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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Now showing 1 - 40 of 53

1793 Mass. Acts 289-90
(1763)
Requires free, able-bodied white male citizens ages eighteen to forty-five to enroll in the state militia and prove eligibility if questioned.
1927 Mass. Acts 413-16
(1927)
An Act Relative to Machine Guns and Other Firearms, ch. 326, §§ 1-2 (amending §§ 121, 123): Prohibited selling, renting, or leasing a pistol, revolver, or machine gun to a person without a license to possess the same.
1926 Mass. Acts 256
(1926)
An Act Prohibiting the Sale and Use of Silencers for Firearms: Whoever sells or keeps for sale, or offers, or gives or disposes of, or uses, any instrument, attachment, weapon or appliance for causing the firing of any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm to be silent or intended to lessen or muffle the noise of the firing or any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years in the state prison or for not more than two and one half years in a jail or house of correction.
1922 Mass. Acts 563
(1922)
Ch. 485, An Act Relative to the Sale and Carrying of Firearms, ch. 485, § 8 (amending § 130): Prohibited the sale or furnishing of firearms, air guns, or dangerous weapons to minors under age 15 or noncitizens without a permit to carry firearms; violators subject to fine. Law does not apply to instructors furnishing military weapons to pupils for instruction or drill.
1910 Mass. Acts 552
(1910)
An Act to Prohibit the Sale of Certain Pistols and Explosives and to Authorize the Making of Regulations Relative to Fireworks and Firecrackers, ch. 565, § 1: It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or keep for sale any blank cartridge, toy pistol, toy gun or toy cannon that can be used to fire a blank cartridge; or to sell or keep for sale, or to fire, explode or cause to explode any blank cartridge or bomb; or to sell or keep for sale, or to set off, explode or cause to explode any fireworks containing any pieric acid or pirates, or any firecracker exceeding two inches in length and three eights of an inch in diameter or of a greater explosive power than a firecracker of such size containing black gunpowder only . . .
1919 Mass. Acts 139
(1919)
An Act Relative to the Issuance of Search Warrants for the Seizure of Firearms, Weapons and Ammunition Kept for Unlawful Purposes, ch. 179, §§ 1-2: A court or justice authorized to issue warrants in criminal cases may, upon complaint under oath that the complainant believes that an unreasonable number of rifles, shot guns, pistols, revolvers or other dangerous weapons, or that an unnecessary quantity of ammunition, is kept or concealed for any unlawful purpose in a particular house or place, if satisfied that there is a reasonable cause for such belief, issue a warrant to search such property. § 2. If the court or justice finds that such property is kept for an unlawful purpose, it shall be forfeited and disposed of as the court or justice may by order direct.
1893 Mass. Acts 1049-50
(1893)
Ch. 367-An Act Concerning the Volunteer Militia, § 124: A law that unofficial armed associations are prohibited (1893): No body of men whatsoever, other than the regularly organized corps of the militia, the troops of the United States, the ancient and honorable artillery company, the veteran artillery association of Newburyport, the veteran cadet association of Salem, the veteran association of the independent corps of cadets of Boston, the Salem light infantry veteran association, the veteran artillery association of Amesbury and Salisbury, and the Boston light infantry association, shall associate themselves together at any time as a company or organization, for drill or parade with firearms, or maintain an armory in any city or town of this Commonwealth; nor shall any city or town raise or appropriate any money toward arming, equipping, uniforming or in any way supporting, sustaining or providing drill rooms or armories for any such body of men
1904 Mass. Acts 310-11
(1904)
An Act to Authorize the Fire Marshal's Department of the District Police to Make Regulations Relative to Explosives and Inflammable Fluids, ch. 370, §§ 1-2: To regulate the keeping, storage, use, manufacture or sale of gunpowder, dynamite or other explosives and inflammable fluids, shall hereafter be exercised by the fire marshal's department of the district police. § 2. The fire marshal's department of the district police may make regulations for the keeping, storage, use, manufacture or sale of gunpowder,
1900 Mass. Acts 150
(1900)
An Act to Regulate the Shooting of Black Duck, Geese, Brant and Other Aquatic Birds in Plymouth Harbor or Bay, ch. 209, § 1: Whoever within the limits of Plymouth harbor or bay, . . . shoots at or kills or pursues a black duck, goose, brant or other aquatic bird, by the use of any sneak boat, raft, floating box or device of like description, not including what is known as an ordinary dory or row boat, or by the use of any pivot gun or swivel gun, or any other firearm not usually held at and discharged from the shoulder, shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars.
1909 Mass. Acts 148
(1909)
An Act to Prohibit the Sale of Air Guns to Certain Minors § 92: Whoever sells or furnishes to a minor under the age of fifteen years any firearms, air guns or other dangerous weapon shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offence; but instructors and teachers may furnish military weapons to pupils for instruction and drill.
1906 Mass. Acts 150
(1906)
Ch. 172, An Act to Regulate by License the Carrying of Concealed Weapons § 2: Whoever, except as provided by the laws of this Commonwealth, carries on his person a loaded pistol or revolver, without authority or permission as provided in section one of this act, or whoever carries any stiletto, dagger, dirk-knife, slung-shot or metallic knuckles, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Records Of The Colony Of New Plymouth In New England 242 (David Pulsifier ed., 1861)
(1861)
It is enacted by the Court that no Indians that are servants to the English shall be permitted to use guns for fowling or other exercise; as being judged that it may prove prejudicial in time to the English; and therefore that no one shall be permitted so to do on pain of forfeiting every such gun so used to the use of the Colony.
The Public Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 381 (1882)
(1882)
§§ 29-31: Gunpowder manufactured in this commonwealth shall be put into strong and tight casks containing twenty-five pounds, fifty pounds, or one hundred pounds each, or well secured in copper, tin, or brass canisters holding not more than five pounds each, and closely covered with copper, brass, or tin covers. § 30. Each cask containing gunpowder manufactured within this commonwealth, or brought into the same by land or by water and landed, shall be marked on the head with black paint in legible characters with the word gunpowder, the name of the manufacturer, the weight of the cask, and the year in which the powder was manufactured; and each canister of gunpowder shall be marked with the word gunpowder. § 31. Whoever knowingly marks a cask of gunpowder with the name of any person other than the manufacturer of the same, or changes gunpowder from a cask marked with the name of one manufacturer into a cask marked with the name of another manufacturer, shall for each offence forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty dollars.
Mass. Gen. Stat. 107, ch. 13, § 113 (1859)
(1859)
§A soldier who unnecessarily, or without order from a superior officer, comes to any parade, with his musket, rifle, or pistol, loaded with ball, slug, or shot, or so loads the same while on parade, or unnecessarily, or without order from a superior officer, discharges the same when going to, returning from, or upon parade, shall forfeit not less than five nor more than twenty dollars, to be recovered on complaint of the clerk, one-half to his use and one-half to the use of commanding officer.
2 Charles Allen, Report of the Commissioners on the Revision of the Statutes 333 (1881)
(1881)
Fire Arms, § 18. There shall be in each county, where the manufacture of fire-arms is carried on, provers of fire-arms, not more than six in number, appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the council, who shall prove all musket barrels and pistol barrels which, being sufficiently ground, bored and breeched, are offered to them to be proved. § 19. All musket barrels and pistol barrels manufactured in this commonwealth shall, before they are sold or stocked, be proved by one of the provers with a ball suited to the bore of the barrel and with a charge of powder equal in weight to the ball.
The Public Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1163 (1886)
(1882)
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, giving, or disposing of any instrument or weapon usually known as a slungshot, metallic knuckles, billy, or other dangerous weapon. Violators punished by fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months.
Report of Commissioners on Revision of Ordinances 141 (1882)
(1882)
Whoever sells to a child under the age of sixteen years, without the written consent of its parent or guardian, any cartridge or fixed ammunition of which any fulminate is a component part, or a gun, pistol, or other mechanical contrivance arranged for the explosion of such cartridge or of any fulminate, shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five nor more than fifty dollars.
1866 Mass. Acts 219
(1866)
An Act Concerning The Militia, § 184: "Section 184. It shall not be lawful for any body of men whatsoever, other than the regularly organized corps of the volunteer militia, the troops of the United States, and the ancient and honorable artillery company, and the veteran artillery association of Newburyport, to associate themselves together as a military company or organization, or to parade in public with arms in any city or town of this Commonwealth, without the license of the governor thereof, which may at any time be revoked;§
Mass. Gen. Stat. 255, ch. 49, § 27 (1873)
(1859)
Appointed six individuals in each county for proving of musket barrels and pistols. Proven arms are stamped by the appointed officials.
1 William A. Richardson, Supplement to the General Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 836-37 (1873)
(1870)
An Act to Aid in the Preservation of Birds, Birds' Eggs, And Deer. § 6: Whoever, at any season of the year, takes, kills or destroys any game birds by means of traps, snares, nets or springs; or shoots at or kills any water fowl, by the use of any battery, swivel, or pivot gun, shall forfeit for each such offence twenty-five dollars: provided that between the first day of October and the first day of January in any year, any person may on his own premises, or for his own personal use and not for sale, take or kills by means of traps or snares any of the birds known as ruffed grouse or partridges.
1866 Mass. Acts 197
(1866)
An Act Concerning The Militia, § 120: A soldier who unnecessarily or without order from a superior officer comes to any parade with his musket, rifle or pistol loaded with ball, slug or shot, or so loads the same while on parade, or unnecessarily or without order form a superior officer discharges the same when going to, returning from or upon parade, shall forfeit not less than five nor more than twenty dollars.
1814 Mass. Acts 464
(1814)
An Act in Addition to an Act, entitled "An Act to Provide for the Proof of Fire Arms, Manufactured within this Commonwealth," ch. 192, § 2: Requiring all musket barrels and pistol barrels, manufactured within this Commonwealth to be proved by the person appointed according to the provisions of an act . . . with a charge of powder equal in weight to the ball which fits the bore of the barrel to be proved.
1836 Mass. Rev. Stat. 750, ch. 134, § 16
(1835)
Prohibited the carry of a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol, or other offensive and dangerous weapon without reasonable cause to fear assault, injury, or violence to oneself, their family, or property. Violators required to post a surety not exceeding six months.
Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 194, § 2 (1850), codified at Mass. Gen. Stat. 816, ch. 164 § 11 (1873)
(1850)
Prohibited the manufacture or sale of slung-shots or metallic knuckles. Violators fined not less than fifty dollars or imprisoned not exceeding six months.
1856 Mass. Acts 86
(1856)
An Act to Incorporate the Proprietors of Oak Grove Cemetery, ch. 154 § 6: Any person who shall . . . discharge any gun or other fire-arms, within the said limits, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace, or other court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine not less than five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars...
1806 Mass. Acts 121-22
(1806)
An Act Providing for the Punishment of the Crimes of Burglary, and Other Breaking and Entering of Buildings: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That if any person, with intent to kill, rob, steal, commit a rape, or to do or perpetrate any other felony, shall in the night time break and enter, or having, with such felonious intent, entered, shall in the night time break a dwelling house, any person then being lawfully therein, and such offender being, at the time of such breaking or entering, armed with a dangerous weapon, or arming himself or herself, in such house, with a dangerous weapon, or committing an actual assault upon any person lawfully being in such house; every such offender, and any person present, aiding, assisting or consenting in such burglary, or accessary thereto before the fact, by counselling, hiring, or procuring such burglary to be committed, who shall be duly convicted thereof in the Supreme Judicial Court, shall suffer the punishment of death.
1804 Mass. Acts. 111
(1805)
Ch. 81, An Act to Provide for the Proof of Fire Arms Manufactured Within this Commonwealth: Requiring appointment of two per county for the inspection of barrels. Barrels required inspection under varying charges of powder and at varying degrees of elevation. Proven barrels are stamped post-inspection. Failed barrels fined thirty cents. Failed pistols fined twenty-five cents. Unproven barrels & pistols fined at ten dollars.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 240, § 1 (1837)
(1837)
Enrolled every able bodied white male citizen resident between eighteen to forty-five into the militia except idiots, lunatics, common drunkards, vagabonds, paupers, persons convicted of any infamous crime.
The Massachusetts Resolves (Oct. 29, 1765), reprinted in Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766, at 56 (E. Morgan ed. 1959)
(1765)
Resolved that Massachusetts subjects have the same rights as are present and essential for natural born subjects.
1787 Mass. Acts 555
(1787)
Act of Feb. 16, 1787, ch. VI: Required persons against the Government to deliver their arms to a justice of the peace and "subscribe the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth."
1786 Mass. Acts 87
(1786)
Ch. 38: Prohibited being armed with clubs or other weapons while in a group of twelve or more and "unlawfully, routously, riotously, or tumutluously assembled."
1775-76 Mass. Acts 31-32, 35
(1776)
Act of Mar. 14, 1776, ch. VII: Recommended the disarming of persons who are "notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or who refuse to associate to defend by arms the United American Colonies."
1775 Mass. Acts 15
(1775)
An Act For Forming And Regulating The Militia Within The Colony Of The Massachusetts Bay, In New England, And For Repealing All The Laws Heretofore Made For That Purpose, ch. 1, §§ 1,7,9: § 1. . . That that part of the militia of this Colony, commonly called the Training-Band, shall be constituted of all the able-bodied male persons therein, from sixteen years old to fifty [excepting Quakers and others]. . . § 7. . . That each and every officer, and private soldier of said militia, not under the controul of parents, master, or gaurdians, and being of sufficient ability therefor, in the judgement of the select-men if the town wherein he has his usual place of abode, shall equip himself, and be constantly provided with a good firearm. . . § 9 . . . That the clerk of each and every company of said militia, shall . . . take an exact list of his company, and of each man's equipment respectively. .
A Collection of Original Papers Relative to The History of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay 492 (1769)
(1769)
Prohibited the selling or bartering guns, ammunition, and swords to "any Indian," punishable by fine.
1836 Mass. Rev. Stat. 529, ch. 85, §24
(1794)
Granted justices of the peace to punish, by fine of ten dollars, all assaults, batteries, and other breaches of the peace unless of a "high and aggravated nature." Including all who go armed offensively to the terror of the people, such as menaces and threatening speeches.
1780 Mass. Const. art. XVII, pt. 1
(1780)
Declared a right to bear arms for the common defense, and that standing armies are dangerous to liberty in times of peace and shall not be maintained without the consent of the legislature.
1801 Mass. Acts 507-08
(1801)
An Act to Provide for the Storing and Safe Keeping of Gun Powder in the Town of Boston, and to Prevent Damage from the Same, ch. XX § 1: §1... That all Gun Powder imported and landed at the port of Boston, shall be brought to and lodged in the Powder House or Magazine in said town, and not elsewhere, on pain of confiscation of all Powder put or kept in any other house or place...
1795 Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 2, § 2; 1795 Mass. Acts 436
(1795)
Commanded justices of the peace to arrest "all affrayers, ruiters, disturbers, or breakers of the peace, and such as shall ride or go armed offensively, to the fear or terror of the good citiens of this Commonwealth."
1717 Mass. Acts 336
(1717)
An Act For The Better Regulation Of Fowling: That if any person or persons shall, at any time after two months from the publication of this act, make use of any boat, canoe, float, raft or other vessel, wherewith to approach to, and shoot at any waterfowl, in any part of this province, he or they so offending, shall each of them forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of forty shillings to the informer. And every such offender shall be, and hereby is prohibited and restrained from using a gun to shoot at waterfowl for the space of three years next after his offence, upon the like penalty of forty shillings for each time he shall presume so to offend, to be disposed of in manner as the forfeiture aforementioned.
The Charter Granted by Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary to the Inhabitants of the Providence of the Massachussets Bay in New England 271-72 (1726)
(1719)
An Act For the Punishing and Preventing of Duelling: That whoever ... fight a duel, combat, or engage in a rencounter with rapier, or small-sword, back-sword, pistol, or any other dangerous weapon, to the danger of life, mayhem, or wounding of the parties, or the affray of his Majesty's good subjects, (although death doth not thereby ensue) and be thereof convicted, by due course of law, before the Court of Assize, or Court of General Sessions of the Peace, in the respective Counties of this Province, shall be punished by fine, not exceeding a hundred pounds, imprisonment, not exceeding six months, or corporally punished...

Massachusetts

Massachusetts

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