Tennessee Handgun Carry: Belle Meade Still Honors Permit

#tnguns .
After going around the horn of argument with several other permit holders about the Belle Meade City Ordinance (2010-2) Belle Meade acted on today and reading the differing reports of what it means, I decided to go to the "horse's mouth" and phoned the Belle Meade PD. The person* answering the phone affirmed what I and others thought: This has nothing to do with Handgun Permits and Belle Meade PD will honor valid permits as they always have. (*The officer answering the phone gave his name and permission to be quoted but I'll keep his name out of this public forum.)

The issue is about the old way the ordinance was worded that allowed - and, in fact, mandated as the only carry allowed - carry "in open hand" of 19th century style black powder "Army and Navy" pistols. The new wording strips this from the city ordinance. This was brought to the fore by the actions of Leonard Embody that we wrote about earlier here and here.

So, despite the email sent by NRA-ILA, Belle Meade has not banned Handgun Permit holders from exercising their self defense rights in their city.

More:
SayUncle -

I sent an email to some folks to see if they had heard of it and ACK posted about it. Turns out (via ACK), not so much:

The current Belle Meade municipal code includes a section on firearms and weapons that says “it is unlawful for any person to carry in any manner whatever, with the intent to go armed and razor, dirk, knife, blackjack, brass knuckles, pistol, revolver or any other dangerous weapon or instrument…”

It also includes the phrase “except the army or navy pistol which shall be carried openly in the hand.”

The new ordinance deletes the exception that would include the Navy black powder pistol Leonard Embody carried when he walked down Belle Meade Boulevard in mid-February.

The author, Sherry Phillips, continues:

Embody, who is active on many gun rights blogs, first gained attention in December when he brandished a loaded AK-47 pistol at Radnor Lake State Park.

Embody may be active, but his activity consists mostly of getting banned and ridiculed on those "gun rights blogs" which are mostly online message forums and not blogs...