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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.MassachusettsStart date: 1891

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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 . . .
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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
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    Item type:Item,
    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,
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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.
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    Item type:Item,
    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.