Pennsylvania
Permanent URL for this collectionhttps://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/5079
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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Item type:Item, 5 Stat. at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682-1801, at 197-200 (1898)(1755)"No youth under the age of twenty-one years nor any bought servant or indented apprentice shall be admitted to enroll himself or be capable of being enrolled in the said companies or regiments without the consent of his or their parents or guardians, masters or mistresses, in writing under their hands first had and obtained."Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years of 1682 and 1700, Preceded by Duke of Yorke's Laws in Force from the Year 1676 to the Year 1682, at 39 (1676)(1676)Provided that "[e]very Male within this Goverment from Sixteen to Sixty years of age, or not freed by public Allowance, shall if freeholders at their own, if sons or Servants at their Parents and Masters Charge and Cost, be furnished from time to time and so Continue well furnished with Armes and other Suitable provition hereafter mentioned ... Namely a good Serviceable Gun, allowed Sufficient by his Military Officer to be kept in Constant fitness for present Service, with a good sword bandeleers or horne a worme a Scowerer a priming wire Shott Badge and Charger one pound of good powder, four pounds of Pistol bullets or twenty four bullets fitted to the gunne, four fathom of Serviceable Match for match lock gunn four good flints fitted for a fire lock gunn." As for horsemen, their mandatory arms were "Holsters, Pistolls, or Carbine, and a good Sword." Also provided that "[e]very Town shall be provided of a Sufficient ware house and a Safe convenient place thereunto Adjoyning for keeping Powder and Ammunition; under the penalty of ten Pounds and the Constable and Overseers shall provide and maintain for a General Stock to the use of the Town in Case of necessity, one Barrell of good Pouder, English weight one hundred and fifty Pounds of Muskett or Pistell Bullets Thirty Pounds of good Match; which they shall carefully renew from yeare to yeare, or time to time as shall be needful under the Penalty of five pounds, for The want of such proportions of Bullets, Pouder, or Match as beforementioned; And where there are Artillery forts or Batteryes in any Town, The Constable and Overseers shall Mount such Guns, and fitt them with Appurtenances for Service, and the Constable and Overseers are hereby Authorized to Assess Levy or destrain upon the Inhabitants for building providing doing and maintaing the particulars before recited."Item type:Item, 8 Stat. at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 492 (1902)(1755)Provided "that it be recommended to all male white persons within this province, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years, who have not already associated, and are not conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, to join the said [militia] association immediately."Item type:Item, 8 Stat. at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 539 (1902)(1755)Imposed a special tax on "every male white person capable of bearing arms, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years" who had not joined a militia.Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, And Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years 1682 and 1700, at 32 (1879)(1676)Prohibited the giving, selling, or bartering guns, ammunition, armour, or boats and the repair of guns to "any Indian," punishable by fine.Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years of 1682 and 1700, Preceded by Duke of Yorke's Laws in Force from the Year 1676 to the Year 1682, at 39 (1676)(1676)Every Male within this Goverment from Sixteen to Sixty years of age, or not freed by public Allowance, shall if freeholders at their own, if sons or Servants at their Parents and Masters Charge and Cost, be furnished from time to time and so Continue well furnished with Armes and other Suitable provition hereafter mentioned . . . Namely a good Serviceable Gun, allowed Sufficient by his Military Officer to be kept in Constant fitness for present Service, with a good sword bandeleers or horne a worme a Scowerer a priming wire Shott Badge and Charger one pound of good powder, four pounds of Pistol bullets or twenty four bullets fitted to the gunne, four fathom of Serviceable Match for match lock gunn four good flints fitted for a fire lock gunn." As for horsemen, their mandatory arms were "Holsters, Pistolls, or Carbine, and a good Sword.Item type:Item, 8 The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 539 (1902)(1755)Imposed a special tax on "every male white person capable of bearing arms, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years" who had not joined a militia.Item type:Item, 5 The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682-1801, at 197-200 (1898)(1755)"No youth under the age of twenty-one years nor any bought servant or indented apprentice shall be admitted to enroll himself or be capable of being enrolled in the said companies or regiments without the consent of his or their parents or guardians, masters or mistresses, in writing under their hands first had and obtained."Item type:Item, 8 The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 492 (1902)(1755)Provided "that it be recommended to all male white persons within this province, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years, who have not already associated, and are not conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, to join the said [militia] association immediately."Item type:Item, Ordinances for Defence, in Duke of Yorke's Book of Laws 450 (1664)(1671)Required "every person that can bear arms from 16 to 60 years of age, be always provided with a convenient proportion of powder and bullet fit for service, and their mutual defence." This meant "at least one pound of powder and two pounds of bullet."Item type:Item, 3 Stat. at Large of Pa. 253-254, ch. 245, § IV(1721)Restricted the firing of guns or other firearms within the city. Violators fined five shillings or two days jail time.Item type:Item, 1725 Pa. Laws 31, An Act For The Better Securing Of The City Of Philadelphia From The Danger Of Gunpowder, § 2.(1725)No person whatever within the precincts of the city of Philadelphia aforesaid, nor within Two Miles thereof, shall, from and after the Time the Powder Store aforesaid is so erected and finished presume to keep in any House, Shop, Cellar, Store, or Place of the said City, nor within Two Miles thereof, other than the Powder Store aforesaid, any more or greater Quantity, at any one Time, than Twelve Pounds of Gun-powder, under the Penalty of Ten Pounds for every such Offence.Item type:Item, A Digest of the Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia, at 87, Firing of Guns, &c., Act of April 9, 1760, § 7. (1828)(1760)No person whatsoever shall presume to shoot at, or kill with a fire arm, any pigeon, dove, partridge, or other fowl, in the open streets of the city of Philadelphia, or in the gardens, orchards and inclosures, adjoining upon and belonging to any of the dwelling-houses within the limits of the said city, or suburbs thereof, or any of the boroughs or towns within this province,Item type:Item, 1763 Pa. Laws 306, An Act to prohibit the Selling of Guns, Gun-Powder, or other Warlike Stores, to the Indians, § 1(1763)Prohibited the giving, selling, bartering guns, ammunition, or warlike equipment to "any Indian," punishable by fine or imprisonment.Item type:Item, The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 108, ch. 388, § 1 (Vol. 5, 1898)(1751)"That if any persons or persons whatsoever, within any county town, or within any other town or borough, in this province, already built and settled, or hereafter to be built and settled . .. shall fire any gun or other fire-arm, or shall make or cause to be made, or sell or utter, or offer or expose for sale, any squibs, rockets or other fire-works, within any of the said towns or boroughs without the Governor's special license for the same, every such person or persons, so offending shall be subject to the like penalties and forfeitures, and to be recovered in like manner, as in and by an act, passed in the eighth year of the reign of King George the first, entitled, "An act for preventing accidents that may happen by fire, are directed to be levied and recovered."Item type:Item, 3 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 255-256 (1896)(1721)"if any person or persons shall presume . . . to carry any gun or hunt on the improved or inclosed lands of any plantation other than his own, unless he have license or permission from the owner of such lands or plantation . . . he shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of ten shillings."Item type:Item, 2 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 ch. 61 sec. 5 at 79 (1896)(1700)"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any negro shall presume to carry any guns, swords, pistols, fowling-pieces, clubs or other arms or weapons whatsoever, without his master's special license for the same, and be convicted thereof before a magistrate, he shall be whipped with twenty-one lashes on his bare back." Passed November 27, 1700; repealed by the Queen in Council, February 7, 1705-6.Item type:Item, 5 Stat. at Large of Pa. 613 (J. Mitchell & H. Flanders Comm'r. 1898)(1759)All persons enrolled to be armed with a musket, fuse, firelock, cutlass, bayonet or tomahawk, cartridge box, twelve shots of ball and powder. Allowed individuals to opt out. Used by the Court to show an idiomatic meaning for the term arms, ie to "carry."Item type:Item, Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, at 270, Hunting (1818)(1760)§That no person whatsoever shall presume to shoot at or kill with a firearm any pigeon, dove, partridge, or other fowl in the open streets of the city of Philadelphia, or in the gardens, orchards and enclosures adjoining upon and belonging to any of the dwelling houses within the limits of the said city, upon the forfeiture of five shillings for every such offense.Item type:Item, An Act for Forming and Regulating the Militia of the Province of Pennsylvania, 627, PA. CONS. STAT. (WM Stanley Ray 1898) (Law Passed 1757).(1757)That all arms, military accoutrements, gunpowder and ammunition of what kind soever, any papist or reputed papist within this province hath or shall have in his house or houses or elsewhere one month after the publication of this act, shall be taken from such papist or reputed papist by warrant under the hands and seals of any two justices of the peace, who are hereby empowered and required to issue a warrant for search as often as they shall receive information or have good cause to suspect the concealment of arms and ammunition in the houses of any papist or reputed papist; and the said arms, military accoutrements, gunpowder and ammunition so taken shall be delivered to the colonel of the regiment within whose district the said arms are found, by him to be safely kept for the public use. And if any such papist or reputed papist, shall have any arms, military accoutrements, gunpowder or ammunition after the time so as aforesaid limited, the same being so seized shall be forfeited: And if any such papist or reputed papist shall attempt to conceal such arms, military accoutrements, gunpowder and ammunition as aforesaid, or refuse to declare and manifest the same to the said justices of the peace or to any other person authorized by warrant to search for, seize and take the same, every such person so offending shall be imprisoned by warrant from the said justices for the space of three months, without bail or mainprize."Item type:Item, The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at, 46-49, ch. 456, §§ 1-8(1721)That if any person or persons shall presume, at any time after the sixteenth day of November, in this present year on thousand seven hundred and twenty one, to carry any gun or hunt on the improved or inclosed lands of any plantation other than his own, unless he have license or permission from the owner of such lands or plantation, and shall thereof convicted ether upon view of any justice of the peace within this province, or by the oath or affirmation of any one or more witnesses, before any justice of the peace, he shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of ten shillings.Item type:Item, The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at 108, ch. 388, § 1 (Vol. 5, 1898)(1750)That if any persons or persons whatsoever, within any county town, or within any other town or borough, in this province, already built and settled, or hereafter to be built and settled . .. shall fire any gun or other fire-arm, or shall make or cause to be made, or sell or utter, or offer or expose for sale, any squibs, rockets or other fire-works, within any of the said towns or boroughs without the Governor's special license for the same, every such person or persons, so offending shall be subject to the like penalties and forfeitures, and to be recovered in like manner, as in and by an act, passed in the eighth year of the reign of King George the first, entitled, "An act for preventing accidents that may happen by fire, are directed to be levied and recovered."Item type:Item, John C. Lowber, Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia, at 15-16, Ordinance No. 3, § 4 (1812)(1721)That if any person or persons, of what sex, age, degree or quality soever, from and after publication hereof, shall fire any gun or other fire-arms, or shall make, or cause to be made, or sell or utter, or offer to expose to sale, any squibs, rockets or other fire works, or shall cast, throw or fire, any squibs, rockets, or other fire works, within the city of Philadelphia, without the governor's special license for the same, of which license due notice shall first be given to the mayor of the said city, such person or persons so offending, and being thereof convicted before any one justice of the peace of the said city, either by confession of the party so offending, or by the view of any of the said justices, or by the oath or affirmation of one or more witnesses, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of five shillingsItem type:Item, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives. Selected And Arranged From Original Documents In The Office Of The Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Conformably To Acts Of The General Assembly, February 15, 1851, & March 1, 1852, at 160, As to the Act for the better Govemnt[sic] of the City iof Phila. (1852)(1713)§This Act inflicts 5s penalty on persons riding a gallop and 10s for persons trotting, with Drays or their Teams in the streets, and 5th for suffering a Dog or a Bitch going at large; or firing a Gun without licenseItem type:Item, Ordinances of the Corporation of the District of Southwark and the Acts of Assembly Relating Thereto, at 49, Firing of Guns, § 1 (1829)(1750)§That if any person shall fire any gun or other fire-arm, or shall make, or cause to be made, or sell or utter, or offer to expose to sale, any squibs, rockets or other fire-works, or shall cast, throw or fire any squibs, rockets or other fire-works, within any of the said towns or boroughs, without the Governor's special license for the same, every such person or persons, so offending, shall be subject to the like penalties and forfeitures, and to be recovered in like manner, as in and by an act, passed in the eighth year of the reign of King George the first, entitled, " An Act for Preventing Accidents, EtcItem type:Item, 2 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 ch. 144 sec. 5 at 235-236 (1896)(1705)"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any negro shall presume to carry any guns, swords, pistols, fowling-pieces, clubs or other arms or weapons whatsoever, without his master's special license for the same, and be convicted thereof before a magistrate, he shall be whipped with twenty-one lashes on his bare back." Passed January 12, 1705-6. Allowed to become a law by lapse of time in accordance with the proprietary charter, having been considered bythe Queen in Council, October 24, 1709, and not acted upon.Item type:Item, 2 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 420 (1896)(1712)"And that no master or commander of any merchant ship or vessel shall fire, or suffer to be fired, on board his vessel, any ordnance or other gun after eight o'clock in the evening, nor before daylight in the morning, without license from the governor first had, under the penalty of ten shillings for every of fense. Nor shall any person presume to fire any gun, guns or small arms within the built part of the said city, without special license from the governor, or some magistrate of the said city for so doing, under the penalty of two shillings and six pence for every offense."