Minors and Guns in Mississippi: Ages and Supervision

The core statute is Mississippi Code Section 97-37-14, titled "Possession of handgun by minor; act of delinquency; exceptions." The operative line is blunt:

"Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is an act of delinquency for any person who has not attained the age of eighteen (18) years knowingly to have any handgun in such person's possession."

Notice the word "delinquency," not "crime." Mississippi handles underage handgun possession through the youth court system, not as a standard criminal charge with a set fine attached. The statute defines a handgun as "a pistol, revolver or other firearm of any description, loaded or unloaded... the length of the barrel of which, not including any revolving, detachable or magazine breech, is less than sixteen (16) inches." Rifles and shotguns with barrels over that length simply aren't covered by this section.

Section 97-37-14(2) carves out exceptions. A minor can legally have a handgun in hand while attending a hunter's safety or firearms safety course, while target shooting or practicing at an established range authorized by the local governing body, or while competing in an organized shooting event or practicing with a 501(c)(3) performance group that uses firearms (think a drill team or a youth shooting sports program). The law also lets a minor travel to and from those sanctioned activities with the handgun unloaded.

There's a second, broader exception in 97-37-14(2)(b): "Any person under the age of eighteen (18) years who is on real property under the control of an adult and who has the permission of such adult to possess a handgun." That's a wide door. It doesn't require the adult to be standing right there, just that the property belongs to (or is controlled by) an adult who's given permission.

Subsection (3) adds a self-defense exception: a minor who uses a handgun or other firearm "to lawfully defend himself from imminent danger at his home or place of domicile" can't be held criminally liable for that use.

Separately, Mississippi Code Section 97-37-13 governs the transfer side of this equation. It makes it unlawful for anyone to "sell, give or lend to any minor under eighteen (18) years of age or person intoxicated, knowing him to be a minor under eighteen (18) years of age or in a state of intoxication, any deadly weapon, or other weapon the carrying of which concealed is prohibited, or pistol cartridge." A conviction carries a fine of not more than $1,000, up to one year in county jail, or both. This section tracks Mississippi's list of concealable weapons (pistols, dirks, daggers, brass knuckles, and similar items), so it lines up with the handgun-specific focus of 97-37-14 rather than reaching into ordinary rifles and shotguns.

Hunting gets its own statute entirely: Mississippi Code Section 49-7-20.1, which covers supervision for kids in the field regardless of what type of firearm they're carrying.

A 15-year-old at a public range outside Hattiesburg, shooting his dad's 9mm under his dad's eye, is squarely covered by the established-range exception in 97-37-14(2)(a). No delinquency issue there.

A 16-year-old enrolled in a hunter education class through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, handling a handgun as part of instruction, is covered by the hunter/firearms safety course exception, even if her parents aren't in the room.

A 17-year-old living on his family's land outside Greenwood keeps a handgun in his truck while working the property, with his dad's blessing. That falls under the real-property exception in 97-37-14(2)(b), since the property is under an adult's control and the adult gave permission.

Now flip it: a 17-year-old gets pulled over on Highway 49 headed toward Jackson with a loaded handgun in the glovebox that has nothing to do with any of those listed activities. That's a straight violation of 97-37-14(1), an act of delinquency, and it gets handled in youth court rather than adult criminal court.

One more: a grandfather hands his 15-year-old grandson a pistol as a birthday gift, no hunter safety course, no supervised range trip attached. The grandson possessing it on his own time outside the exceptions is a problem for the grandson under 97-37-14. But the grandfather who knowingly handed over that pistol also exposes himself to a separate charge under 97-37-13, since he gave a deadly weapon to someone he knew was a minor.

On the hunting side, Section 49-7-20.1 requires that a child at least 12 and under 16 have a completed hunter education course before hunting, unless that child is in the presence and under the direct supervision of a licensed or exempt hunter who is at least 21. A child under 12 must always be under that same direct supervision of a 21-or-older licensed hunter, no certificate option available. The supervising adult also has to hold a valid Mississippi license for the species being hunted. Notably, the statute itself says there's "no penalty" for a violation, though a conservation officer can end the hunt on the spot, unload the firearm, and deliver the child to an adult.

Key Point: Mississippi does not have a child access prevention or safe-storage law. According to Giffords Law Center's review of Mississippi law, there's no penalty for leaving a firearm accessible to an unsupervised minor through simple carelessness. Giffords does note that a parent, guardian, or custodian who knowingly lets a child under 18 own or carry a concealable firearm concealed can face a misdemeanor, up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail, separate from the self-defense carve out.

That last row reflects a real change. Senate Bill 2710, passed during the 2026 Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature and reported on by WLOX in May 2026, rewrote Section 97-37-35 to sharply increase penalties tied to stolen firearms, including a 10-to-20-year sentence specifically for transferring a stolen gun to a minor. The same bill also moves certain serious firearm cases involving minors, including violent crimes and stolen-firearm trafficking, from youth court into adult circuit court, referencing the transfer procedure in Mississippi's Youth Court Law at Section 43-21-157. That change targets stolen-gun trafficking and serious juvenile firearm crime specifically. It doesn't touch the basic age-18 handgun possession rule in 97-37-14, which remains the controlling law for ordinary possession questions.

A lot of people assume a kid can't touch a handgun at all until they're 18. That's not accurate. Hunter safety courses, supervised range sessions, organized competitions, and simple permission on family property all create legal space for a minor to have one in hand well before 18.

Some parents think Mississippi requires them to lock up their guns away from their kids. It doesn't. There's no statewide safe-storage mandate, per Giffords Law Center's tracking of state law, though that's a policy choice, not a reason to get sloppy with a loaded gun in a house full of kids.

People also tend to assume the handgun rules in 97-37-14 apply equally to shotguns and rifles. They don't. That statute is written specifically around handguns with barrels under 16 inches. A minor carrying a deer rifle doesn't trigger 97-37-14 the way carrying a pistol would, though the separate hunting supervision rules in 49-7-20.1 still apply whenever that rifle is being used to hunt.

Finally, parents sometimes panic about a firearm anywhere near school grounds. Section 97-37-17 does make it a felony for an adult to cause or aid a minor's firearm possession on educational property, but the same section carves out a vehicle exception for a non-student (including a parent picking a kid up) who keeps the firearm in the vehicle and doesn't brandish it, plus exemptions for home-schooled kids and competitors in organized shooting events.

• Mississippi Code Section 97-37-14 (Justia)
• Mississippi Code Section 97-37-13 (Justia)
• Mississippi Code Section 97-37-17 (FindLaw)
• Mississippi Code Section 49-7-20.1 (Justia)
• Senate Bill 2710, 2026 Regular Session (Mississippi Legislature)
• WLOX: "New Mississippi gun law targets youth firearm crimes"
• Giffords Law Center: Child Access Prevention & Safe Storage Laws in Mississippi

Last Reviewed: November 05, 2026