Delaware
Permanent URL for this collectionhttps://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/3409
Delaware
This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Delaware. 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, shipbuilding and manufacturing records, and oral histories tied to Delaware 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, 1781 Del. Acts 1, 3(1781)Required most taxpaying men ages 18–50 to purchase and maintain militia arms and equipment at their own expense, imposing fines for noncompliance while exempting certain occupations and individuals.Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1134 (1797)(1793)Included "each and every free able bodied white male citizen of this state, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years." However, "all young men under the age of twenty-one years, and all servants purchased bona fide, and for a valuable consideration, [were] exempted from furnishing the necessary arms, ammunition and accoutrements ... and [were] exempted from militia duties and fines during such minority or servitude, except in cases of rebellion, or an actual or threatened invasion."Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1225 (1797)(1796)Revised the organization and regulation of the militia, and again included able-bodied white males from 18 to 45. The act also forbade volunteer militias, because there were "a number of free able bodied white men in this state, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, who neglect and refuse to muster and do militia duty, in the companies in which they have been enrolled ... and yet meet together with arms in bodies distinguished and known by the name of Volunteer Companies."Item type:Item, 1778 Del. Acts, Mar. Adjourned Sess. 3-5(1778)Included "each and every able-bodied, effective, Male white Person between the Ages of Eighteen and Fifty." Militiamen had to provide their own "Musket or Firelock with a Bayonet," plus the cartridge box, cartridges, priming wire, brush, and six flints. For 18-to-20-year-olds who could not afford the mandatory arms, the parents had to provide them, if the parents could afford them.Item type:Item, 1778 Del. Acts, Mar. Adjourned Sess. 1-3(1778)Another law punished people who bought from militiamen the arms or accoutrements that militiamen were supposed to always keep. If the illicit buyer were a man 18 to 50, the punishment could include six months' service in the militia.Item type:Item, 1785 Del. Acts, May Adjourned Sess. 11-13(1785)Each white male 18-50 whose taxes were at least twenty shillings a year had to provide equipment " at his own expence." As for apprentices and persons over 18 and under 21, their parent or guardian would provide the arms" if the militiaman" s estate were at least eighty pounds, or if the parent paid " six pounds annually towards the public taxes." Arms were " a musket or firelock, with a bayonet," a cartridge box with twenty-three cartridges, " a priming wire, a brush and six flints, all in good order." Fines for neglect were to be paid by militiamen " of full age or by the parent or guardian of such as are under twenty-one years." The guardian could charge his ward for the expense when the time came for " settling the accounts of his guardianship."Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1134 (1797)(1793)Included " each and every free able bodied white male citizen of this state, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years." However, " all young men under the age of twenty-one years, and all servants purchased bona fide, and for a valuable consideration, [were] exempted from furnishing the necessary arms, ammunition and accoutrements . . . and [were] exempted from militia duties and fines during such minority or servitude, except in cases of rebellion, or an actual or threatened invasion."Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1225 (1797)(1796)Revised the organization and regulation of the militia, and again included able-bodied white males from 18 to 45. The act also forbade volunteer militias, because there were " a number of free able bodied white men in this state, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, who neglect and refuse to muster and do militia duty, in the companies in which they have been enrolled . . . and yet meet together with arms in bodies distinguished and known by the name of Volunteer Companies."Item type:Item, George H. Ryden, Delaware - The First State in the Union 117 (1938)(1741)Required males from 17 to 50 years to enlist. Besides that, everyone else who was living self-sufficiently (" every Freeholder and taxable Person" ) had to have the same arms as militiamen.Item type:Item, 1 Del. Laws 175-76 (1797)(1740)Required " all the inhabitants and freemen" aged fifteen to sixty-three to " provide and keep . . . a well-fixed firelock or musket," plus ammunition supplies and cleaning tools.Item type:Item, George H. Ryden, Delaware - The First State in the Union 103-04 (1938)(1671)Required " That every Person that can beare Arms from 16 to 60 years of Age, bee allways provided with a convenient proportion of Powder & Bullett fit for Service, and their mutual Defence."Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1136-37 (1797)(1793)Chapter 36-An Act for Establishing the Militia in this State, § 4: Required all citizens enrolled in the militia to arm themselves, within six months, with a good musket or firelock, a bayonet, belt, two spare flints, a knapsack, a pouch, and a box to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges and gunpowder suited to the bore of his gun, or twenty cartridges and a quarter-pound of gunpowder.Item type:Item, 1829 Del. Laws 153 (Rev. ed.)(1827)An Act Concerning Crimes and Offenses Committed by Slaves, And For, The Security of Slaves Properly Demeaning Themselves, ch. 6, § 8: Prohibited "any negro or mulatto slave" from carrying any gun, pistol, sword, dirk, or unusual or dangerous weapons or arms without special permission.Item type:Item, 1782 Del. Acts, Jan. Adjourned Sess. 1, 3(1782)An Act for Establishing a Militia Within this State, § 6: Required every person aged eighteen to fifty to provide a musket or firelock with a bayonet, a cartouch box with twenty-three cartridges, priming wire, a brush, and six flints all in good order. Also required providing the same from parents who are tax rated at eighteen pounds, or apprentices. Violators fined at twenty-shillings for ever two months neglect or default.Item type:Item, 1776 Del. Const. art. 9, 28(1776)Granted the state president to act as the captain-general and commander-in-chief of the militia and other military forces of the state.Item type:Item, 1 Del. Laws 104 (1797)(1797)Ch. 43, § 6: Prohibited "any Negro or Mulatto slave" from carrying guns, swords, pistols, fowling pieces, clubs, or other arms and weapons without the master's special license.Item type:Item, 4 Del. Laws 522 (1812)(1812)An Act to Prevent the Discharging of Fire-Arms Within the Towns and Villages, and Other Public Places Within this State, and for Other Purposes. §1: Prohibited the discharge of any gun, ordinance, musket, fowling piece, fuse, or pistol in any town or village. When town limits cannot be ascertained, not within one quarter mile of the centre of such town or village, the greens, streets, alleys or lanes of any town or village.Item type:Item, An Act for Establishing a Militia in this Government (1756)(1756)Prohibited meeting of the militia within a half mile of a inn or tavern, and prohibited the sale of strong liquor within a half mile of the state militia.Item type:Item, Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex Upon Delaware 171 (1741)(1740)"That every Freeholder and taxable Person residing in this Government (except such as are hereafter excepted) shall, on or before the First Day of March next, provide himself with the following Arms and Ammunition: One well fixed Musket or Firelock, one Cartouch-Box, with Twelve Charges of Gun-Powder and Ball therein, and Three good Flints, to be approved of by the Commanding Officer of the respective Company to which he belongs, and shall be obliged to keep such Arms and Ammunition by him, during the Continuance of this Act...."