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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 1855-1856 Tenn. Pub. Acts 34(1855)An Act to Amend and Reduce into One, the Acts Relating to the Charter of the Town of Clarkeville, ch. 32, § 2, pt. 20: To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; to organize, establish and equip fire companies, hose companies, and hook and ladder companies; to regulate, restrain or prohibit the erection of wooden or combustible buildings in any part of the city; to regulate and to prevent the carrying on of manufactories dangerous in causing or producing fires; to regulate the storage of gun powder, tar, pitch, rosin, saltpetre [sic], gun cotton and all other combustible or explosive material[.]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, 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, 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, 1855-56 Tenn. Pub. Acts 92(1856)Ch. 81, § 2: Prohibited the sale or transfer of any pistol, Bowie knife, dirk, Arkansas toothpick, or hunter's knife to a minor. Excepted the transfer of a gun for hunting.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.Item type:Item, Tenn. Const. art. I, § 26(1831)Establishes the right to keep and bear arms for the "free white men of this State."Item type:Item, 1837-1838 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200, ch. 137, § 1.(1837)Prohibited any merchant from selling a Bowie knife or Arkansas tooth pick. Punishable by fine of $100-500 and imprisonment for $1-6 months.Item type:Item, 1837-38 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200, ch. 137, § 1(1837)An Act to Suppress the Sale and Use of Bowie Knives and Arkansas Tooth Picks in this State, ch. 137, § 1: That if any merchant, . . . shall sell, or offer to sell . . . any Bowie knife or knives, or Arkansas tooth picks . . . such merchant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof upon indictment or presentment, shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned in the county jail for a period not less than one month nor more than six months.Item type:Item, 2 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 52, tit. 12, ch. 2, art. 5, § 4628 (1852)(1852)If any person assaults and beats another with a cowhide, stick, or whip, having a the time in his possession a pistol or other deadly weapon, with intent to intimidate the person assaulted, and prevent him from defending himself, he shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.Item type:Item, 1831 Tenn. Pub. Acts 314(1831)Acts 1741, c. 24, § 40: Prohibited any "slave" from being armed with a gun, sword, club, or other weapon without a certificate from a court.Item type:Item, 1837-1838 Tenn. Pub. Acts 201, ch. 137, § 4(1837)Prohibited the stabbing or cutting of another person with any knife or weapon known as a "Bowie knife, Arkansas tooth pick, or any knife or weapon that shall in form, shape or size resemble a Bowie knife," regardless of whether the person dies. Punishable by imprisonment for 3-15 years.Item type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 673(1821)Shooting, 1821—Chapter 68, § 1: [A]ny person or persons who shall after the first of January next, shoot at a mark within the bounds of any town, or within two hundred yards of any public road of the first or second class within the state, such person or persons so offending shall be subject to a fine of ten dollars each[.]Item type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 100(1825)Arms, 1825—Chapter 19, § 1: When any sheriff, coroner, or constable, shall know of his own knowledge, or upon the representation of any person, or if he or they, shall have good reason to suspect, any person of being armed with the intention of committing a riot or affray, or the wounding or killing any person, it shall be the duty of all such officers, immediately to arrest all such persons so suspected, and return them before some justice of the peace, whose duty it shall be, upon proof being made, that there was reasonable ground to suspect such person or persons for being armed, with intent to disturb or commit a breach of the peace, to bind such person or persons in a bond with two or more good and sufficient securities, in a sum of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and not exceeding two thousand dollars, conditioned for his or their good behavior and peaceable deportment for the term of twelve months thereafterItem type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 325(1836)Felonies, 1829—Chapter 23, § 56: If any person within this state shall fight a duel, or shall deliberately and maliciously challenge, by word or writing, any other person, to fight with sword, pistol, or other deadly weapon, or shall deliberately and maliciously invite another verbally, or by writing, to meet him in this state, or elsewhere, with a view or intent to challenge or fight; or if any person so challenged, shall deliberately and maliciously accept the said challenge, in either case, such person so deliberately and maliciously giving or receiving, or sending any such challenge, and being convicted thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment, at hard labor in the penitentiary, for a term not less than three nor more than ten years: Provided always, that no person who shall be verbally challenged, shall be a competent witness to prove the fact of such verbal challenge, against any person who may be indicted for the same.Item type:Item, 1837-38 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200-01, ch. 137, § 2(1837)An Act to Suppress the Sale and Use of Bowie Knives and Arkansas Tooth Picks in this State: Prohibited the carrying of a concealed Bowie knife, Arkansas tooth pick, or other knife or weapon. Punishable by fine of $200-500 and imprisonment for 3-6 months.