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, A Digest of the Laws and Ordinances for the Government of the Municipal Corporation of the City of Reading 240 (1897)(1897)City Park, § 20(8) : Prohibited any person from carrying firearms, or discharge in the common or within fifty yards therof, or throw stones or other missiles therein.Item type:Item, W.W. Thomson, A Digest of the Acts of Assembly Relating to and the General Ordinances of the City of Pittsburgh 496 (1893)(1893)Prohibited carry of firearms, shooting or throwing of stones, or setting snares within the limits of the park or within one hundred yards thereof.Item type:Item, Laws and Ordinances for the Government of the Municipal Corporation of the City of Williamsport 141 (1891)(1891)An ordinance prescribing the rules and regulations for the government and protection of Brandon Park, § 21: Prohibited carry of fire-arms, shooting in the park, discharging fire-works, throwing stones, or throwing missiles within the limits of Brandon ParkItem type:Item, P. G. Carey, A Digest of the Ordinances of the Borough of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania 135 (1906)(1906)Parks § 1.4: Prohibited carry of fire-arms, shooting birds, throwing stones or other missiles within Reeves Park.Item type:Item, Laws of the City of Johnstown, Pa. 84 (1897)(1897)Any person who shall on any public street, alley, square, or public grounds, within the limits of the city, willfully discharge any gun or firearm - excepting in necessary defense of self or property - or shall wantonly throw any metal, stone, brick, bullet, or other missile, or who shall willfully explode any torpedo, bomb, fire-cracker, or fire-works in any place on either public or private grounds, or on the street corners or alleys, shall upon conviction pay a fine of not less than one dollar or more than fifty dollars with costs.Item type:Item, Annual Message of the Mayor and Annual Reports of the City Controller, Commissioners of the Water and Lighting Department, City Engineer, Building Inspector, Sanitary Committee, Chief of Police, Superintendent of the fire and Police Alarm Telegraph, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department and Ordinances Passed and approved During the Session of 1895, of the City of Harrisburg, Penna., for the Year 1895, at 180 (1897)(1895)§That any person who shall discharge any bow guns, air guns, sling shots, or play the game of catty, shinny or golf or any device dangerous to person or property, shall upon conviction thereof before the mayor or any alderman be fined not less than two nor more than twenty dollars, and in default of payment thereof be imprisoned not exceeding five days. § 3. That any person or persons found in possession of any bow gun, air gun, sling shot, or any device the use of which is dangerous to person or property, shall upon conviction thereof, before the mayor or any alderman, be subject to the same penalty as though discovered in the act of using the same.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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. . .Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.§Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.