Jackson Free Press

One of the most interesting things in Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's administration of Jackson will be how he manages the Jackson Police Department. Forty years ago, as a young man and member of the Republic of New Afrika, Lumumba was engaged in armed resistance against what was then a racist and oppressive police force. Lumumba went on to build a practice as a defense attorney for criminal defendants accused of running afoul of the law.

In the immediate offing, a big test for Lumumba and other municipal commanders-in-chief around Mississippi looms as state courts figure out what to do about the new open-carry gun law. The law has touched off a firestorm of fear and confusion among both private citizens and law enforcement officials.

A recent opinion from Attorney General Jim Hood in support of the law makes it clear that private business owners have the right to prohibit guns on their property. Hood also said that open carry would not be allowed in such sensitive areas as schools, stadiums, airports and events. Sheriffs also have the discretion to bar guns from courthouses. Which pretty much just leaves city streets and sidewalks as the most logical places where we are likely to see Mississippians packing heat in plain sight.

That's disconcerting, if not downright terrifying, not just because the law could put more armed people in contact with one another, but also because it could put more people in contact with the police.

Hood's opinion contains an appendix on so-called "Terry stops" in which police can stop, question and frisk citizens. The term originated from a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Terry v. Ohio, where the court held that police could briefly detain someone whom they reasonably suspect may be involved in criminal activity. Such suspicion falls short of the police burden for making an immediate arrest. The AG's opinion states that carrying a non-concealed weapon is not enough to create reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

The same opinion states: "However, there could be circumstances in which in which the carrying of such a weapon could be a factor which, when taken together with other factors, could give rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

What does that mean? That's a question that the courts will have to sort out. In the meantime, a Hinds County judge's restraining order temporarily halted the open-carry law from taking effect, but a challenge from Hood seeks to lift that order immediately.

Whatever happens with the implementation of the law, we hope that the Jackson Police Department under Lumumba's leadership will be judicious in enforcing the law in a way that does not feed Mississippi's already necessarily overcrowded.