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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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1780 - 17886

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Start date: 1780End date: 1789

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    1 Thomas & E.T. Andrews, The Perpetual Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the Establishment of its Constitution in the Year 1780 to the End of the Year 1800, at 340-47 (1801)
    (1788)
    Every militiaman "not under the control of parents, masters or guardians, and being of sufficient ability therefore in the judgment of the selectmen of the town in which he shall dwell," had to "equip himself, and be constantly provided with a good fire-arm," plus a ramrod, cleaning tools, a bayonet and scabbard, a cartridge box to hold "fifteen cartridges at least," plus six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaden balls suitable for this firearm, a haversack, blanket, and canteen." Officers and cavalrymen had to provide themselves with horses plus associated equipment, and a carbine (a shorter, lighter-weight long gun, well-suited for use while mounted). Militiamen who failed to equip themselves with the required arms could be fined.
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    1783 Mass. Acts 218-219
    (1783)
    An Act in Addition to the several Acts already made for the prudent Storage of Gun-Powder within the Town of Boston, ch. XIII: Created a fine of ten pounds for individuals creating the fire hazard of having a loaded cannon, swivel, mortar, howitzer, cohorn, firearm loaded with gun powder, bomb, grenade, or other iron-shell in a dwelling house.
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    Thomas Wetmore, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Boston 142-43 (1834)
    (1783)
    §§ 1-2: 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 shall take into any dwelling house, stable, barn, out house, ware house, store, shop or other building within the town of Boston, any cannon, swivel, mortar, howitzer, cohorn, or fire arm, loaded with or having gunpowder in the same, or shall receive into any dwelling house, stable, barn, out house, store, ware house, shop, or other building within said town, any bomb, grenade, or other iron shell, charged with, or having gun powder in the same, such person shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds, to be recovered at the suit of the firewards [duties of Firewards transferred to Engineers,] of the said towns, in an action of debt before any court proper to try the same; one moiety thereof, to the use of said Firewards, and the other moiety to the support of the poor of said town of Bost
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    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."
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    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."
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    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.