Here is a the story of a friend of mine. I wonder about the same thing he does. Are there any Tennesseans who can authoritatively speak on the matter?
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My wife and I visited Beale Street several years ago, 2013 I believe, and it appears this is the same situation we ran into. A little background; I’m a Missouri resident with a Florida CCW and it seems Tennessee laws are almost a mirror of Missouri laws, so I carried while there.
We were surprised to see the street “closed”, with security and wanding. One end had at least 4 or more lanes and long lines. We went to the other end of the street, found only 2 lanes and almost no lines. I had my “ID” out, my Florida permit, handed it to the guard and told him to “read it carefully and that I was carrying”. He looked at the ID, looked at me and asked “you have a gun”? I told him yes. He then asked if it were loaded. I told him “of course”. He said he didn’t know what to do, so I’d have to present this to a “regular” cop. Plenty around, so no problem finding one! Said the same words to the “regular” cop. He told the security guard there was “no problem”, and advised me to stay out of the bars with the firearm. They wanded me, even asked when alerted if that was the gun, and allowed me in.
My suggestion would be to try what I did. I didn’t care to spend a night in jail, so I wouldn’t have pushed it, though. All that said, we have a “street fest” here in downtown St Louis that they close the roads and check for these things. Never been to it, but the media says you aren’t allowed the same stuff like bottles, knives, guns or other weapons, etc. I’ve not challenged it, but I can’t understand how they can say a “public” street or sidewalk is suddenly not under the rules made for the rest of the state?
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As an aside - it appears that the street is a public street, closed to vehicular traffic at times, not a rented/leased venue.