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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: 1740End date: 1799

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Now showing 1 - 17 of 17
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    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.
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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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    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.
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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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    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."
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    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. .
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    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.
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    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.
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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.
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    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."
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    1750 Mass. Acts 544
    (1750)
    An Act for Preventing and Suppressing of Riots, Routs and Unlawful Assemblies, ch. 17, § 1: Prohibited the carrying of a club or other weapon while unlawfully, riotously, or tumultuously assembling. Punishable by seizing the weapon and a hearing before the court.
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    The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of Massachusetts Bay 306 (1878)
    (1746)
    Prohibited the indiscreet firing of any gun or pistol in the town under penalty of forty shillings.
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    1757 Mass. Acts 323
    (1757)
    An Act in Addition to the Several Acts of This Province for Regulating the Militia, ch. 12: That the Captain or Chief Officer of each military foot company, shall instruct and employ his Company in military exercises six days in a year . . . and on each of said days he shall make a strict enquiry into the state of the arms and ammunition of his Company . . . that every person from the age of sixteen to sixty, not exempted by law, shall appear with arms and ammunition according to law, and attend his duty each of the aforesaid days. . .
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    1749-51 Mass. Acts 339
    (1751)
    An Act for Preventing and Suppressing of Riots, Routs and Unlawful Assemblies, ch. 12: If any Persons to the Number of Twelve or more, being Arm'd with Clubs or other Weapons, or if any Number of Persons consisting of Fifty or upwards, whether armed or not, shall be unlawfully riotously or tumultuously assembled; any Justice of the Peace, Field-Officer or Captain of the Militia, Sheriff of the County or Under-Sheriff, or any Constable of the Town, shall among the Rioters, or as near to them as he can safely come, command Silence while Proclamation is making, and shall openly make Proclamation in these or the like Words,