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, By-Laws and Ordinances of the City of Pittsburgh 188 (1828)(1827)Ch. 103, § 2: That if any person shall fire off or discharge wantonly and without reasonable cause, any gun, pistol, fowling piece, or any other fire-arms, at any place or from any house, within the city, or in any of the streets, alleys or highways of the said city, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of five dollars.Item type:Item, By-Laws and Ordinances of the City of Pittsburgh 99 (1828)(1816)Ch. 16, § 1: That if any person or persons shall, within the said city, beat a drum, or without lawful authority, ring any public bell, after sunset, or at any time except in lawful defence of person or property, discharge any gun or fire arms, or play at or throw any metal or stone bullet, or make a bon-fire, or raise or create any false alarm of fire, he, she or they so offending, shall for every such offence, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay the sum of four dollars32…Item type:Item, 1847 Pa. Laws 266(1847)No. 208, § 1: That if any person shall open any tomb or grave in the lands of the cemetery of Laurel Hill cemetery company of Philadelphia . . . or shall shoot or discharge any gun or other fire arms within said limits shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. . .Item type:Item, Saunders Lewis, Ordinances of the Corporation of and Acts of Assembly Relating to the City of Philadelphia 128 (1851)(1821)A Supplement to an ordinance titled "an ordinance for the suspension of nuisances[.]" § 2: If any person shall fire off or discharge, wantonly and without any reasonable cause, any gun, pistol, fowling-piece or other fire-arms, at any place or from any house within the city of Philadelphia, or in any of the streets, alleys or highways of the said city, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of five dollars.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, By-Laws and Ordinances of the City of Pittsburgh 28-29 (1828)(1774)Ch. 703, § 1 : Prohibited on any thirty-first day of December, or first or second day of January, in every year, wantonly, and without reasonable occasion, discharge and fire off any hand-gun, pistol or other fire-arms, or shall cast, throw or fire any squibs, rockets or other fire-works, within the inhabited parts of this province, to the disturbance of any of his majesty's subjects there inhabiting and beingItem 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, 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.Item type:Item, 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.]Item type:Item, 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 companyItem type:Item, 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. . .Item type:Item, 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."Item type:Item, 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?Item type:Item, 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 107, Burial Grounds § 2 (Vol. 8, 1853)(1849)Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure or remove any tomb, monument, grave, stone or other structure, placed in any cemetery or grave yard appropriated to, and used for the internment of human beings, within this state, or shall willfully injure, destroy, or remove any fence, railing or other work for the protection or ornament of such places of internment, or shall willfully destroy, cut break or remove any tree, shrub or plant within the limits of said places of internment, or shall within the same, shoot or discharge any gun or other fire arms, or shall open any tomb or grave within the same, and clandestinely remove or attempt to remove any body or remains therefrom, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, before any justice of the peace of the county where the said offence is committed, be punished by a fine, at the discretion of the justice, according to the aggravation of the offence, of not less than one nor more than fifty dollars, for the use of the said county. . .Item type:Item, 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 firearmsItem type:Item, 1848 Pa. Laws 182, No. 147, § 13(1848). and if any person shall be guilty of carrying any lighted cigar . . . or who shall discharge any pistol or gun, or any fire arms on or near said bridge, so that the said bridge, by possibility, be set on fire, or injured by said cause, he or she so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation, the sum of five dollars for every such offence. . .Item type:Item, A DIGEST OF ACTS OF ASSEMBLY, RELATING TO THE INCORPORATED DISTRICT OF THE NORTHERN LIBERTIES, at 94, Ordinance of Nov. 6, 1815, § 7 (1847)(1815)Prohibited discharge of any cannon, artillery, small arms, or prove any pistol, gun, musket barrels, cannon, or illuminate any house. Violators forfeit the weapons and fined two dollars.Item type:Item, 1822, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations of the?Company for Erecting a Permanent Bridge over the River Schuylkill, at 89, Rules and Regulations, pt. 14.(1822)No guns or other firearms shall be discharged on or near the bridge. And the toll collectors and watchmen are hereby authorized and required to take every legal measure to bring offenders to justice, who, in violation of this regulation and the laws of the Commonwealth, thus annoy passengers and endanger the bridge. A suitable reward will be given, when such offenders are convicted as the law directs.Item type:Item, An Act of Incorporation for that Part of the Northern Liberties, Lying between the Middle of Sixth Street and the River Delaware, and between Vine Street and Cohocksink Creek, with Ordinances for the Improvement of the Same 51 (1824)(1824)That no person or persons shall fire, or discharge any cannon, or piece of artillery, or small arms, or prove any pistol, gun, musket barrels, or cannon, or illuminate, or cause to be illuminated, any house within the regulated parts, incorporated as aforesaid, in said townshipItem type:Item, 8 Stat. at Large of Pa. 410-12, ch. 705, § 1 (1902)(1774)Restricted the firing of handgun, pistol, or other firearms, as well as squibs, rockets, or other fireworks on New Years Eve or the two days following. Violators fined ten shillings.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, 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 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."