NATCHEZ — Local law enforcement and government officials said that after two months of legal delays, they are prepared for the implementation of Mississippi’s controversial new open carry gun law.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that House Bill 2, which clarifies that any adult in the state can carry a gun in public without a permit as long as it is not concealed, should be allowed to take effect.

The measure was set to be effective July 1, but several officials across the state sued to stop the law, citing concerns about the potential problems that could arise from having large numbers of citizens walking around armed.

Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd delayed the law’s implementation, and on July 12 placed an injunction on the law until the state Legislature could clarify it. Kidd ruled at the time that the law was too vague and was therefore unconstitutional.

In the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday, however, the justices unanimously disagreed with Kidd that the law was unclear in what it allowed and prohibited.

Natchez Police Chief Danny White said his officers were trained in how to respond to the new law in the days leading up to its initial July 1 effective date, and that the police department has always operated under the assumption that the law would one day be implemented.

“We are going to do what we have said since the beginning, that we are going to go by the law,” White said.

But with the law now moving forward, Natchez Mayor Butch Brown said he believes the city will place a ban on the carrying of firearms on city property. The board of aldermen had discussed adopting an ordinance doing so earlier this summer, but Brown said the city is awaiting an opinion from its attorney.

“We don’t want the possibility of any incidents (involving guns) taking place anywhere in the city, and while there are some places we can’t control, those places we can control we certainly will,” he said.

For those who want to assert their own small amount of control over where guns are present, White said business owners have the option of posting that no firearms are allowed on their premises.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said that while the county has not adopted an official stance regarding the new law, the unofficial stance would be to keep county-owned buildings posted to disallow firearms, something that Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield did for the county in June.

“I totally support (taking that measure),” Grennell said. “When the signs were posted, I immediately called and thanked the sheriff for taking that measure.”

Mayfield said county buildings such as the courthouse, juvenile justice center, sheriff’s office and supervisors’ office were all posted because they were high traffic areas in which agitated or stressed people might congregate.

The sheriff also said he does not expect to see a sudden surge of gun-toting residents walking the streets.

“If there are a few, it probably won’t last long except as a passing thing,” Mayfield said.

But beyond that, Mayfield said he is not worried about the implementation of the law.

“I am not as worried about someone who has a gun as someone who has one that I can’t see,” he said. “Most criminals are not going to be walking around with a gun showing. They don’t want to draw attention to themselves.”