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Virginia

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Virginia

This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Virginia. It supports research on the Commonwealth’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the colonial period through statehood to the present.

  • Legal sources: statutes and session laws, administrative code, attorney general opinions, appellate decisions, and select municipal ordinances.
  • Historical materials: newspapers, photographs, maps, catalogs, colonial and militia records, maritime and manufacturing archives, agricultural and law-enforcement collections, and oral histories tied to Virginia people and places.
  • Research outputs: technical reports, academic studies, training manuals, and curated datasets relevant to the Commonwealth.

Cite the Firearms Research Center and the item’s handle/DOI when using materials. Rights and licensing vary by item.

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Jurisdiction: search.filters.coverage.Virginia [Colony]Start date: 1760

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    9 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 267-68 (1823)
    (1777)
    Applied to "all free male persons, hired servants [not indentured], and apprentices, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years." "The county lieutenant, colonels, lieutenant colonels, and major" had to appear "with a sword." Every captain and lieutenant needed a "firelock and bayonet, a cartouch box, a sword, and three charges of powder and ball." Ensigns needed a sword. Non-commissioned officers and privates had to have a rifle and tomahawk, or good fire-lock and bayonet, with a pouch and horn, or a cartouch or cartridge box, and with three charges of powder and ball; and, moreover, each of the said officers and soldiers shall constantly keep one pound of powder and four pounds of ball, to be produced whenever called for by his commanding officer.
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    9 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 16, 28 (1823)
    (1775)
    Established militia age limits of 16 and 50. Every militiaman had to "furnish himself with a good rifle, if to be had, or otherwise with a tomahawk, common firelock, bayonet, pouch, or cartouch box, three charges of powder and ball, and appear with the same at the place appointed for mustering, and shall constantly keep by him one pound of powder and four pounds of ball."
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    11 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 476-78 (1823)
    (1784)
    Increased its militia's minimum age to 18, and kept the maximum age at 50. Militiamen were required to appear "armed, equipped, and accoutred" according to rank. "The county lieutenants, lieutenant colonels commandant, and majors, with a sword; the captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, with a sword and espontoon." Noncommissioned officers and privates needed to supply themselves "with a good clean musket, carrying an ounce ball, and three feet eight inches long in the barrel, with a good bayonet and iron ramrod well fitted thereto." Plus also "a cartridge box properly made, to contain and secure twenty cartridges" and "a good knapsack and canteen."
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    9 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 281 (1823)
    (1777)
    Required "all free born male inhabitants of this state, above the age of sixteen years" to "renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the third" and swear to "be faithful and bear true allegiance to the commonwealth of Virginia, as a free and independent state."
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    7 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 534, 537 (1823)
    (1762)
    Ensured that "every person so exempted shall always keep in his house or place of abode such arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, as are by the [1757] act required to be kept by the militia."
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    1786 Va. Acts 35
    (1786)
    Ch. 49, An Act Forbidding and Punishing Affrays: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man, great nor small, of what condition soever he be, except the Ministers of Justice in executing the precepts of the Courts of Justice, or in executing of their office, and such as be in their company assisting them, be so hardy to come before the justices of any court, or either of their Ministers of Justice, doing their office, with force and arms, on pain, to forfeit their armour to the Commonwealth, and their bodies to prison, at the pleasure of a Court; nor go nor ride armed by night nor by day, in fair or markets, or in other places, in terror of the county, upon pain of being arrested and committed to prison by any Justice on his own view, or proof by others, there to abide for so long a time as a jury, to be sworn for that purpose by the said Justice, shall direct, and in like manner to forfeit his armour to the Commonwealth; but no person shall be imprisoned for such offence by a longer space of time than one month."
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    9 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 281-82 (1821)
    (1777)
    Act of May 5, 1777, ch. 3: An act to oblige the free male inhabitants of this state above a certain age to give assurance of Allegiance to the same, and for other purposes. WHEREAS allegiance and protection are reciprocal, and those who will not bear the former are not entitled to the benefits of the later, Therefore Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that all free born male inhabitants of this state, above the age of sixteen years, except imported servants during the time of their service, shall, on or before the tenth day of October next, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation before some one of the justices of the peace of the county, city, or borough, where they shall respectively inhabit; and the said justice shall give a certificate thereof to every such person, and the said oath or affirmation shall be as followeth, viz . . . And the justices tendering such oath or affirmation are hereby directed to deliver a list of the names of such recusants to the county lieutenant, or chief commanding officer of the militia, who is hereby authorised and directed forthwith to cause such recusants to be disarmed
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    9 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 281–82 (1821)
    (1777)
    Act of May 5, 1777, ch. 3: Required any "free male inhabitants of this state above a certain age" to take an oath of allegiance to the state.
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    1794 Va. Acts 33
    (1786)
    Ch. 21: Prohibited any man from being armed at fairs or markets "in terror of the country."
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    1785 Va. Acts 2
    (1785)
    Ch. 1, § III, pt. 2: An Act to Amend and Reduce into one Act, the Several Laws for Regulating and Disciplining the Militia: Required members of the militia to keep arms, ammunition, and accoutrements ready when called for by their commanding officer.