FRC Jurisdictions Portal

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This top community organizes Firearms Research Center holdings by jurisdiction. It provides separate collections for U.S. states, territories, the District of Columbia, and the federal jurisdiction, spanning the territorial period to the present.

Scope of Content

Legal sources: statutes and session laws, administrative code, attorney general opinions, appellate decisions, and selected municipal ordinances.
Historical materials: newspapers, photographs, maps, catalogs, company records, and oral histories tied to specific places and periods.
Research outputs: FRC reports, datasets, and interpretive materials that contextualize legal and technical developments.

How to Use

Browse: open a jurisdiction collection to view items for that state, territory, DC, or the federal jurisdiction.
Search: use keywords and filter by Jurisdiction, Date Issued, and Category. Record any Exceptions noted for applicability.
Cite: use the item’s identifier and provided links (Original Source and Duke reference) when available.

Metadata & Standards

Items are described using Dublin Core with standardized fields for Jurisdiction, Date Issued, Category, and Exceptions to support precise discovery and comparison.

Questions

For questions about coverage, rights, or submissions, contact the Firearms Research Center (firearmsresearchcenter.org).

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Now showing 1 - 31 of 31

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.
1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 127 (1809)
(1623)
24. That no man go or send abroad without a sufficient partie will armed. 25. That men go not to worke in the ground without The samL their arms (and a centinell upon them). 27. That the commander of every plantation take care that there be sufficient of powder and amunition with powder in the plantation under his command and their pieces fixt and their arms compleate.
1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 127 (1809)
(1624)
"That men go not to worke in the ground without their arms (and a centinell upon them)." And "That the commander of every plantation take care that there be sufficient of powder and amunition within the plantation under his command and their pieces fixt and their arms compleate."
1619: Laws enacted by the First General Assembly of Virginia 70, reprinted in 1 Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 9–14 (H. R. McIlwaine and John P. Kennedy eds., 1905)
(1619)
Prohibited selling or giving "Indians" arms or ammunition. Punishable by hanging.
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."
1 William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 127 (1809)
(1624)
"That men go not to worke in the ground without their arms (and a centinell upon them)." And "That the commander of every plantation take care that there be sufficient of powder and amunition within the plantation under his command and their pieces fixt and their arms compleate."
1 William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 127 (1809)
(1623)
That no man go or send abroad without a sufficient partie will armed.
The First Charter of Virginia (1606)
(1606)
Granted subjects all liberties, franchises, and immunities of free denizens. Also granted subjects the right to take, load, carry, transport armour, weapons, ordinances, muniiton, poweder, shott, victuals,and "all other things" necessary for the use and defense of the people.
Narratives of Early Virginia 273 (Lyon G. Tyler ed., 1625)
(1619)
"All persons whatsoever upon the Sabaoth daye shall frequente divine service and sermons both forenoon and afternoon, and all suche as beare armes shall bring their pieces swordes, poulder and shotte. And every one that shall transgresse this lawe shall forfaicte three shillinges a time to the use of the churche, all lawful and necessary impediments excepted."
1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 127 (1823) (enacted 1623)
(1623)
Ordering that no man go to work or be sent abroad without being sufficiently well-armed.
Proceedings of the Virginia Assembly, 1619, reprinted in Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-25, at 273 (1907) (enacted 1619)
(1619)
Required all persons attending church to bear arms, including swords, poulder, and shotte.
The Charter of New England (1620)
(1620)
Granted subjects all liberties, franchises, and immunities of free denizens. Also granted subjects the right to take, load, carry, transport armour, weapons, ordinances, muniiton, poweder, shott, victuals,and "all other things" necessary for the use and defense of the people.
7 Rich. 2, ch. 13 (1383)
(1383)
Prohibited possession of launcegays. Punished by forfeiture of the weapon.
Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edw. 1, 1296-1302, at 318 (Sept. 15, 1299)
(1299)
Order to all sheriffs of England. Prohibited anyone from "going armed" within the realm without the king's special license.
7 Edw. 2, 170 (1313)
(1313)
Prohibited coming into any parliament with "force" and armour.
12 Rich. 2, ch. 6 (1388)
(1388)
Prohibited possession of a sword or dagger by servants unless accompanied by their master.
4 Jac. I, ch. 1 (1606)
(1606)
Repealed exemption for subjects living with 12 miles of the Scottish border for the keeping of crossbows, handguns, and demy hakes.
Law of King Canute A. D. 1016-1035. Secular Dooms, Cap. 80
(1035)
Allowed individuals to hunt on their own lands. Anyone caught hunting on the King's lands would suffer "the full penalty."
2 Edw. 3, c. 3 (1328)
(1328)
Statute of Northampton; forbade any person to come before the King's justices or ministers "with force and arms," "nor bring no force in affray of the peace, nor to go nor ride armed" in fairs, markets, before the justices and ministers, "nor in no part elsewhere?."
20 Rich. 2, ch. 1 (1396)
(1396)
Prohibited possession of launcegays. Punished by forfeiture of the weapon.
26 Hen. 8, c. 6,§ 4 (1534)
(1534)
Prohibited Welsh residents or lords from bearing any bill, longbow, crossbow, handgun, sword, staff, dagger, halberd, morespike, spear, or any other manner of weapon into sessions, court, town, church, fair, market, other congregation, or on the highways in affray of the King's peace or the King's liege people. Violators punished with imprisonment and fine.
2 Stat. at Large, from the Fifteenth Year of King Edward III to the Thirteenth Year of King Hen. IV, inclusive, at 253 (Danby Pickering ed., 1762)
(1400)
Cap. XXIX-Certain Restraints Laid on Wholly Born Welshmen. Passed 1400 (anno secundo Henrici IV): Prohibited Welshmen from bearing any armour with cities, boroughs, or merchant towns. Violators forfeit said armour and imprisoned until a fine is paid on their behalf.
33 Hen. 8, ch. 6 (1541)
(1541)
1, 2, 18: Prohibited possession of any crossbow, handgun, hagbutt, or demy hake. Exempted subjects living within 12 miles of the Scottish border. Punishable by forfeiture or payment of 10 pounds.
Statutory Crime of Affray, 25 Edw. 3, stat. 5, c. 2,§ 13 (1350)
(1350)
Prohibited riding armed against another with the intent to flay him, rob him, or take him, or retain him until fine or ransom is paid. Violators guilty of felony or trespass, but not treason.
Royal Proclamation as to the Wearing of arms in the City, and at Westminster; and as to Playing at games in the Palace of Westminster, in Memorials of London and London Life, and life in the XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth Centuries 268 (H.T. Riley ed., 1868)
(1351)
Prohibited being "armed with haketons, with [armor] plates, with swords, and with long daggers, and with other manner of arms;" because "by reason whereof the business of our Lord the King and of his realm has both been impeded, and the great people and others who have come there, by command of the King, have been alarmed thereat..."
A Proclamation Against Steelets, Pocket Daggers, Pocket Dagges and Pistols (R. Barker printer, 1616).
(1616)
Banned the wear, carry, manufacturer, or sale of steelets, pocket daggers, pocket daggs, & pistols.
27 Henry II, art. 3 (1181).
(1181)
Required all freemen to be armed with a doublet of mail, a head-piece of iron, and a lance. Let all freemen holding chattels to the value of 16 marks to have a hauberk, helmet, a shield, and lance.
13 Edw. 1, c. 102
(1285)
Restricted the carrying of swords, bucklers, and other arms after curfew in the City of London.
4 Hen 4, c. 29 (1403)
(1403)
Prohibited the use of armor or arms in sensitive places by people not allowed by the King.
13 Edward 1, c. 6 (1285), in 1 Statutes of the Realm 97-98 (1800).
(1285)
Required all males aged fifteen to sixty in certain income groups to have at least particular quantities of arms and armor.
The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer, circa 1080, Book 1,§ 12
(1080)
Prohibited hunting in the forests of the king.

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