Violent crime has dropped faster than Leonardo DiCaprio dropping a girlfriend on her 25th birthday, but we all know we still have a long way to go before we approach anything anyone would find remotely acceptable. It’s something I tend to agree with anti-gunners on, even if we disagree on literally every proposed solution out there.
In Mississippi, they’re doing something that may have some positive, long-term benefits, and that won’t create problems for law-abiding citizens who just want to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
And I suspect it’ll work far better than those restrictions, too. It goes into effect on July 1st.
Some Mississippi minors accused of firearm-related crimes will be sent to adult circuit court instead of youth court under a new law that also increases penalties for stolen-gun offenses.
Senate Bill 2710 takes effect July 1. It increases penalties for possessing, selling or transferring stolen firearms, especially if those guns are later used in violent crimes.
State Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said the bill was developed after law enforcement agencies and local leaders raised concerns about youth violence involving firearms.
“That was their priority for this legislative session … was to try to figure out a way to curb or try to restrict the amount of increase in youthful violence as it relates to use of deadly weapons,” Fillingane said.
Mississippi continues to report one of the highest firearm death rates in the country. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s firearm death rate was about 29.4 deaths per 100,000 residents. About 810 deaths in Mississippi were due to firearms in 2024.
What Senate Bill 2710 changes
Senate Bill 2710 moves certain firearm-related cases involving minors from youth court to circuit court. Those cases include violent crimes, possession or trafficking of stolen firearms, drive-by shootings or other firearm crimes, and illegal firearm possession tied to felonies.
Fillingane said the bill also strengthens penalties for people who possess, sell or transfer stolen guns, or traffic multiple stolen firearms.
“The days of allowing young people — underage folks — to get away with very violent crimes using deadly weapons in Mississippi has ended. We are no longer going to tolerate anybody, whether you’re over 21 or under 21,” Fillingane said.
The law also makes it a crime to intentionally discharge a firearm into a group of two or more people, even if no one is injured.
I’m kind of surprised to hear that shooting into a crowd wasn’t already illegal, even if no one was hit. I suspect it was, but the bill upped the penalties, but that’s not the crux of what I wanted to talk about, so I’m not getting into the weeds here.
What Fillingane got passed is, though, so let’s talk about why this is important.
First, there are an awful lot of people who seem to think that because they’re kids, they can get away with anything, which is largely true. So long as they don’t get convicted after their 18th birthday or whatever, they seem to think that they can do whatever and never have to deal with any real repercussions, and that includes shooting people.
Now, if they want to act like grown men, they can go to the same court as the grown men and face punishment like grown men.
Plus, throwing in gun trafficking charges resulting in higher penalties, and you’ve got the makings of something that will have a solid impact on crime.
The thing is, don’t expect results overnight. First, people need to be caught and tried, which takes time. Deterrence isn’t really a factor with most of these people because they rarely think they’re going to get caught or, if they do, they simply don’t care about the punishment. It’ll be a badge of honor for them.
So, the bad actors need to be caught and locked up, keeping them away from the general public and minimizing the number of bad actors walking around in a given community. That takes time, and so we need to hold off looking at the actual impact of the laws for a couple of years to see how well it accomplishes what it’s meant to accomplish.
But I think it’s safe to say that this is the right move.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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