Mississippi's Most Contested Bill This Session Didn't Touch Gun Ownership. It Touched Gun Crime.

Mississippi has one of the nation's highest firearm death rates: 29.4 deaths per 100,000 residents, roughly 810 firearm deaths in 2024 alone. State Sen. Joey Fillingane says that number is why SB2710 exists.

"That was their priority for this legislative session," Fillingane said of law enforcement and local leaders, "was to try to figure out a way to curb or restrict youthful violence" involving firearms.

SB2710 does three things.

The bill transfers a broader category of juvenile firearm-involved violent-crime cases, including stolen-firearm possession or trafficking, drive-by shootings, and illegal gun possession connected to a felony, directly to adult circuit court instead of youth court. That's a jurisdiction change, not a mandatory sentence. A juvenile defendant in circuit court still carries the same federal constitutional sentencing protections a juvenile in youth court would have.

The bill adds new sentencing tiers to Mississippi's stolen-firearm trafficking statute: up to 5 years for a first offense, at least 15 years for repeat offenses or multiple stolen firearms, 10 to 20 years for transferring a stolen firearm to a minor, and up to 40 years when a trafficked stolen gun is later used in a murder.

SB2710 also creates a new felony specifically for intentionally firing into a group of two or more people, 5 to 15 years and up to $10,000, even without an injury. The penalty gets worse when the shooting happens at a church, school, courthouse, playground, or park, when a minor is present in the group, or when the shooter is a member of a gang or terrorist organization.

Fillingane didn't soften the point: "The days of allowing young people, underage folks, to get away with very violent crimes using deadly weapons in Mississippi has ended."

SB2710 does not touch lawful firearm ownership or purchase by adults. It increases accountability for violent gun crime, juvenile and adult, and for firearms trafficking specifically. That distinction matters for how this bill should be read against Mississippi's Second Amendment tradition: this is an accountability bill aimed at criminal misuse, not a restriction on lawful gun owners.

SB2710 required a full conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions. The Senate passed its committee substitute 34-18. The House passed its amended version 83-34. The conference report that reconciled them cleared the House 79-39 and the Senate 35-17, both on March 31, 2026, the last day before the bill went to the Governor. Reeves signed it April 8, effective July 1.

Mississippi's toughest fight this session wasn't over gun rights. It was over what happens to the people who steal guns, traffic them, and use them in violent crime, especially when they're minors. The Legislature answered that question with real prison time.

This is our read of the law. We encourage you to read it yourself and reach your own conclusions.