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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The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 1, 8-12 (William Brigham ed., 1836)
(1620)
Authorized the colony's council to appoint officials, enact laws consistent with English law, impose martial law during emergencies, recruit settlers, transport supplies duty-free, and use military force to defend the colony and exclude unauthorized inhabitants.
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.
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.
2 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England 99 (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff ed., 1853)
(1645)
Mandated that "all youth within this jurisdiction, from ten yeares ould to the age of sixsteen yeares, shalbe instructed, by some one of the officers of the band, or some other experienced souldier…upon the usuall training dayes, in the exercise of armes, as small guns, halfe pikes, bowes & arrows."
1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England 190 (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff ed., 1853)
(1637)
Required everyone 18 and older to "come to the publike assemblies with their muskets, or other peeces fit for servise, furnished with match, powder, & bullets."
1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 392 (1853)
(1620)
"For such of or nation as sell munition, gunns, or other furniture, to arme the Indians against vs, or teach them the vse of armes, wee would haue yow to apphend them and send them prisons for England, where they will not escape severe punishmt, being expressly against the proclamacon."
City Ordinances of Springfield, Mass. 121 (1871)
(1871)
No. 44. An Ordinance for the Prevention of Injurious Practices in the Streets, §21 Firearms, not to be discharged in streets, &c., except, &c.: "Sect. 21. No person shall discharge any gun, pistol or other firearm in any of the streets, highways, public squares or commons in the city ; provided, this section shall not apply to the use of such weapons in the lawful defense of the person, family or property of any one, or in the performance of any duty required by law, nor to the firing of a salute of cannon or artillery by permission of the mayor and aldermen."
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."
Joseph Barlow Felt Osgood, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Salem, Together with the Acts of the Legislature Relating to the City: Collated and Revised Pursuant to an Order of the City Council 67 (1853)
(1847)
§ 18: No gun-cotton, or other substance prepared, like it, for explosion, shall be kept within the limits of such town or city, excepting under the regulations and penalties that were then applicable by law to gunpowder; and if it shall be considered necessary for public safety, they may restrict the quantity to be so kept to one-fifth of the weight of gunpowder allowed by law in each case provided for.
The Municipal Register, Containing the City Charter, with Rules and Orders of the City Council, Also the Ordinances, and a List of the Officers of the City of Roxbury, for 1848-49, at 58 (1848)
(1848)
An Ordinance To prevent unlawful and injurious practices in the streets and other public places in the city: Prohibited the discharge of any firearms within the city of Roxbury
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"
The Municipal Register Containing the City Charter and Ordinances, Together with the Rules and Orders of the City Council and a List of the past and Present City Officers of the City of Newburyport 130 (1869)
(1869)
Ordinance No. 14, An Ordinance for the Prevention of Certain acts in the Streets and on the Public Grounds of the City § 15: No person shall fire any rocket, squib, cracker, or other thing formed of gunpowder or other explosive substance, in whole or in part; nor make any bonfire of tar barrels or any other substances, nor, except in the performance of some duty authorized by law, discharge any field piece, gun or other firearm in or upon any street or other way, or upon any wharf or landing within the city.
City Charter and Revised Ordinances of the City of Fall River 158 (1887)
(1887)
Ordinance so the City of Fall River, Streets Use. Revised Ordinance. Discharge of Firearms. § 20: No person shall, except in the performance of some legal duty, discharge any gun, pistol or firearm in any street or public place, or within fifty rods of any dwelling house.
Municipal Register of the City of Lawrence 1870, at 185 (1870)
(1870)
Concerning Fires § 4: The city council may order that no gunpowder shall be kept within the city, except in tight casks or canisters; that not more than fifty pounds thereof shall be kept in any building within twenty-five rods of any other building, or if within ten rods, then not more than twenty-five pounds; nor more than one pound in any place, unless in copper, tin or brass canisters holding not more than five pounds each, and closely covered.
Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay 132-133 (1814)
(1633)
Ch. 58, § 2 (1633): Prohibited the possession, trade, sale, and repair of guns, ammunition, armor, and weapons generally for "any Indian" enforced by fine.
1 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 190 (1853)
(1636)
Ordered that no person shall travel to Plymouth without some arms.
Ordinances of the City of Charlestown 31 (1870)
(1870)
Ordinance No. 10, §32; Discharging Guns Prohibited, An Ordinance in Relation to Streets: No person shall, except in the performance of some duty required by law, discharge any gun, pistol, or other firearm, loaded with balls or shot, or with powder only, within the city."
The Revised Ordinances of 1885 of the City of Boston 172 (1886)§
(1885)
Ordinances of the City of Boston. Of Fire-Arms, Bonfires, and Brick-Kilns. § 4: No person shall sell to any child under the age of sixteen years without the written consent of a parent or guardian of such child, any cartridge or fixed ammunition of which any fulminate is a component part, or any gun, pistol, or other mechanical contrivance arranged for the explosion of such cartridge, or of any fulminate. But the provisions of this section shall not apply to paper caps of which the only component parts are chlorate of potash and sulphide of antimony, nor to any appliance for exploding the same. The provisions of this section shall be inserted in every license granted for the sale of gunpowder.
Augustus Peck Clarke, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Cambridge 120 (1871)
(1871)
Ch. 25 § 30: No person shall, except in the performance of some legal duty, discharge any gun, pistol, or other firearm, within the principal inhabited parts of the city, or within fifty rods of any dwelling-house therein.
Annual Report of the Park Department, Boston Department of Parks 86 (1887)
(1886)
Park Ordinances, § 3: Prohibited carry of firearms, throwing stones, or other missiles within the parks of the city.
City of Boston Department of Parks, Twelfth Annual Report of Board of Commissioners for 1886, at 86 (1887)
(1887)
§ 3: Prohibits the discharge or carry of firearms. Also prohibited the discharge of fireworks, playing of musical instruments, possession of intoxicating beverages, "or otherwise annoy other visitors" within the parks of Boston.
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.
Thomas Wetmore, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Boston 116-117 (1834)
(1826)
An ordinance forbidding the firing of Guns, prohibiting Fireworks in certain cases, and to prevent damage by fire, § 1: That no person shall fire or discharge any gun, fowling piece, or fire arms within the limits of the city, which shall be loaded with balls or shot, or with powder only, under a penalty for every such offence, of a sum not less than one dollar nor more than twenty dollars: Provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not extend to the firing of any gun or other fire arm, in the lawful defense of the person, family, or property of any citizen; nor to the firing of any such gun or fire arm at any military exercise or reviews.
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
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.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts

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