Tennessee
Permanent URL for this collectionhttps://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/5316
Tennessee
This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Tennessee. It supports research on the state’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the Southwest Territory and early statehood periods to the present.
- Legal sources: statutes and session laws, administrative code, attorney general opinions, appellate decisions, and select municipal ordinances.
- Historical materials: newspapers, photographs, maps, catalogs, frontier and militia records, river trade and transportation archives, manufacturing and law-enforcement collections, and oral histories tied to Tennessee people and places.
- Research outputs: technical reports, academic studies, training manuals, and curated datasets relevant to the state.
Cite the Firearms Research Center and the item’s handle/DOI when using materials. Rights and licensing vary by item.
Browse
62 results
Filters
Advanced Search
Filter by
Settings
Search Results
Item type:Item, Tenn. Const. of 1796, art. XI, § 26(1796)Provided that the freemen of the state have a right to keep and bear arms for their common defense.Item type:Item, Claude Waller, Digest of the Ordinances of the City of Nashville 346-347 (1893)(1893)§ 652: If any person or persons shall fire any gun or pistol, cast, throw or fire any squib, rocket, cracker, or other combustible fire-works within the limits of the corporation, every such person, for every such offense, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five dollarsItem type:Item, Digest of the Charters and Ordinances of the City of Memphis 50 (William H. Bridges ed., 1867)(1867)§ 4864: Prohibited selling, loaning, or giving to a minor a pistol, Bowie knife, dirk, Arkansas tooth-pick, hunter's knife, or like dangerous weapon, except a gun for hunting or self defense in traveling. Punishable by fine of minimum $25 and imprisonment.Item type:Item, 1871 Tenn. Pub. Stat. 1869-70(1869)Ch. 22, § 2: That it shall not be lawful for any qualified voter or other person attending any election in this State, or for any person attending any fair, race course, or other public assembly of the people, to carry about his person, concealed or otherwise, any pistol, dirk, Bowie-knife, Arkansas toothpick, or weapon in form, shape, or size resembling a Bowie knife or Arkansas tooth-pick, or other deadly or dangerous weapon.Item type:Item, Digest of the Charters and Ordinances of the City of Memphis 52 (William H. Bridges ed., 1867)(1867)Nuisance and Abatement Thereof, It is a public nuisance, § 5: To carry on the business of manufacturing gun-powder or of mixing or grinding the materials therefor, in any building within eighty rods of any valuable building erected at the time such business may be commenced.Item type:Item, Ordinances of the City of Nashville 340–41, § 1 (1881)(1881)Prohibited the carrying of pistol, Bowie knife, dirk, slungshot, brass knuckles, or other deadly weapon. Punishable by fine of $10-50 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses.Item type:Item, Claude Waller, Digest of the Ordinances of the City of Nashville 364–65 (1893)(1893)§ 738: Prohibited the carrying of a pistol, Bowie knife, dirk knife, slungshot, brass knucks, or other deadly weapon. Punishable by fine of $10-50 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses.Item type:Item, Tenn. Pub. Acts 327(1899)An Act To Repeal The Charter Of The Town Of Waverly, In Humphreys county, And to Incorporate Said Town And Define Its Rights, Powers, etc., §10 : Granted the town the authority to regulate the manufactories dangerous in causing or producing fires. Also allowed the town to prevent and suppress the sale of firearms and the carrying of concealed weapons.Item type:Item, The Revised Laws of the City of Nashville 68 (1850)(1850)An Act to Provide for the Prevention and Extinguishment of Fires within the City of Nashville, § 11.: That if any person or persons shall fire any gun or pistol, cast, throw, or fire any squib, rocket, cracker, or other combustible fire-works within the limits of the corporation, every such person, for every such offence, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five dollars; and if a slave, he, she or they shall receive not less than five, nor more than twenty lashes, any person or persons shall vend, manufacture, give away, deal in or have in his possession any squib, rocket, cracker, powder, or other combustible fire-works within the limits of the corporation of Nashville for the purpose of disposing of the same to minors or slaves, every such person, for every such offence, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars.Item type:Item, The Revised Laws of the City of Nashville 49 (1850)(1850)An Act to Reduce the Several Acts Incorporating the Town of Nashville in one act, and to Amend the Same, § 6: The Mayor and Aldermen shall have power, by ordinance within the city – ]25th. To regulate the storage of gun-powder, tar, pitch, rosin, salt-petre, gun-cotton, and all other combustible material, and the use of lights, candles and stove-pipes in all stables, shops, and other places.Item type:Item, Ordinances of the City of Nashville 340–41, § 3 (1881)(1873)Pt. 3, tit. 12, ch. 108, §§ 1-6: That every person found carrying a pistol, bowie-knife, dirk-knife, slung-shot, brass knucks or other deadly weapon, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction of such first offense, shall be fined form ten to fifty dollars, at the discretion of the court, but upon conviction of every such subsequent offense, shall be fined fifty dollars; Provided, however, that no ordinary pocket knife and common walking-canes shall be construed to be deadly weapons.Item type:Item, 1867 Tenn. Pub. Acts 26(1867)An Act To Amend The Charter Of The City Of Memphis, And For Other Purposes, pt. 20: Allowed the city to regulate and prevent the carrying on of manufactories dangerous in causing or producing fires. Also allowed the city to regulate storage of gunpowder, gun cotton, and other cumbustible or explosive materials.Item type:Item, 1931 Tenn. Priv. Acts 1089(1931)An Act to Be Entitled, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Murfreesboro in Rutherford County, Tennessee . . . ," ch. 429, art. 3, § 4, pt. 46: To regulate, restrain, and prevent the carrying on of manufactories dangerous in causing or producing fires; and to regulate and suppress the sale of firearms, and to prevent and suppress the selling, carrying, using or firing of pistols, rifles, guns, bowie knives, dirks, firearms, or other deadly weapons.Item type:Item, 1858 Tenn. Code 871(1858)§ 4864: "Any person who sells, loans, or gives to any minor a pistol, bowie-knife, dirk, Arkansas tooth-pick, hunter's knife, or like dangerous weapon, except a gun for hunting or weapon for defence in travelling, is guilty of a misdemeanor,"Item type:Item, Ordinances of the City Council of Memphis ch.14, art. 3, § 1 (1867)(1867)Offenses Affecting Public Safety: Regulated the manufacture, transportation and storage of gunpowderItem type:Item, Ordinances of the City Council of Memphis, ch. 3, art. 5, § 10 (1867)(1867)Shooting Prohibited: It shall not be lawful to fire or discharge any cannon, gun, pistol, fowling piece, or firearms of any description, or explode or set off any rocket, squib, torpedo, cracker or combustible fireworks of any description, in the streets, alleys or public grounds of the city; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to any military parade, exercise or review, or to fireworks exhibited by order of the Board, or by any exhibition which shall be authorized by a permit from the Mayor, to exhibit the same for public amusements, or to any officer of the city acting in obedience to law or ordinance."Item type:Item, Digest of the Charters and Ordinances of the City of Memphis 44 (William H. Bridges ed., 1867)(1867)§§ 4746, 4747, 4753, 4757: Prohibited the carrying of a concealed Bowie knife, Arkansas tooth pick, dirk, sword cane, Spanish stiletto, belt or pocket pistol, or other knife or weapon. Also prohibited selling such a weapon or using such a weapon to threaten people.Item type:Item, Louis J. Dupree, A Digest of the Ordinances of the City Council of Memphis 161 (1857)(1857)Ordinances of the City of Memphis, Pistols and Guns, § 1: It shall be unlawful for any person to fire any pistol, gun or other firearm within the limits of this city, unless it be on the occasion of a military parade,Item type:Item, Digest of the Charters and Ordinances of the City of Memphis 147-148 (1863)(1863)Ch. 5, Art. VI: Prohibited unlicensed shooting galleries from operating within city limits.Item type:Item, Digest of the Charters and Ordinances of the City of Memphis 190 (1863)(1863)Prohibited the carrying of a concealed pistol, Bowie knife, dirk, or any other deadly weapon. Punishable by fine of $10-50.Item type:Item, 1884 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 1060–61, § 5533(1879)Made the sale, offer of sale, or importation into the state belt pistols, pocket pistols, revolver, or any other kind of pistols except Army or Navy pistols a misdemeanor.Item type:Item, 1911 Tenn. Priv. Acts 1431(1911)A Bill to Be Entitled "An Act to Amend the Charter of the City of Knoxville, Tenn. . . . ," ch. 498, § 45: That no officer of Election or Commissioner of Election shall be in, at, or near any ballot box or voting precinct during any election or the canvassing of the returns armed with pistol, gun, or other deadly weapon[.]Item type:Item, 1909 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 400, §§ 91–92(1909)Laws regulating what groups may act as military organizations: "Sec. 91. Be it further enacted, That no body of men, except the organized militia, the troops of the United States, and organizations of Confederate veterans, Grand Army of the Republic, and Spanish-American War veterans, shall maintain an armory or associate together at any time as a company or organization for drill or parade with firearms, and the latter organization can have such privileges only with the consent of the Governor of this State; provided, that associations wholly composed of soldiers honorably discharged from the service of the United States may parade in public with arms upon the reception of any organizations of soldiers returning from said service and for escort duty at the burial of deceased soldiers, with the written permission of the Mayor and Aldermen of the city or the Sheriff of the county. Students in educational institutions where military science is a prescribed part of the course of instruction may, with the consent of the Governor, drill and parade with firearms in public.Item type:Item, 1901 Tenn. Pub. Acts 435, 437(1901)An Act to Incorporate the Town of Dresden, Tennessee, and to Define Its Rights and Powers, ch. 202, § 3, pt. 16: To regulate and suppress the shooting of guns and pistols and other firearms in the corporate limits."Item type:Item, 1907 Tenn. Pub. Acts 208(1907)Ch. 74, § 2, pt. 11: [T]o regulate the discharging, firing, shooting, or carrying of guns, pistols, and fireworks in the town; to regulate or prohibit the selling within the limits of the town fireworks of any kind whatever.Item type:Item, 1925 Tenn. Priv. Acts 298(1925)An Act to Create and Incorporate the City of Brownsville, in Haywood County, Tennessee . . . , ch. 92, § 25, pt. 21: To regulate the storage and transportation of illuminating oil and gunpowder and other high explosives, and to regulate and prohibit the use of firearms.Item type:Item, 1879 Tenn. Pub. Acts 135-36, An Act to Prevent the Sale of Pistols, chap. 96, § 1.(1879)Made the sale, offer of sale, or importation into the state belt pistols, pocket pistols, revolver, or any other kind of pistols except Army or Navy pistols a misdemeanor.Item type:Item, 1903 Tenn. Pub. Acts 376–77(1903)Ch. 169, § 6: [N]o person or persons shall . . . for the purpose of taking or destroying birds or animals not protected by this Act, use any swivel or punt gun, or gun other than a gun held in the hands and fired from the shoulder, and of the gauge not larger than No. 8[.]Item type:Item, 1884 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 1060–61, § 5533(1879)Banned concealed carry of any dirk or razor. Also banned the carry of any sword-cane, loaded cane, slung-shot, brass knuckles, Spanish stilletos, belt pistols, pocket pistols, revolvers, any kind of pistol.Item type:Item, 1899 Tenn. Pub. Acts 780(1899)Provided however, That it shall be lawful for any person to hunt quail or partridges in said counties with a gun, between the first day of November and the first day of January of each year. But it is further provided, that it shall not be lawful to hunt upon the inclosed lands of another with a gun, as above mentioned, until written permission is first obtained from the owner or owners of such inclosed lands.Item type:Item, 1883 Tenn. Pub. Acts 17(1883)A Bill to Be Entitled An Act to Prevent the Sale, Loan or Gift of Pistol Cartridges in This State, ch. 13: [I]t shall be unlawful for any person or persons to buy or sell or give away any pistol cartridges in this state.Item type:Item, 1895 Tenn. Pub. Acts 129–30(1895)An Act to Incorporate the City of South Fulton, in Obion County Tennessee . . . , ch. 85, § 3, pt. 14: To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, saltpeter, gun cotton, coal oil, and all other combustibles, explosive or inflammable material, and the use of lights, candles, lamps, stove pipes, steam pipes, and chimneys in all storehouses, dwellings, outhouses, shops, stables, and other places, and to regulate and suppress the use and sale of fire crackers or fireworks of all kinds, toy pistols, air guns, or target guns.Item type:Item, 1901 Tenn. Pub. Acts. 406(1901)An Act to Incorporate the Town of Carthage, in Smith County, Tennessee, and Conferring and Defining the Corporate Powers Thereof, ch. 186, § 10: Be it further enacted, That the Council shall have power by ordinance to . . . regulate the storage of gunpowder and other explosives, and noisome or offensive substances. . .Item type:Item, 1929 Tenn. Priv. Acts 2018(1929)An Act to Amend . . . an Act Entitled an Act to Incorporate the Town of Lebanon in the County of Wilson, State of Tennessee . . . , ch. 685, art. 2, § 1, pt. 38: [T]o regulate or prevent the discharging, firing, shooting, or carrying of guns, pistols and fireworks in the City.Item type:Item, Chapter XII, Article III: Offenses Affecting Public Safety, undated, reprinted in Digest of the Acts Repealing the Charters of Certain Municipal Corporations . . . and the Ordinances of the Taxing District of Shelby County, Tennessee 188, 189 (C.W. Heiskell ed., 1882).(1882)To carry concealed on or about the person any pistol, bowie-knife, dirk or other deadly weapon. Or to carry any pistol, slung-shot, dangerous knife, or any other deadly weapon of like character at all or in any manner, except in self-defense or while executing some law, or to carry through the streets or other public place in the District, any loaded gun. Also prohibited the discharge of firearmsItem type:Item, John Lellyett, Ordinances of the City of Nashville 244 (1872)(1872)Active Nuisances, § 9: That it shall not be lawful for any person to use what is commonly called or known as a sling gun, or spring shot, made from India rubber, or other elastic substances, attached to a forked stick, or other brace, to throw or shoot pebbles, gravel, shot, bullets, or other hard substances, or to use a bow and arrow, within the corporate limits of Nashville. And the using of any such instrument or apparatus aforesaid, or having the same in his or her possession, shall be a misdemeanor; and such person or persons shall be liable to arrest and upon conviction, fined not less than two, nor more than fifty dollars, for each and every offense.Item type:Item, 2 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 125, tit. 12, ch. 9, art. 2, § 4864(1856)Any person who sells, loans, or gives, to any minor a pistol, bowie-knife, dirk, Arkansas tooth-pick, hunter's knife, or like dangerous weapon, except a gun for hunting or weapon for defense in traveling, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars, and be imprisoned in the county jail at the discretion of the court.Item type:Item, 1871 Tenn. Pub. Acts 108(1858)Elections, 1869-70 ch. 22, § 2: Prohibited for any person from carrying, concealed or openly, any pistol, dirk, Bowie knife, Arkansas Toothpick, or other deadly or dangerous weapon at an election, fair, race course, or other public assembly.Item type:Item, A Compilation of the Laws and Ordinances of the Corporation of Lebanon ch. 20, §23 (1871)(1871)Carrying Concealed Weapons Prohibited: Whoever shall carry concealed upon or about his person any pistol, Bowie knife, dirk, sword cane or other dangerous weapon, within the limits of the Corporation, unless on a journey or permitted by law to carry weapons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not less than three dollars nor more than fifty [dollars] for each offence."Item type:Item, Ordinances of the City Council of Memphis ch. 4, art. 5, §§ 1-8 (1867)(1867)Shooting Galleries: That from and after the passage of this ordinance, no person or persons shall be allowed, under any pretence whatever, to open, set up or establish a shooting gallery in the first story of any building within the corporate limits of the City of Memphis, under a penalty of fifty dollars per day for each and every day that such shooting gallery shall be set up or continued within said corporate limits of the city.