Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania

This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Pennsylvania. It supports research on the state’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the colonial and provincial 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, frontier and militia records, armory and manufacturing archives (e.g., gunmaking traditions), and oral histories tied to Pennsylvania 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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Now showing 1 - 25 of 25

1909 Pa. Laws 466, No. 261, § 1
(1909)
Prohibited unnaturalized foreign born residents from hunting in the Commonwealth, or to possess a shotgun or rifle.
1929 Pa. Laws 777-78, No. 329, §§ 1-4
(1929)
Prohibited selling, giving, transferring, or possessing a machine gun. Punishable by fine up to $1,000 and imprisonment by separate or solitary confinement at labor up to 5 years. Also Prohibited using a machine gun during an attempted crime. Punishable by separate and solitary confinement at labor for up to 10 years.
1919 Pa. Laws 710, No. 286, § 1
(1919)
The department may adopt and enforce rules and regulations governing the having, using, storage, sale and keeping of gasoline, naptha, kerosene, or other substance of like character, blasting powder, gun powder, dynamite, or any other inflammable or combustible chemical products or substances or materials. The department may also adopt and enforce rules and regulations requiring the placing of fire extinguishers in buildings.
1923 Pa. Laws 386, No. 228, art. 7, § 704(a)
(1923)
. . . It is unlawful to hunt for, or catch or take or kill or wound, or attempt to catch or take or kill or wound, game of any kind, excepting raccoons, through the use of what is commonly known as an automatic gun or an automatic firearm of any kind, or a swivel gun or an air-rifle or the apparatus known as a silencer, or from an automobile or vehicle or boat or craft of any kind propelled by any mechanical power. . .
1931 Pa. Laws 498, No. 158, § 4-6
(1931)
Prohibited individuals convicted of violent crimes from owning, possessing or having a firearm under their control.
1903 Pa. Laws 198-99, No. 142, §§ 1-2.
(1903)
§Be it enacted that six months after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful for any person to discharge, on the streets or alleys, of any city or borough in this Commonwealth, a flobert rifle, air gun, spring gun, or any implement which impels with force a metal pellet of any kind.§
Ordinances of the Borough of Shamokin, Pa. 71-72 (1896)
(1896)
This section regulates the transportation of gunpowder, blasting powder, and other explosives through borough streets. Quantities greater than 25 pounds must be securely covered with canvas to prevent spilling or accidental ignition from sparks. Anyone violating the rule may have the explosives forfeited and, upon conviction, must pay a fine of $1 to $10.
1905 Pa. Laws 252-53, No. 180, § 8
(1905)
No person shall make use of what is known as buckshot in hunting deer or fawn within this Commonwealth, or shall kill or wound, or attempt to kill or wound, any deer or fawn within this Commonwealth, or shall kill or wound, or attempt to kill or wound, any deer or fawn within this Commonwealth by or with or through the use of a gun propelling or emitting more than one pellet, bullet or ball at a single discharge; and persons violating this provision shall be subject to the penalties provided by existing law for the unlawful taking or killing of deer or fawn.
1905 Pa. Laws 279-80, No. 189, § 1.
(1905)
§Be it enacted, that if any person shall willfully and maliciously, either by day or by night, with or without breaking, enter any building with intent to commit a felony by the use of nitroglycerine, dynamite, gunpowder, or other high explosives, such person shall be guilty of felony, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and undergo an imprisonment, by separate and solitary confinement at labor, not exceeding twenty-five years.
Ordinances of Tyrone Borough, Pa. 35 (1893)
(1893)
That from and after the passage of this Ordinance it shall be unlawful for any person to discharge any gun, pistol, or other fire arm (in or upon any of the streets or alleys) within the limits of the borough of Tyrone. §2. Any person violating the provisions of this Ordinance, shall, upon conviction before the Burgess, be subject to a fine of not less than one ($1) dollar nor more than fifty ($50) dollars at the discretion of the Burgess, and in default of payment thereof be confined in the lock-up not exceeding forty-eight (48) hours.
1881 Pa. Laws 111, No. 124, § 1
(1881)
makes any person, "who shall knowingly and willfully sell or cause to be sold, to any person under sixteen years of age, any cannon, revolver, pistol or other such deadly weapon, ... shall, in every such case, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars."
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania: From the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Sixth Day of July, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Three, at 423-24, Crimes, pt. 6, § 113 (11th ed., Vol. 1, 1885)
(1883)
Any person who shall knowingly and willfully sell or cause to be sold to any person under sixteen years of age, any cannon, revolver, pistol or other such deadly weapon, or who shall knowingly and willfully sell, or cause to be sold, to any such minor, any imitation or toy cannon, revolver or pistol so made, constructed or arranged as to be capable of being loaded with gunpowder or other explosive substance, cartridges, shot, slugs or balls and being exploded, fired off and discharged, and thereby become a dangerous or deadly weapon, or who shall knowingly and willfully sell, or cause to be sold to any such minor, any cartridge, gunpowder or other dangerous and explosive substance, shall in every such case, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars.
1903 Pa. Laws 178, No. 136, §§ 1-2
(1903)
Imposed licensing requirement for non-residents and unnaturalized foreign-born resident to possess a gun in the fields, forests, or waters of the State. Punishable by fine.
John C. McCombs, Charter of the City of Allegheny 141 (1870)
(1870)
Any person who shall fire off, or discharge any gun, pistol, fowling piece, or other fire-arms, within the limits of the city of Allegheny, unless the same be in defense of person or property, shall forfeit and pay a fine of not less than $1.00 nor more than $4.00, upon conviction.]
A Digest of the Laws and Ordinances of the City of Philadelphia, at 462, Bureau of Corrections, pt. 3, § 80 (1887)
(1879)
Any tramp who shall enter any dwelling-house, against the will or*§without the permission of the owner or occupant thereof, or shall kindle any fire in the highway, or on the land of another, without the owner's consent, or shall be found carrying any fire-arms or other dangerous weapon, with intent unlawfully to do injury or intimidate any other person, which intent may be inferred by the jury trying the case, from the facts that the defendant is a tramp, and so armed, or shall do, or threaten to do, any injury, not amounting to a felony, to any person, or to the real or personal estate of another, shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be sentenced to undergo an imprisonment by separate or solitary confinement at labor for a period not exceeding three years."
1875 Pa. Laws 33, No. 38, § 1
(1875)
Prohibited concealed carry of any firearms, slung-shots, billys, dirk-knives, razors, or any other deadly weapon with intent to maliciously do injury to any another person
1876 Pa. Laws 105, No. 77, § 4
(1876)
No person shall, at any time, kill any wild duck or goose with any device or instrument known as a swivel or punt gun, or with any gun other than such guns as habitually are raised at arm's length and fired from the shoulder or shall use any net, device, instrument, or gun other than such gun as aforesaid, with intent to capture or kill any such wild duck or goose, under a penalty of ten dollars.
1875 Pa. Laws 48, no. 52, § 1
(1875)
That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to erect, place or have any booth, stall, tent, carriage, boat, vessel, or any other place whatever, for the purpose of selling, giving, or otherwise disposing of any spirituous, vinous or malt liquors, or cider, or any fermented liquors whatsoever, or any admixtures thereof, or any liquid compounded or composed, in whole or part, of alcohol, or any other intoxicating drink whatever, (except as hereinafter excepted,) within three miles of the place of holding any soldiers' encampment or re-union in this state, during the time of holding such encampment or re-union."
Brightly's Annual Digest for 1873 to 1878, Annual Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, at 1835 Common Carriers, § 1-2 (1878)
(1874)
If any person shall knowingly deliver, or cause to be delivered to any canal, railroad, steamboat or other transportation company, or to any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of transportation, any nitro-glycerine, dualin, dynamite, gunpowder, mining or blasting powder, gun-cotton, phosphorus, or other explosive material adapted for blasting, or for any other purpose for which the articles before mentioned, or any of them, may be used, under any false or deceptive invoice or description, or without informing such person, firm or corporation, in writing, at or before the time when such delivery is made, of the true nature of such, and without having the keg, barrel, can or package containing the same plainly marked with the name of the explosive material therein contained, together with the word "dangerous" article, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Tenth Day of July, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-Two, at 323, Crimes, pt. 7, § 40 (10th ed., vol. 1, 1873)
(1864)
Any person, within the limits of the county of Schuylkill, (b) who shall carry any fire-arms, slung-shot, dirk-knife, or other deadly weapon, concealed upon his person, with the intent, therewith, unlawfully and maliciously, to do injury to any other person, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Sixth Day of June, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Three, at 1451, Railroads, pt. 10, § 194 (11th ed., vol. 2, 1885)
(1876)
If any person shall break, pull down or destroy any part or parts of said inclined plane, or other property of the said corporation, or shall willfully obstruct the passage in or to said inclined plane, or any part or parts thereof, each such person shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation the sum of ten dollars for each and every such offence, to be recovered as other debts of a like amount are recoverable; and if any person shall be guilty of carrying a lighted cigar or pipe, or carrying fire into the station-houses and buildings of the corporation, in any manner except in a lantern, or shall discharge any pistol or gun, or any fire-works in or near the building of the said company
1874 Pa. laws 91, Ferries and Bridge Companies, § 31, cl. 5
(1874)
If any person . . . shall discharge any pistol, or gun, or any fire-arms on or near said bridges, he, she or they so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said company the sum of five dollars each. . .
PHOENIXVILLE, A DIGEST OF THE ORDINANCES, Parks, § 1, no. 4 (Daily Republican Print 1906) (Passed 1878).
(1878)
No person shall carry fire-arms or shoot birds or throw stones or other missiles therein."
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Tenth Day of July, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-Two, at 1051, Militia, pt. 10, § 102 (10th ed., vol. 2, 1873)
(1864)
A soldier who unnecessarily, or without order from a superior officer, comes to any parade with his musket, rifle or pistol loaded with ball, slug or shot, or so loads the same while on parade, or unnecessarily or without order from a superior officer, discharges the same, when going to, returning from, or upon parade, shall forfeit not more than twenty dollars, to the use of the brigade fund.
A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, From the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Twenty-First Day of May, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-One, at 250, Criminal Procedure, § 6 (9th ed., 1862)
(1860)
"If any person, not being an officer on duty in the military or naval service of the state or of the United States, shall go armed with a dirk, dagger, sword or pistol, or other offensive or dangerous weapon, without reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury or violence shall be required to find surety upon a complaint

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

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