
				  97-37-7(2)
				  of the Mississippi Code of 1972 as well as all reasonable and necessary rules
				  as promulgated pursuant to the rule making authority of the Commissioner of
				  Public Safety pursuant to Section
				  45-1-3
				  of the Mississippi Code of 1972.
II. IMPLEMENTATION AND REQUIREMENTS
The qualified instructor herein swears and agrees that they
				  are indeed qualified through Mississippi Minimum Standards and Training as
				  Certified Firearms Instructors or have been certified by a nationally
				  recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training, and
as such, are capable of effectively and intelligently training
				  individuals about proper firearm
technique, usage and safe
				  handling. A certificate shall be deposited with the Department of Public Safety
				  illustrating recognition or certification of the instructor. Moreover, said
				  instructor herein swears and agrees that they possess the requisite legal
				  knowledge of State and Federal Firearms laws to effectively and intelligently
				  convey said knowledge of said laws to individuals receiving training for their
				  conceal and carry endorsement. Specifically, the instructors are required to
				  make available and review pertinent Mississippi guns laws with their trainees
				  as a part of this agreement. This legal instruction shall, at a minimum,
				  represent an one hour component of the overall course and include instruction
				  relative to MS Code Section
				  45-9-101
				  (License to carry stun gun, concealed pistol or revolver) and MS Code Section
				  97-3-15
				  (Homicide; justifiable homicide; use of defensive force; duty to
				  retreat).
The instructor herein swears and agrees that they will
				  implement and instruct based on generally accepted course requirements of
				  nationally recognized organizations that customarily offer firearms training.
				  Moreover, the Department shall issue to instructors a protocol of minimum
				  competency for granting of the endorsement. The instructors are encouraged to
				  teach beyond the minimum requirements provided by the Department. The
				  Department will require, at a minimum, an eight (8) hour course completion by
				  the trainees in order to issue an endorsement to an individual.
The Instructor herein swears and agrees that they have the
				  requisite and appropriate classroom space to effectively administer the
				  classroom aspect of the instruction. Moreover, the Instructor also possesses
				  access to a gun range that will provide a safe and effective environment for
				  proper education as to actual firearm usage.
The Instructor herein swears and agrees that if they conduct
				  on on-line enhanced carry course, it will meet or exceed the baseline
				  requirements as set forth to establish a minimum competency for granting an
				  endorsement. Moreover, the Instructor agrees that prior to implementing and
				  utilizing an on-line course structure, said course will be pre-approved through
				  the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, Gun Permits Division. Furthermore,
				  the on-line course will still require that trainees take an in-person, written
				  test and satisfactorily complete a live-fire, in-person gun range
				  component.
The Instructor will maintain individual files on every
				  trainee that receives a certificate of passage of the instructive course for a
				  period of not less than five (5) years.
On demand of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety,
				  instructors shall make available the individual files of trainees who have
				  received certificates. Moreover, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety
				  reserves the right to sit in on any instructional class of the instructor
				  relative to the endorsement that is the subject of this agreement without
				  notice.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety reserves the
				  right to remove the instructor from its list of instructors at its sole
				  discretion if it possesses a reasonable suspicion that the instructor is not
				  properly instructing trainees or fails to maintain and require a high degree of
				  competence by the trainees taking the instruction course and receiving a
				  passing mark. If the Department removes an instructor from the approved list of
				  instructors, it will notify said instructor by certified mail and said
				  instructor shall have the right to appeal the decision of the Department to the
				  then acting Director of Gun Permits within thirty (30) calender days of the
				  notification of removal.
The instructor herein swears and agrees to hold harmless the
				  Mississippi Department of Public Safety from any liability that should arise as
				  a result of the firearm instruction classes that are the subject of this
				  agreement. Furthermore, the instructor herein agrees to indemnify the
				  Mississippi Department of Public Safety for any actual liability that should
				  arise therein as a result of the actions of the Instructor.
III. ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
If the Mississippi Department of Public Safety has a
				  reasonable suspicion that trainees being instructed are being certified without
				  either actually taking and participating fully in the course, or are being
				  certified without possessing the required minimum level of competence to the
				  extent that said trainee is paying and being certified with little to no
				  instruction or proof of knowledge, the instructor shall be subject to criminal
				  investigation and potential prosecution.
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, HEREIN AGREE TO THE MEMORANDUM OF
				  UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND
				  __________________________________________________ .
_______________________________________
				  ______________________________
MS DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY DATE
_______________________________________
				  ______________________________
INSTRUCTOR DATE
_______________________________________
COUNTY IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI