The right to keep and bear arms in the Tennessee Constitution

In view of our column yesterday, today we deal with one of the most controversial provisions of the Tennessee Declaration of Rights in our continuing occasional series on the Tennessee Constitution. In Tennessee, our fundamental legal document is-as it often is with many of our fundamental rights-even more clear than the federal Constitution about the people having the personal and individual right to keep and bear arms. However, the framers did place a caveat in that detailed provision:
 

§ 26. Weapons; right to bear arms

That the citizens of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime.

 Many conservatives, including the one writing this column, believe that both State and federal regulations on firearm ownership and carry should be very minimal, and that government intrusion on gun rights is a real threat to liberty, since the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the only way to truly guarantee that government doesn't overstep its bounds. The provision to allow the Legislature in Tennessee to regulate the wearing of arms, though, dates to 1796. In 1796, Tennessee was still not only a rural place, but along with States like Kentucky and Ohio, formed part of the country's western frontier. Carrying a gun wasn't just good for protection, but was vital to survival. Why would these frontier people give the government the explicit ability to regulate it?

It may be because dueling was also very common in those days (see Jackson, Andrew and Sevier, John-Gay Street-Kingston Pike confrontation and duel), as was taking the law into one's own hands-often because the nearest law could literally be days away from you, and that is how Tennessee's system of rural constables developed. Whatever the reason, we really can't argue that the General Assembly doesn't have the right to regulate how and when weapons are carried, the real question for the sake of liberty is how they choose to use that power.