NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — A Nashville judge has dismissed charges against a man who walked around downtown last year wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an assault rifle with a silencer.
Leonard Embody was arrested in July of last year and his weapon confiscated after he refused to answer questions from police.
In a Tuesday order, Judge Randall Wyatt admonished Embody for his conduct but found that he had not violated state law.
John Harris with the pro-gun-rights Tennessee Firearms Association was happy with the ruling, but agreed with the judge that Embody might have been more forthcoming about his intentions. He then went on to say,
“That same type of understanding of the law and willingness to push the boundaries even if it offended public sensibilities was very common back in the civil rights battles that we look back on now and sort of go, ‘Yeah, they were really in their rights to do what they were doing even if it made members of the public uncomfortable.'”
It is legal in Tennessee to carry a rifle in public. The court found that Embody was within his rights to refuse to produce proper registration for the gun he was carrying.