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Massachusetts

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Massachusetts

This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Massachusetts. 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, armory and manufacturing records (e.g., Springfield Armory and industrial corridor), militia and maritime archives, and oral histories tied to Massachusetts 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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Jurisdiction: search.filters.coverage.MassachusettsEnd date: 1659

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Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 392 (1853)
    (1620)
    "For such of or nation as sell munition, gunns, or other furniture, to arme the Indians against vs, or teach them the vse of armes, wee would haue yow to apphend them and send them prisons for England, where they will not escape severe punishmt, being expressly against the proclamacon."
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    The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 102 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
    (1657)
    Required the militia of every township to bring arms during Sunday church services. Violators fined twelve pence for every default.
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    Records Of The Colony Of New Plymouth In New England 66 (Daniel Pulsifier ed., 1861)
    (1656)
    Laws of Plymouth Colony (1656). And likewise that no Indian shall discharge any gun on the Lords day at any thing to the breach of the Sabbath and disturbance of the English; as they will answer it at their peril.
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    The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts 186 (Rockwell & Churchill 1889) (Passed 1645).
    (1645)
    Powder, § 2, MASS ACTS: That no Person (except for the defence of themselves and their vessels at Sea) shall transport any§Gunpowder§out of this jurisdiction, without License first obteined, from some two of the Magistrates, upon penalty of forfeiting all such powder as shall be transporting or transported, or the value thereof;"
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    The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 115 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
    (1658)
    Required that one quarter of each militia to be armed during Sunday church services. Each militia member required to have a firearm, sword, three charges of powder and bullets. Violators fined two shillies and six pence for each day's neglect.
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    1647: Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, reprinted in The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts 28 (Harvard Univ. Press 1929)
    (1647)
    Prohibited the repairing, selling, and giving of "any Indian" a gun, ammunition, or armour, punishable by fine.
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    2 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 134 (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff ed., 1853)
    (1645)
    Required "all inhabitants" to obtain arms for defense of themselves and the country. Muskets are to be full musket boare or basterd musket. No rifles should be under three foot nine inches in length, nor above four foot three inches.
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    2 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 38 (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff ed., 1853)
    (1638)
    Military officers in every town shall appoint what arms are brought to public meetings. Also allowed officers to mandate safe disposure of ammunition to prevent acquisition by an enemy.
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    1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 85 (1853)
    (1631)
    "Further, it is ordered, that noe pson shall travell single betwixte theis plantacons & Plymouthe, nor without some armes, though 2 or 3 togeather."
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    1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 211-12 (1853)
    (1637)
    Whereas the opinions & revelations of Mr Wheeleright & Mrs Hutchinson have seduced & led into dangerous errors many of the people here New England , insomuch as there is just cause of suspicion that they, as others in Germany, in former times, may, upon some revelation, make some sudden irruption upon those that differ from them in judgment, for Prevention whereof it is ordered, that all those whose names are underwritten shall (upon warning given or left at their dwelling houses) before the 30th day of this month of November, deliver in at Mr Canes house, at Boston, all such guns, pistols, swords, powder, shot, & match as they shall be owners of, or have in their custody, upon pain of ten pound for ev§y default to bee made thereof; which arms are to be kept by Mr Cane till this Court shall take further order therein. Also, it is ordered, upon like penalty of [some unreadable amount of money, perhaps §, s., or p.), that no man who is to render his arms by this order shall buy or borrow any guns, swords, pistols, powder, shot, or match, until this Court shall take further order therein
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    1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 190 (1853)
    (1636)
    "Whearas many complaints have bene made to this Court, both formerly & at psent, of the great neglect of all sorts of people of vseing the lawfull & necessary meanes of their safety, especially in this time of so much danger great fro the Indians, it is therefore ordered, that the millitary officers in every towne shall pride that the watches bee dewely kept in places most fit for danger by In- common safetie, & also a ward on the Lords dayes, the same to begin before the end of this first month, & to bee continued vntill the end of September ; & that every pson above the age of 18 yeares (except magistrats & elders of the churches) shalbee compellable to this servise, either in pson or by some substitute, to bee alowed by him that hath the charge of the watch or warde for that time, vpon paine of 5s for every default, to bee levyed by distresse by the surveyar of the armes, & to bee implyed for light & fyer, & such necessaries, by the discretion of the millitary officers./"