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 - 21 of 21

Acts of Assembly Relating to Fairmount Park 18 (1868)
(1868)
§ 21: No persons shall carry fire-arms, or shoot birds in the Park, or within fifty yards thereof, or throw stones or other missiles therein.
1873 Pa. Laws 735-36, No. 810, § 1
(1873)
Prohibited the carry of any pistol, dirk-knife, slung-shot, or deadly weapon within city limits.
1871 Pa. Laws 142, No. 148, § 20
(1871)
To pass ordinances providing for the punishment of discharging fire-arms of any description, rockets, gun-powder and fireworks in the streets of the city or in the immediate vicinity of any building.
1868 Pa. Laws 321, No. 288, § 2, pt. 6.
(1868)
To regulate, by ordinances . . . the storage, sale of gun powder, fire works and other inflammable or dangerous articles, and the location of refineries.
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."
Purdon's Digest. A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Twenty-Eighth Day of May, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-three, at 150, Concealed Weapons, § 1 (1853)
(1853)
Any person within the limits of the city and county of Philadelphia, who shall carry any fire-arms, slung-shot 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, and upon the conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to undergo solitary confinement at hard labor in the prison of said county for a period of not less than one month, nor more than one year, at the discretion of the court; and the jury trying the case may infer such intent as aforesaid, from the fact of the said defendant carrying such weapons in the manner as aforesaid
1851 Pa. Laws 382, No. 239, § 4.
(1851)
That any person who shall willfully and maliciously carry any pistol, gun, dirk knife, slung shot, or deadly weapon in said borough of York, shall be deemed guilty of a felony
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.
T. Henry, A Digest of the Ordinances of the Corporation of the District of Penn, and Acts of Assembly Relating Thereto 286 (1852)
(1851)
That there shall be appointed a captain of the watch, and a sufficient number of able bodied men as watchmen, as may be deemed necessary from time to time; and it shall be the duty of the said captain to aid the watchmen in preventing burglaries, robberies, and other outrages and disorders within the district. And to that end, be and they are hereby empowered and required to arrest, apprehend and confine all persons whom they shall find disturbing the peace, or shall have cause to suspect of any unlawful or evil design, or persons discharging or firing off any hand gun, pistol or other firearms, or shall cast, throw or fire any squibs, rockets or other fireworks, or make or assist at making bonfires within the regulated parts of the district in the night time; and shall take the person or persons so apprehended, as soon as conveniently may be, before the police or other magistrates, as may be from time to time directed, to be examined and dealt with according to law?
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
Laws and Ordinances of the Corporation of the Borough of Minersville 33 (1887)
(1858)
any person within the limits of said Borough of Minersville, who shall carry any fire arms, slung shot, or other deadly weapon concealed upon his person with the intent therewith unlawfully and willfully to injure any other person, shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this ordinance
Ordinances of the Borough of Phoenixville, at 9-10, Ordinances 25-26 (1855)
(1855)
§It shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatever to wantonly fire any gun, pistol or any other kind of firearms within the bounds of the Borough, and any person or persons so offending, upon conviction before the Burgess or either of the Justices of the Peace, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence, and in default of payment of said fines and costs shall be committed to the jail of Chester County: Provided, That this ordinance shall not apply to the High Constable or to any officer appointed by the Burgess or Town Council in the legal discharge of their office. Also prohibited the concealed carry of firearms

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

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