Maine

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Maine

This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Maine. It supports research on the state’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the colonial and district-of-Massachusetts periods 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, maritime, forestry, and manufacturing records, and oral histories tied to Maine people and places.
Research outputs: technical reports, academic studies, training manuals, and curated datasets relevant to the state.

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

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The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Portland 364-69, 371-72 (1911)
(1911)
These Portland laws regulated firearms, gunpowder, explosives, and other dangerous substances. They required licenses for selling or possessing larger quantities of gunpowder, established safe storage and transportation requirements, and restricted fireworks, blasting, silencers, and toy pistols. Gunpowder generally had to be securely stored, covered during transportation, and kept within specified quantity limits. Firearms could not generally be discharged within city limits. Carrying concealed or threateningly displaying deadly weapons was prohibited without a license, with exceptions for certain law enforcement officers. Violations could result in fines, imprisonment, seizure or forfeiture of weapons or explosives, and other penalties.
1929 Me. Acts 206
(1929)
An Act Defining the Crime of Burglary with Explosives and Providing the Punishment Therefor, ch. 244, §§ 1-2: § 1. Burglary with explosives, defined. Any person who, with intent to commit crime, breaks, and enters, either by day or by night, any building, whether inhabited or not, and opens or attempts to open any vault, safe or other secure place by the use of nitroglycerine, dynamite, gunpowder or any other explosive, shall be deemed guilty of burglary with explosives. § 2. Penalty. Any person duly convicted of burglary with explosives shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty nor more than forty years.
1909 Me. Acts 169
(1909)
An Act concerning the protection of children, ch. 166, § 2: Considered the transfer f firearms to children dangerous to the welfare of such children unless in circumstances where the child is being furnished the weapon for hunting or target shooting
The Charter, Amendments, and Acts of the Legislature Relating to the Municipal Court, and the Ordinances of the City of Lewiston, Together with the Boundaries of the Several Wards, Regulations Respecting Gunpowder, and an Abstract of the Laws Relating to the Powers and Duties of Cities and Towns 43 (1873)
(1873)
§§ 1-3: No person shall keep or have in any shop, store, dwelling house or tenement, in the city of Lewiston, at any one time a larger quantity of gun-powder than one pound, unless he is licensed by the mayor and aldermen to keep and sell gunpowder, or except as hereinafter provided. § 2. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell any gunpowder which may at the time be within said city, in any quantity, by wholesale or retail, without having first obtained from the mayor and aldermen a license to sell gunpowder, and every license shall be written or printed, and duly signed by the mayor, on a paper upon which shall be written or printed a copy of the rules and regulations established by the city relative to keeping, selling and transporting gunpowder within said city; and every such license shall be in force one year from the date thereof, unless revoked by the mayor and aldermen; but such license may, prior to its expiration, be renewed by an endorsement thereon by the mayor, for the further term of one year, and so from year to year, provided, always, that it may at any time be rescinded or revoked by the mayor and aldermen, for good and sufficient reasons. § 3. Every person who shall receive a license to sell gunpowder, as aforesaid, shall pay for the same to the treasurer of the city the sum of three dollars, and for each renewal of the same, the sum of one dollar.
1911 Me. Laws 338
(1911)
Act of Mar. 11, 1911, ch. 90, 1911 Me. P. & S.L. 338, 338 (Amending "An Act for the Protection of Deer in York County"): It shall be unlawful to hunt deer with a shot gun in this county.§
1919 Me. Acts 193
(1919)
Possession of loaded shotgun or rifle in motor vehicle on highways, fields or forests prohibited; penalty: No person shall have a rifle or shotgun, either loaded or with a cartridge in the magazine thereof, in or on any motor vehicle while the same is upon any highway or in the fields or forests. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be subject to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars and costs for each offense or imprisonment for not more than sixty days or both said fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.
Charter and Revised Ordinances of the City of Hallowell, with Boundaries of the Wards 39 (1871)
(1871)
§ 32: No person shall fire or discharge any gun or pistol from the top or window of any house or other building, or in any highway, public square, common or cemetery in the city.
1909 Me. Laws 257
(1909)
Ch. 206, § 113-Military Parades by Unauthorized Bodies Prohibited: No body of men, other than the active militia and the troops of the United States, shall associate themselves together as a military company or organization, or parade in public with firearms in any city or town of this state; nor shall any city or town raise or appropriate any money toward arming, equipping, uniforming or in any other way supporting, sustaining or providing drill rooms or armories for any such body of men;
The Revised Ordinances of the City of Portland 22 (1848)
(1848)
§§ 1-2: No person not licensed to keep and sell gunpowder shall keep or have in his shop, store, dwelling house or other tenement, at any one time, a larger quantity of gunpowder than one pound. § 2. No person licensed to keep and sell gunpowder shall have or keep in his store, shop, dwelling house or in any other tenement or place whatever at any one time, a larger quantity of gunpowder then twenty-five pounds.
Ordinances of the City of Portland 23-24 (1833)
(1832)
§ 41: Be it further ordained, That if any person shall fire or discharge any gun or pistol from the top or window of any house or other building, or in or upon any of the streets, wharves, lanes, alleys, or public squares, or in any yard or garden within the city, the same being loaded with ball or shot or with powder only , every person so offending, shall, for each offence, forfeit and pay one dollar.
An Ordinance Relating to Concealed Weapons, §§ 1-5, in City of Portland Auditor's Fifty-First Annual Report of the Receipts and Expenditures of the City of Portland for the Financial Year of 1909, at 152-53 (1910).
(1909)
No person shall, within the corporate limits of the City of Portland, in a threatening manner display any firearm, slung shot, knuckles, bowie knife, dirk, stiletto, or other dangerous or deadly weapon. And no person shall, within the corporate limits of the City of Portland, wear under his clothes or concealed about his person any such fire arm, slung shot, knuckles, bowie knife, dirk, stiletto, or other dangerous or deadly weapon, unless first licensed so to do in the manner following:
Seth L. Haarrabee, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Portland, Maine 136 (1892)
(1892)
§ 4: No person shall sell to any child under the age of sixteen years, without the written consent of a parent or guardian of such child, any blank cartridge, or any pistol, or mechanical contrivance specially arranged or designed for the explosion of the same and any person violating the provisions of this ordinance shall be liable to a penalty of not less than fifty, and not exceeding one hundred dollars, to be recovered on complaint to the use of the City of Portland.
Ordinance no. 16, §§ 10 & 14, in Saco, The Charter and Ordinances of the City (1867).
(1867)
No person shall fire any rocket, squib or cracker, or other thing formed of gun powder, or other explosive substance, in whole or in part, nor make any bonfire of tar barrels, or any other substances, nor, except in the performance of some duty authorized by law, discharge any field piece, gun, or other fire-arm, in or upon any street or way of the city, without permission of the mayor and aldermen
A.G. Davis, Charter and Ordinances, and Rules and Orders of the City Council 52 (1874)
(1874)
§ 4: No person shall haul unto, or lay at any wharf in the city, any vessel having on board more than twenty-five pounds of gun-powder, nor discharge or receive on board exceeding that quantity, without having first obtained from the Mayor a permit therefor, designating the wharf at which said powder may be landed or received on board.
Laws of Waterville College, Maine 11 (1832)
(1832)
Banned students from keeping firearms or any deadly weapon whatsoever on campus; also banned bring gunpowder on campus.
1909 Me. Acts 141
(1909)
An Act to prohibit the use of Firearms fitted with any device to deaden the sound of explosion, ch. 129, § 1: It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, use or have in his possession, any gun, pistol or other firearm, fitted or contrived with any device for deadening the sound of explosion. Whoever violates any of the provisions of this act shall forfeit such firearm or firearms and the device or silencer, and shall further be subject to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or to imprisonment not exceeding sixty days, or to both fine and imprisonment. . .
1919 Me. Acts 235
(1919)
Swivel, pivot and set gun added to prohibited devices; penalty for violation increased to $100 and costs and imprisonment for sixty days for possession, ch. 196, § 25: No person shall have in possession at any time when he is upon the wild lands, water or highways, or in the woods or fields of the state, or in any camp, lodge, or place of resort for hunters or fishermen, or in its immediate vicinity, any jacklight or light fitted for use in the hunting of game in the night time, or any swivel, pivot, or set gun...
An Act Concerning the Militia § 171, in Acts and Resolves Passed by the Forty-Fourth Legislature of the State of Maine 280 (1865).
(1865)
It shall not be lawful for any body of men whatsoever, other than the regularly organized corps of the militia, the troops of the United States, to associate themselves together as a military company or organization, or to parade in public with arms, in any city or town of this state, without the license of the governor therefor, which may at any time be revoked; nor shall it be lawful for any city or town to raise or appropriate any money toward arming, equipping, uniforming, or in any way supporting or sustaining or providing drill rooms or armories for any such bodies of men."
1821 Me. Laws 55
(1821)
§ 7: Be it further enacted, That if any person shall voluntarily engage in a duel, with rapier, a small sword, back sword, pistol, or other dangerous weapon, to the hazard of life, when no homicide shall ensue thereon; and if any person shall, by word, message, or in any other manner, challenge another to fight in a duel, as aforesaid, when no duel shall be fought thereon, every such offender, and every person who shall be knowingly a second, agent or abettor in such duel or challenge, upon due conviction of either of said offences in the Supreme Judicial Court, shall be punished as a felonious assaulter;
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 2, ch. 26, § 24 (1871)
(1871)
Allowed municipal officers to regulate storage or transportation of gun powder. Also allowed municipal officers to enter any building with a search warrant to find concealed articles contrary to regulations..
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 12, ch. 16, § 73 (1840)
(1837)
Prohibited the enrollment of idiots, lunatics, common drunkards, vagabonds, paupers, nor any person convicted of any infamous crime, and anyone else besides white, abled bodied, male citizens into any office of the militia.
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 12, ch. 169, § 16 (1840)
(1821)
Prohibited going armed with any dirk, dagger, sword, pistol, or other offensive and dangerous weapon without reasonable cause to fear assault on oneself, their family, or property. Violators required to give sureties not exceeding one year.
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 11, ch. 128, § 12 (1884)
(1883)
Whoever has in his possession a toy pistol for the explosion of percussion caps, or blank cartridges, with intent to sell it, or sells or offers to sell or give it away, shall be fined not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars, and shall be liable for all damages resulting from such selling, or giving away, to be recovered in an action on the case.
1821 Me. Laws 98
(1821)
An Act for the Prevention of Damage by Fire, and the Safe Keeping of Gun Powder, chap. 25, § 1: Prohibited any person from possessing any gunpowder, in any quantity, unless permitted by local rules and regulations.
1821 Me. Laws 685-86
(1821)
§3, Act to Provide for the Proof of Fire Arms: Required the governor to appoint inspectors of firearms who would prove barrels of new or unused firearms. Punishable by fine of $10.
Me Rev. Stat. tit. 12, ch. 164, § 4 (1841)
(1834)
If any person shall carry on the business of manufacturing gun powder, or of mixing or grinding the composition therefor, in any building within eighty rods from any valuable building, erected at the time when such business may be commenced the building, in which such business may be carried on as aforesaid, shall be deemed a public nuisance; and such person shall be liable to be prosecuted and indicted accordingly.
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 11, ch. 130, § 10 (1884)
(1884)
Prohibited the carrying of a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol, or other offensive and dangerous weapon without reasonable cause to fear an assault.
1891 Me. Laws 156 (as amended by 1895 Me. Laws 200)
(1891)
Elias Dudley Freeman, An Act to Establish a Bounty on Seals: Laws of 1891, c. 139, p. 156, as amended by laws of 1895, c. 168, p. 200. §§ 1-2: A bounty of one dollar for each and every seal killed in the waters of this state shall be paid by the treasurer of the town in which such seal is killed, to the person exhibiting to said treasurer the nose of such seal within thirty days after said seal was killed. Such treasurer shall destroy it and shall then proceed as in sections six and seven of chapter thirty of the revised statutes. § 2. The carcasses of such seals when destroyed shall not be left derelict in any waters of the state, but shall be removed therefrom and properly disposed of by the person destroying them; provided however, that it shall be unlawful during the months of June, July, and August to destroy seal in the waters of Casco bay by shooting with rifle or other long range weapon, which might endanger human life, under a penalty for a violation of either of the provisions of this section, of fifty dollars, to be recovered upon complaint or indictment before any court of competent jurisdiction.
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 12, ch. 169, § 16 (1840)
(1840)
Required any person going armed with any dirk, dagger, sword, pistol, or other offensive and dangerous weapon to post a surety once a complaint was filed, having cause to fear an injury or breach of the peace. Surety not to exceed one year with appeals provided.
1821 Me. Laws 352-53
(1821)
ch. 76, § 1 (1821): to cause to be staid and arrested, all affrayers, rioters, disturbers or breakers of the peace, and such as shall ride or go armed offensively, to the fear or terror of the good citizens of this State, or such others as may utter any menaces or threatening speeches;
1880 Me. Laws 212-213
(1880)
An Act to Punish Tramps, ch. 213, §§ 1-2: Any tramp who shall enter any dwelling house, or kindle any fire in the highway or on the land of another, without the consent of the owner or occupant thereof, or shall be found carrying any fire-arm or other dangerous weapon, or shall threaten to do any injury to any person, or to the real or personal estate of another, shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor in the state prison not more than two years."
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 12, ch. 159, § 5 (1840)
(1821)
Prohibited being armed with clubs or other weapons while in a group of twelve or more and "unlawfully, routously, riotously, or tumutluously assembled."
1821 Me. Laws 98-99
(1821)
Ch. 25, § 5: An Act for the Prevention of Damage by Fire, and the Safe Keeping of Gun Powder: Authorized local "selectmen" to search for gun powder, which they may have reason to suppose to be concealed or kept, contrary to the rules and regulations which shall be established in such town, according to the provisions of this Act, first having obtained a search warrant therefor according to law.

Maine

Maine

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