North Carolina

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North Carolina

This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to North Carolina. It supports research on the state’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the colonial period 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, militia and frontier records, coastal and naval stores archives, manufacturing and law-enforcement collections, and oral histories tied to North Carolina 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 - 37 of 37

1866 N.C. Sess. Laws Priv. Sess. 63
(1856)
Imposed a $50 tax on all weapons.
1860-61 N.C. Sess. Laws 219-20
(1860)
Priv. Laws, ch. 180, § 1: Granted the town of Wilmington the authority to levy and collect taxes annually on all pistols, dirks, Bowie-knives, or sword-canes if worn about the person at any time during the year, as well as all pistol galleries.
1862-1863 N.C. Sess. Laws 60
(1862)
Priv. Laws, Adj. Sess., ch. 49, § 9: [T]hey may prohibit and prevent by practices the riding or driving of horses or other animals at a speed greater than six miles an hour, within the city; and also the firing of guns, pistols, crackers, gun powder or other explosive, combustible or dangerous materials in the streets, public grounds, or elsewhere within the city.
Laws for the Government of the City of Raleigh 63 (1854)
(1854)
§ 6: No person shall discharge any gun or other fire-arms within any of the streets or public squares of the city, or upon any lot of the same, (excepting his own lot,) on pain of forfeiting four dollars for every such offence. Or, if the offence be committed in the night, the offender shall forfeit twenty-five dollars
1871-1872 N.C. Sess. Laws 113
(1871)
Priv. Laws, ch. 72, § 4: That any person who shall willfully . . . shoot or discharge any gun or other firearms within the limits thereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction before any justice of the peace of the county of Pasquotank, shall be fined at the discretion of the court and be moreover liable to the company for the damage done by such act.
1868-69 N.C. Sess. Laws 202
(1868)
Priv. Laws, ch. 123, § 18: Granted the Board the power to levy and collect taxes on all pistols, except when part of stock in trade. Also on all dirks, Bowie-knives, and sword-canes if worn on the person at any time during the year. Tax not to exceed one dollar.
1865-66 N.C. Sess. Laws 22
(1866)
Priv. Laws, ch. 7, § 64: That they may prohibit and prevent, by penalties, . . . and also the firing of guns, pistols, crackers, gun-powder or other explosive, combustible or dangerous materials in the streets, public grounds, or elsewhere within the city."
1868-69 N.C. Sess. Laws 96, 101-102
(1869)
Priv. Laws, ch. 79, § 25: The commissioners may prevent by penalties the firing of guns, pistols, crackers, gunpowder or other explosive materials in the streets or corporate limits.
1879 N.C. Sess. Laws 360
(1879)
Ch. 204, §§ 1-6: It shall be unlawful to take any fish of the kind known as perch or bream by shooting or netting in the day time or in any manner by fire light from any of said streams between the first day of May and the fifteenth day of August in each year.
1869-70 N.C. Sess. Laws 234-35
(1870)
Priv. Laws, ch. 23, § 32: That it shall not he lawful for any person to discharge fire-arms within the bounds of said town, except on muster days or other service, and persons offending against this regulation shall be fined not more than five dollars, or imprisoned not to exceed ten days; but double this penalty shall be enforced if the offence be committed in the night; one half to the informer the other half to the town."
1865-66 N.C. Sess. Laws 69-70
(1866)
Priv. Laws, ch. 7, § 30: That the said board of aldermen shall have power to make from time to time, ordinances, rules and regulations concerning the firing of fire-arms, and all explosions in said city, the pace and speed at which horses may be driven or rode through the streets, the arrangements of stove-pipes in buildings, the mode in which fire shall be kept, or carried through the city, the manner in which powder and other explosive and inflammable substances may be kept and sold
1879 N.C. Sess. Laws 54-55
(1879)
Priv. Laws, Ch. 46, §§ 1-4: That it shall not be lawful for any person in the hunting of wild fowl in Carteret county to use any gun other than can be fired from the shoulder.
1869-70 N.C. Sess. Laws 85
(1870)
Pub. Laws, ch. 42, § 1: That if any person whatsoever shall hunt or shoot wild fowl in the county of Currituck on the Sabbath day, or hunt them on any day of the week after the hour of sundown or before daylight in the morning with guns or fire, or use any gun other than can be fired from the shoulder, or build or use any blinds, boxes or batteries in any of the waters away from the marshes or shores proper, from and after thirty days after the passage of this act, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
1865-66 N.C. Sess. Laws 63
(1866)
Priv. Laws, ch. 7, § 19: Granted the Board of Aldermen the power to levy a fifty dollar tax on every pistol, Bowie-knife, dirk, sword-cane, or any other deadly weapon worn upon the person except a pocket knife without special permission from the aldermen.
1876-1877 N.C. Sess. Laws 162-63
(1876)
ch. 104, § 1: Prohibited the concealed carry of any pistol, Bowie-knife, dirk, dagger, slung-shot, loaded cane, brass knuckles, iron knuckles, or other deadly weapon of a like kind. Violators guilty of a misdemeanor.
1876-77 N.C. Sess. Laws 606
(1877)
Resolution of Mar. 6, 1877, N.C. Pub. Laws 606 (Resolution in Relation to Public Arms): That the adjutant general be required to collect and deposit in the state arsenal, such arms and equipments belonging to the state as are now in unauthorized hands, whereever they may be found, and that the necessary expenses of travel, freight and drayage, incident thereto, be paid by the treasurer of the state upon the warrant of the governor.
1876-77 N.C. Sess. Laws 53
(1877)
Ch. 4, §§ 1-2: That if any person shall cast, or throw, or shoot, any stone, rock, bullet, shot, pellet, or other missile, at, against, or into, any railroad car, locomotive, or train, while the said car or locomotive shall be in progress from one station to another, or while the said car, locomotive or train shall be stopped for any purpose, with intent to injure said car or locomotive, or any person therein or thereon, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment in the county jail, or the State prison, at the discretion of the Court.
1879 N.C. Sess. Laws 231
(1879)
Ch. 127, §§ 1-2: Prohibited the concealed carry of any pistol, Bowie-knife, dirk, dagger, slung-shot, loaded cane, brass knuckles, iron knuckles, metal knuckles, or other deadly weapon of a like kind. Violators guilty of a misdemeanor.
N.C. Const. of 1875, art. I, § 24
(1875)
Reiterated the terms of the US second amendment. Included a second portion declaring that standing armies are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be kept up. A third section declared that nothing herein contained shall justify carrying concealed weapons or prevent the legislature from enacting penal statutes against said practice.
1879 N.C. Sess. Laws 355-56
(1879)
Ch. 198, §§ 1-7: Any tramp who shall enter any dwelling house or kindle any fire on the highway or on the land of another without the consent of the owner or occupant thereof, or shall be found carrying any firearms or other dangerous weapon, or shall threaten to do any injury to any person or to the real or personal estate of another, shall be punished by imprisonment at the discretion of the court, not to exceed twelve months.
1868-69 N.C. Sess. Laws 59-60
(1868)
Pub. Laws, ch. 18, § 1: [I]f any person or persons whomsoever shall be known to hunt in this state on the Sabbath with a dog or dogs, or shall be found off of their premises on the Sabbath, having with him or them a shot-gun, rifle or pistol, he or they shall be subject to indictment; and, upon conviction, shall pay a fine not to exceed fifty dollars at the discretion of the Court, two-thirds of such fine to enure to the benefit of the free public schools in the County of which such convict is a resident, the remainder to the informant.
1861 N.C. Sess. Laws 25
(1861)
Pub. Laws, 2d. Extra Sess., ch. 17, § 10: Every resident enrolled and notified, as is directed in the third section of this act, shall within one month thereafter, provide himself with a good musket, smooth bore gun or rifle, shot pouch and powder horn, and shall appear so armed and accoutred when called out to exercise or in actual service; the commissioned officers shall severally be armed with a sword or revolver at his discretion
1874-75 N.C. Sess. laws 280
(1875)
Ch. 207, §§ 1-2: That the Adjutant General be and he is hereby authorized, and directed, under the direction of the Governor, to draw if practicable such additional breech loading Springfield rifles, muskets and the accoutrements therefor as the State is entitled to, not to exceed four hundred, and to issue the same under the provisions of chapter ninety-six, acts of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three and one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, entitled an act to provide for and furnish arms to military schools.
1866-67 N.C. Sess. Laws 103
(1867)
Pub. Laws, ch. 72, § 14: Property tax of one dollar on every dirk, Bowie knife, pistol, sword cane, dirk cane, and rifle cane. Violators guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by forfeiture of the weapon.
1868-69 N.C. Sess. Laws 407-08
(1868)
Pub. Laws, ch. 167, § 7: Every person who commits any assault upon the person of another, with any deadly or dangerous weapon, or who unlawfully shoots or attempts to shoot at another with any kind of fire-arms, with intent to injure any person, without intent to kill such person or to commit any felony, shall be punished upon conviction, by imprisonment in the State's prison not exceeding five years.
1871-72 N.C. Pub. Laws, 115
(1872)
Ch. 68, §§ 1-4: That if any person shall hunt for with gun, or chase with a dog, or shall kill or destroy any deer running wild in the woods, between the fifteenth day of January and the first day of September next thereafter ensuing, unless in an enclosure surrounded by a sufficient fence, at least five feet high, and where such person shall have a lawful right so to do, the person so offending shall pay a penalty of fifty dollars
1865-66 N.C. Sess. Laws 33-34
(1866)
Pub. Laws, ch. 21, § 11: Imposed a $1 tax on every dirk, Bowie knife, pistol, sword cane, dirk cane, and rifle cane used or worn during the year.
1874-75 N.C. Sess. Laws 18
(1874)
Ch. 21, §§ 1-2: That the auditor of the State is hereby authorized and directed to issue his warrant upon the public treasurer for the payment of such sums as may be certified by the adjutant general and governor, and as may be actually necessary to pay the freight and drayage upon the public arms received as the quota of North Carolina, from the United States government, under the acts making provision for the arming of the militia of the several States and territories, or returned to the arsenals of the United States for exchange under the act of Congress of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
1871-72 N.C. Pub. Laws 241
(1872)
ch. 152, §§ 1-3: That it shall be unlawful for any person to catch or destroy with seins, nets, firearms, bows and arrows or by muddying or stirring the waters, or by striking any fish of any kind in the waters of Black or South rivers in the counties of Now Hanover, Sampson, Cumberland and Harnett and of the waters of Six Runs in the counties of New Hanover and Sampson, between the fifteenth day of May and the fifteenth day of August in each and every year.
1865-66 N.C. Sess. Laws 103-04
(1866)
Pub Laws, ch. 40, § 15: "an act to amend chapter one hundred and seven, section sixty-six, of the Revised Code, relating to free negroes having arms;
1860-1861 N.C. Sess. Laws 68
(1860)
Pub. Laws, ch. 34, § 1: Prohibited "any free negro" from wearing or carrying or keeping in his house any "any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, sword cane, dagger, bowie knife, powder or shot."
1856-1857 N.C. Sess. Laws 34
(1856)
Pub. Laws, ch. 34, § 23, pt. 4: On every pistol, except such as are used exclusively for mustering, and on every bowie-knife, one dollar and twenty five cents; on dirks and swordcanes, sixty five cents: Provided, however, That of said arms, only such shall be taxable, as at some time within the year have been used, worn or carried about the person of the owner, or of some other, by his consent.
1850-51 N.C. Sess. Laws 243
(1850)
Ch. 121, § 5: Applied a property tax on all pistols, Bowie-knives for one dollar. A property tax of fifty cents applied to dirks, sword canes.
1856-1857 N.C. Sess. Laws 22
(1856)
Pub. Laws, ch. 24, § 1: [T]he true intent and meaning of the 95th section of the 34th chapter of the Revised Code was and is hereby declared to be to prevent fire hunting for deer with a gun or guns in the night time, and nothing more.
1858-1859 N.C. Sess. Laws 35-36
(1858)
Pub. Laws, ch. 25, § 27, pt. 15: Imposed a tax of one dollar and twenty-five cents on every dirk, Bowie-knife, pistol, sword cane, dirk-cane, and rifle cane.
James Iredell, A Digested Manual of the Acts of the General Assembly of North Carolina 75 (1847)
(1846)
Prohibited selling or delivering firearms and weapons to "any slave, or slaves, any gun cotton, fire arms, swords, dirks or other side arms."
James Iredell, A Digested Manual of the Acts of the General Assembly of North Carolina 73 (1847)
(1840)
Prohibited "any free negro, mulatto, or free person of color" from carrying or possessing any shotgun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger, or bowie knife without a license from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her country.

North Carolina

North Carolina

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