Massachusetts
Permanent URL for this collectionhttps://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/4129
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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Item type:Item, 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."Item type:Item, 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 RoxburyItem type:Item, Report of the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Springfield, Mass. 23 (1891)(1891)Park Ordinances : To throw stones, balls, or other missiles; to discharge or carry firearms, firecrackers, torpedoes, or fireworks; to make fires; to play musical instruments; to have any intoxicating beverages; to sell, offer, or expose for sale any goods or wares; to post or display signs, placards, flags or advertising devices; to solicit subscriptions or contributions; to play games of chance, or to have possession of instruments of gambling; to make orations, harangues, or loud outcries; to enter into political canvassing of any kind; to utter profane, threatening, abusive, or indecent language, or to do any obscene or indecent act; to bathe or fish; to solicit the acquaintance of, or follow, or otherwise annoy other visitorItem type:Item, Office of Park Commission, New Bedford, Mass., Park Ordinances 74-75 (1902)(1902)3. To throw stones, balls or other missiles; to discharge or carry firearms, firecrackers, torpedoes or fireworks; to make fires, to play musical instruments; to have for sale or otherwise any intoxicating liquors or beverages; to sell or offer for sale any goods or wares; to post or display signs, placards, flags or any advertising devices whatsoever; to play games of chance or to have possession of instruments of gambling; to utter profane, threatening, abusive or indecent language; to make orations or loud outcries; to in any manner annoy other visitors.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, Appendix A, Rules and Regulations Governing the Public Parks within the City of Haverhill (1905)(1905)It is forbidden . . . 9. To throw stones, balls or other missiles; to discharge or carry firearms, torpedoes, firecrackers or fireworksItem type:Item, Annual Report of the Park Commissioners of the City of Lynn for the Year Ending December 20, 1892, at 45 (1893)(1892)Prohibited discharge or carry of firearms, except for members of the police force.Item type:Item, Municipal Register of the City of Haverhill 155 (1897)(1897)Ch. 40, § 1: No person shall fire or discharge any gun, pistol, revolver or other fire-arms within the compact part of the city, under a penalty for every such offence, not exceeding twenty dollars; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to the use of such weapons at any military exercise or review, or in the lawful defence of the person, family, or property of any citizen.Item type:Item, Rules and Regulations Governing the Public Parks within the City of Lowell 58 (1903)(1903)It is forbidden to throw stones, balls or other missiles; to discharge or carry firearms, fire crackers, torpedoes or fire-worksItem type:Item, The Great Woods of Lynn and Other Public Parks of the Town in 1903, Being the 15th Annual Report of the Park Commissioners of Lynn, Massachusetts 81 (1903)(1903)[I]t is forbidden ? to discharge or carry firearms, except by members of the police force in the discharge of their duties.Item type:Item, Revised Ordinances of the City of Fitchburg 179 (1893)(1893)Fitchburg Revised Ordinances. §§ 75-76: No person shall sell or keep for sale, within the limits of the city of Fitchburg, any toy pistol, toy cannon, or any other such article in which explosive compounds of any kind are used, or of which such compounds form a part. § 76. No person shall have, use, explode, fire off or discharge, within the limits of the city of Fitchburg, any toy pistol, toy cannon, or any other such article in which explosive compounds of any kind are used, or of which such compounds form a part.Item type:Item, Revised Ordinances of 1892 of the City of Boston 115 (1895)(1895)§ 91: No person shall manufacture or sell, or expose for sale, any guncotton, nitro-glycerine, or any compounds of the same, nor any fulminate or substance, except gunpowder, intended to be used by exploding or igniting it, in order to produce a force to propel missiles, or to rend substances apart, except in accordance with a permit from the board of fire commissioners; nor shall any person send or carry through the public streets any such substance, except in the manner and in the quantities allowed by statute or ordinance.Item type:Item, 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."Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 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...Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, The Charter Granted by Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary to the Inhabitants of the Providence of the Massachussets Bay in New England 226-27 (1726)(1713)An Act To Prohibit Shooting Or Firing Off Guns Near The Road Or Highway On Boston Neck: That no person or persons, from and after the publication of this Act, may presume to discharge or fire off any gun upon Boston Neck within ten rods of the road or highway leading over the same, on pain of forfeiting and paying the sum of twenty shillings . . . And for the better conviction of persons offending against this Act, it shall be lawful, to and for any Free-holder, to arrest and take into custody any gun so fired off, and render the same to one of the next Justices in Boston, in order to its being produced at the time of trial.Item type:Item, The Charters And General Laws Of The Colony And Province Of Massachusetts Bay 343 (1814)(1700)no person or persons whatsoever in any town or garrison, shall during the time of war, or of keeping a military watch in such town or garrison, presume to discharge or shoot off any gun or guns after the sun's setting or before the sun's rising, unless in case of alarm, approach of an enemy, or other necessary defense, on pain that every person, so offending, and being thereof convicted before one or more of his majesty's justices of the peace, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings for each gun so discharged, on moiety thereof to and for the use of the poor of the town where the offence shall be committed, and the other moiety to him or them that shall inform or prosecute for the same...