There is no “official handgun permit badge” in TN

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There is no “official handgun permit badge” in TN

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | Guns |

Knoxville News-Sentinel - Knox County man charged with posing as officer:

With his official handgun permit badge, official-looking clothes and at least two unmarked undercover-style vehicles complete with flashing headlights, an alleged police imposter preyed on at least two unsuspecting Knoxville motorists last week.

A couple of clarifying points. There is no handgun permit in Tennessee. There is a handgun carry permit, which is what I guess the reporter means.

Second, there’s no official handgun permit badge or handgun carry permit badge. If the alleged perpetrator had a badge - as in a piece of metal - it’s something he bought in a store that carries all the legal weight of an official bikini inspector badge.

In Tennessee a handgun carry permit is a piece of plastic the same size as a Tennessee driver’s license. The driver’s license and HCP are both produced by the local DMV and use the same photograph, colors and background. The most obvious difference is that the driver’s license is laid out horizontally, while the HCP is laid out vertically.

Anyway, I’ll bet he had an “official driver’s license,” too, but no one is freaking out over that.

Curiously, the article never mentions whether he presented a firearm, or whether the police found one when they arrested him.

4 Comments to There is no “official handgun permit badge” in TN

Steve
June 10, 2009

It was bound to happen sooner or later. You can buy these badges at gun shows. They basically looks like a cop shield.

Here is an example:

http://www.collectiblebadges.com/media/large_concelaed_handgun_permit.jpg

Spook45
June 10, 2009

Note that this sort of stuff has gone on for years with toy badges, stolen badges, and security guard badges and until now no one has made political hay out of the situation. Only now because it was a shoot me badge(thats what we call them because the only pretense w/the badge is to keep you from getting shot by mistake if you have to hold a bad guy at gun point while waiting for police) will they make an issue out of the badge when the real issue is the criminal acts commited by the perps in this situation.

sam
September 24, 2009

when people see u with your gun on your side do u think it does make them more at ease to see a permit
badge on your belt to let them know that u r legal
to cary a gun or not have it an let them wander
because tn.does not require u to carry in concelled.
thank u
sam burnette

Moriarty
September 25, 2009

sam,

I can’t speak for Tennessee (as I live in Nevada) but let me try to help you out on the general topic of concealed vs. open carry anyway.

1) We’ve had open carry in Nevada since it was a territory. There is no state law against carrying openly in public, with a few specific exceptions.

2) Concealed carry requires a permit. There are no permits, licenses, colorful native head dresses, scarves, blazers, patches, handkerchiefs, secret handshakes or badges to identify people who carry openly. Open carry is generally signified by the fact that you are carrying a firearm… openly.

3) No one cares.

4) I find it hard to imagine that people in Tennessee differ in overall sanity and trustworthiness or prevalence of deranged, wild-eyed paranoia than people in Nevada. Then again, you may never have been to Tonopah, Pioche, Austin… or Burning Man, for that matter.

Hope that clears things up for you.