HB 552 Dies in Committee
UPDATE (February 7, 2015) – AGAIN knife preemption legislation in Mississippi failed to move out of the committee it was assigned to after being introduced. To get this done, we need Mississippians prepared to contact their legislators to encourage support for making state law prevail over any city or county ordinances.
See About Statewide Knife Preemption for more information.
It’s time to get knife preemption done in Mississippi
It is the American Knife & Tool Institute’s position that knife owners should not be expected to know and understand knife laws in multiple local jurisdictions where they may travel for work or recreation with their knife or edged tools within their own state. It is not reasonable to expect individuals to research a patchwork of laws when carrying a valuable tool during everyday travel.
Enacting knife preemption laws makes the state the sole authority on knife laws. No local government or political entity can enact any law more restrictive that the state law.
(January 27, 2015) – Mississippi state Representative Herb Frierson (R-106) has introduced MS HB 552 which will enact knife preemption in the state. Please support this effort and contact your legislators to encourage them to move this bill and vote yes!
The following wording would be added to SECTION 1. Section 45951, Mississippi Code of 1972:
(3) (a) No county, municipality or political subdivision thereof shall adopt any ordinance, rule or regulation restricting the possession, sale, purchase, transfer, licensing, manufacture, ownership or use of a knife, knife making components or knives in a manner that is more restrictive than the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Any conflicting ordinance, rule or regulation adopted by any county, municipality or political subdivision thereof, whether enacted before or after July 1, 2015, shall be repealed and is void ab initio.
(c) For purpose of this chapter, the term “knife” means a cutting instrument with a sharpened or pointed blade.
Similar legislation failed to move out of committee last year. See Mississippi 2014 Knife Legislation story.
The Mississippi legislature convened on January 6, 2015 and is scheduled to adjourn approximately April 5, 2015. That’s not much time. Encourage your legislators to support this pro-knife bill!
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