Jackson Free Press

Adam Brock doesn't want the city telling him he can't take his pistol to the airport.

On Oct. 6, Brock filed a lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court alleging that signs posted in Jackson Medgar-Wiley Evers International Airport violate state law. Brock's attorneys argue in their complaint that a state law that took effect July 1, 2014, gives people with concealed-carry licenses the right to sue cities that post no-guns-allowed signage.

"The issue is the location of the signage and the language of the signage," Reed Martz, an attorney for Brock, told the Jackson Free Press this morning.

Martz added that it is perfectly legal for a person to carry a firearm into the public areas of an airport, including check-in areas and parking lots.

"The signage at the airport needs to be moved from the entrance doors to the sterile areas and needs to use the language required by Mississippi and/or federal statutes," Reed added, acknowledging that his client is not challenging the prohibition against carrying guns into secure areas of the airport.

Brock believes an attorney general's opinion bolsters his claims. In that opinion, Deputy Attorney General Onetta Whitley states that she is of the opinion that the signs on the entrance to the airport do violate the portion of state law that governs signs that cities and counties can post related to firearms prohibition.

Under the statute, cities' ability to restrict firearms is mostly restricted to public parks, public meetings, political rallies, parades and non-firearm-related school, college or professional athletic events.

Attorneys for the City of Jackson filed a motion to have the suit dismissed, arguing that the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, not the city, solely owns and operates the airport.

No hearings have been scheduled in the matter.