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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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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • 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,
    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.