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.
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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, 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, 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, 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, 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, Tenn. Const. of 1870, art. I, § 26(1870)Declared the citizens have a right to keep and bear arms, but that the legislature shall have the power to regulate the wearing of arms to prevent crime.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, 1871 Tenn. Pub. Stat. 95(1871)Criminal Laws, 1870-chapter 13, § 1: That it shall not be lawful for any person to publicly or privately carry a dirk, sword cane, Spanish stiletto, belt or pocket pistol or revolver,other than an army pistol, or such as are commonly carried and used in the United States army, and in no case shall it be lawful for any person to carry such army pistol publicly or privately about his person in any other manner than openly in his hands[.]Item 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, 1879 Tenn. Pub. Acts 231(1879)Ch. 186, § 1: Prohibited the public or private carry of any dirk, razor concealed on their person. Also prohibited the open carry of any sword cane, spanish stilletto, belt pistols, pocket pistols, revolver, or any other kind of pistols except Army or Navy pistols. Violators fined fifty dollars and imprisoned in the county of the violation at the court's discretion.Item type:Item, 1879 Tenn. Pub. Acts 135–36(1879)Ch. 46, §§ 1–6: 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, 1869–1870 Tenn. Pub. Acts 55(1870)Ch. 41, § 2: Prohibited the carry of dirks, sword-canes, Spanish stilletos, belt pistols, pocket pistols, or revolvers. Violators fined not less than ten but no more than fifty dollars and imprisoned not less than thirty days but no more than six months. One thousand dollar bond required to "keep the peace" for six months post-conviction.