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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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 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, 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, 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, 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.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.