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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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."
Revised Ordinances of the City of Woburn 91 (1898)
(1898)
§§ 2-4: No person shall sell any gunpowder within the city, without such license. Every license shall be in force one year from the date thereof; provided, that any license may be rescinded by the City Council, at their discretion.§
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
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 visitor
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.
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 Haverhill 157 (1897)
(1896)
Ch. 42, §§ 1-4: No person shall sell to any child under the age of sixteen years, without the written consent of the parent or guardian of such child, any toy-pistol or toy-cannon or any other article in which explosive compounds of any kind are used or of which such compounds form a part. Sect. 2. No person shall have, use, explode, fire off or discharge in any public street, place, lane, alley,, way, or on any common, park or public ground whatever within the city limits, 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. Sect. 3. Whoever violates any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. Sect. 4 . In every license granted to keep or sell gun-powder or fireworks within the City of Haverhill, the above section shall be inserted."
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 fireworks
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.
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.
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-works
Municipal Register of the City of Haverhill 156 (1897)
(1896)
ch. 41, §§ 1-3: The Board of Aldermen may grant a license to any suitable person to keep a shooting-gallery under such conditions and restrictions as it may deem proper, and may revoke the same at pleasure. Sect. 2. No person shall keep or suffer to be kept a shooting-gallery in a house, building, yard, or dependency thereof, by him actually occupied or owned, without such a license. Sect. 3. Any constable or member of the police force shall at all times have the right to enter upon premises occupied as a shooting-gallery for the purpose of inspection, and no person shall hinder or obstruct the entrance of such officer."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1927 Mass. Acts 413-16
(1927)
An Act Relative to Machine Guns and Other Firearms, ch. 326, §§ 1-2 (amending §§ 121, 123): Prohibited selling, renting, or leasing a pistol, revolver, or machine gun to a person without a license to possess the same.
1926 Mass. Acts 256
(1926)
An Act Prohibiting the Sale and Use of Silencers for Firearms: Whoever sells or keeps for sale, or offers, or gives or disposes of, or uses, any instrument, attachment, weapon or appliance for causing the firing of any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm to be silent or intended to lessen or muffle the noise of the firing or any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years in the state prison or for not more than two and one half years in a jail or house of correction.
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.
1922 Mass. Acts 563
(1922)
Ch. 485, An Act Relative to the Sale and Carrying of Firearms, ch. 485, § 8 (amending § 130): Prohibited the sale or furnishing of firearms, air guns, or dangerous weapons to minors under age 15 or noncitizens without a permit to carry firearms; violators subject to fine. Law does not apply to instructors furnishing military weapons to pupils for instruction or drill.
1910 Mass. Acts 552
(1910)
An Act to Prohibit the Sale of Certain Pistols and Explosives and to Authorize the Making of Regulations Relative to Fireworks and Firecrackers, ch. 565, § 1: It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or keep for sale any blank cartridge, toy pistol, toy gun or toy cannon that can be used to fire a blank cartridge; or to sell or keep for sale, or to fire, explode or cause to explode any blank cartridge or bomb; or to sell or keep for sale, or to set off, explode or cause to explode any fireworks containing any pieric acid or pirates, or any firecracker exceeding two inches in length and three eights of an inch in diameter or of a greater explosive power than a firecracker of such size containing black gunpowder only . . .
1919 Mass. Acts 139
(1919)
An Act Relative to the Issuance of Search Warrants for the Seizure of Firearms, Weapons and Ammunition Kept for Unlawful Purposes, ch. 179, §§ 1-2: A court or justice authorized to issue warrants in criminal cases may, upon complaint under oath that the complainant believes that an unreasonable number of rifles, shot guns, pistols, revolvers or other dangerous weapons, or that an unnecessary quantity of ammunition, is kept or concealed for any unlawful purpose in a particular house or place, if satisfied that there is a reasonable cause for such belief, issue a warrant to search such property. § 2. If the court or justice finds that such property is kept for an unlawful purpose, it shall be forfeited and disposed of as the court or justice may by order direct.
1893 Mass. Acts 1049-50
(1893)
Ch. 367-An Act Concerning the Volunteer Militia, § 124: A law that unofficial armed associations are prohibited (1893): No body of men whatsoever, other than the regularly organized corps of the militia, the troops of the United States, the ancient and honorable artillery company, the veteran artillery association of Newburyport, the veteran cadet association of Salem, the veteran association of the independent corps of cadets of Boston, the Salem light infantry veteran association, the veteran artillery association of Amesbury and Salisbury, and the Boston light infantry association, shall associate themselves together at any time as a company or organization, for drill or parade with firearms, or maintain an armory in any city or town of this Commonwealth; nor shall any city or town raise or appropriate any money toward arming, equipping, uniforming or in any way supporting, sustaining or providing drill rooms or armories for any such body of men
1904 Mass. Acts 310-11
(1904)
An Act to Authorize the Fire Marshal's Department of the District Police to Make Regulations Relative to Explosives and Inflammable Fluids, ch. 370, §§ 1-2: To regulate the keeping, storage, use, manufacture or sale of gunpowder, dynamite or other explosives and inflammable fluids, shall hereafter be exercised by the fire marshal's department of the district police. § 2. The fire marshal's department of the district police may make regulations for the keeping, storage, use, manufacture or sale of gunpowder,
1900 Mass. Acts 150
(1900)
An Act to Regulate the Shooting of Black Duck, Geese, Brant and Other Aquatic Birds in Plymouth Harbor or Bay, ch. 209, § 1: Whoever within the limits of Plymouth harbor or bay, . . . shoots at or kills or pursues a black duck, goose, brant or other aquatic bird, by the use of any sneak boat, raft, floating box or device of like description, not including what is known as an ordinary dory or row boat, or by the use of any pivot gun or swivel gun, or any other firearm not usually held at and discharged from the shoulder, shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars.
1909 Mass. Acts 148
(1909)
An Act to Prohibit the Sale of Air Guns to Certain Minors § 92: Whoever sells or furnishes to a minor under the age of fifteen years any firearms, air guns or other dangerous weapon shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offence; but instructors and teachers may furnish military weapons to pupils for instruction and drill.
1906 Mass. Acts 150
(1906)
Ch. 172, An Act to Regulate by License the Carrying of Concealed Weapons § 2: Whoever, except as provided by the laws of this Commonwealth, carries on his person a loaded pistol or revolver, without authority or permission as provided in section one of this act, or whoever carries any stiletto, dagger, dirk-knife, slung-shot or metallic knuckles, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
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.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts

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