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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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Start date: 1650End date: 1699

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Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 285-86 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
    (1671)
    "And every man from the age of sixteen years and upward, shall also be provided with such Arms and Amunition as the Court have determined, upon penalty expressed in our said Book of Records."
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    The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 184 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
    (1677)
    "It is enacted by the Court That the order of Court made Anno 1644 allowing Matchcockes be repealed ; and that all psons required by the lawes of this Collonie to keep and maintaine armes ; be att all times provided with sufficient fix feir lockes or snaphance musketts or other servicable peeces not exceeding four foot and an halfe longe ; nor under Colliver bore"
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    1692 Mass. Acts 11-12
    (1692)
    Prohibited riding or going armed offensively to cause fear or affray of the people.
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    Records Of The Colony Of New Plymouth In New England 230 (Daniel Pulsifier ed., 1861)
    (1671)
    Laws of Plymouth Colony (1671). Whereas several persons have been greatly endangered by setting of guns, it is enacted by the Court and the authority thereof that none shall sett any guns except in enclosures and that the gun be sufficiently enclosed so as it be secure from hurting man or beast and that he that setteth the gun do give warning or notice thereof to all the neighbors on penalty of paying a fine of five pounds to the use of the Colony for every default.
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    Records of The Colony of New Plymouth in New England 173 (1856)
    (1676)
    Prohibited the selling, bartering, and giving of arms or ammunition to "any Indian," punishable by death.
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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 Acts And Resolves, Public And Private, of The Province Of The Massachusetts Bay 268 (1869)
    (1697)
    § 3: That no person or persons whatsoever, in any town or garrison, shall presume to discharge or shoot off any gun or guns after the shutting in of the daylight in the evening, or before daylight in the morning, unless in case of alarm, approach of the enemy, or other necessary defense, on pain that every person so offending, and being thereof convicted before one or more of his majestie's justices of the peace, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings, one moiety thereof to and for the use of the poor of the town where the offence is committed, and the other moiety to him or them that shall inform or prosecute for the same. And in case such offender shall not have wherewith to answer the said fine, or shall refuse or neglect to pay the same, then to be set in the stocks, not exceeding two hours' time: provided, that this act shall remain and continue in force during the present war, and no longer.
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    1694 Mass. Acts 12
    (1694)
    No. 6, An Act for the Punishing of Criminal Offenders: Further it is Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every Justice of the Peace in the County where the Offence is committed , may cause to be staid and arrested all Affrayers, Rioters, Disturbers, or Breakers of the Peace, and such as shall ride or go armed Offensively before any of their Majesties Justices, or other Their Officers or Ministers doing their Office or elsewhere.
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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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    1693 Mass. Acts 48
    (1693)
    An Act for Regulating of the Militia, ch. 3, §§ 1, 5: That all male persons from sixteen years of age to sixty, (other than such as are herein after excepted), shall bear arms, and duly attend all musters and military exercises of the respective troops and companies where they are listed . . . § 5 That every listed solider and other householder (except troopers) shall be always provided with a well fixed firelock musket, or musket or bastard musket bore . . .
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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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    The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 176 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
    (1675)
    Required every one to bring arms to Sunday church services, furnishing six chargers of powder and shott. Penalty of two shillings for violations.
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    The Charters And General Laws Of The Colony And Province Of Massachusetts Bay 190 (1814)
    (1663)
    Colony Laws. § 4: Be it also enacted by the authority of this court, that no masters of ships, or seamen, having their vessels riding within any of our harbors in this jurisdiction, shall presume to drink healths, or suffer any healths to be drunk within their vessels by day or night, or to shoot off any gun after the daylight is past, or on the sabbath day, on penalty for every health twenty shillings, and for every gun so shot twenty shillings.
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    Records Of The Colony Of New Plymouth 177 (1856)
    (1675)
    that whoever shall shoot of any gun on any necessary occasion, or at any game whatsoever, except at an Indian or a wolf, shall forfeit five shillings for every such shot, till further liberty shall be given.