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.
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Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 2 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 381 (1823)(1676)"whereas by a branch of an act of assembly made in March last, liberty is granted to all persons to carry their armes wheresoever they goe, which liberty hath beene found to be very prejudiciall to the peace and wellfaire of this colony. Bee it therefore further enacted by this present grand assembly, and the authority thereof, and it is hereby enacted, that if any person or persons shall, from and after publication of this act, presume to assemble together in armes to the number of five or upwards without being legally called together in armes the number of five or upwards, they be held deemed and adjudged as riotous and mutinous, and that they be proceeded against and punished accordingly."Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years of 1682 and 1700, Preceded by Duke of Yorke's Laws in Force from the Year 1676 to the Year 1682, at 39 (1676)(1676)Provided that "[e]very Male within this Goverment from Sixteen to Sixty years of age, or not freed by public Allowance, shall if freeholders at their own, if sons or Servants at their Parents and Masters Charge and Cost, be furnished from time to time and so Continue well furnished with Armes and other Suitable provition hereafter mentioned ... Namely a good Serviceable Gun, allowed Sufficient by his Military Officer to be kept in Constant fitness for present Service, with a good sword bandeleers or horne a worme a Scowerer a priming wire Shott Badge and Charger one pound of good powder, four pounds of Pistol bullets or twenty four bullets fitted to the gunne, four fathom of Serviceable Match for match lock gunn four good flints fitted for a fire lock gunn." As for horsemen, their mandatory arms were "Holsters, Pistolls, or Carbine, and a good Sword." Also provided that "[e]very Town shall be provided of a Sufficient ware house and a Safe convenient place thereunto Adjoyning for keeping Powder and Ammunition; under the penalty of ten Pounds and the Constable and Overseers shall provide and maintain for a General Stock to the use of the Town in Case of necessity, one Barrell of good Pouder, English weight one hundred and fifty Pounds of Muskett or Pistell Bullets Thirty Pounds of good Match; which they shall carefully renew from yeare to yeare, or time to time as shall be needful under the Penalty of five pounds, for The want of such proportions of Bullets, Pouder, or Match as beforementioned; And where there are Artillery forts or Batteryes in any Town, The Constable and Overseers shall Mount such Guns, and fitt them with Appurtenances for Service, and the Constable and Overseers are hereby Authorized to Assess Levy or destrain upon the Inhabitants for building providing doing and maintaing the particulars before recited."Item type:Item, The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 31 (William Brigham ed., 1836)(1632)"[E]very freeman or other inhabitant must provide for himselfe and each under him able to beare arms a musket and other serviceable peece with bandeleroes and other apurtanances," plus two pounds of powder and 10 pounds of bullets.Item type:Item, 2 William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 381 (1823)(1676)"whereas by a branch of an act of assembly made in March last, liberty is granted to all persons to carry their armes wheresoever they goe, which liberty hath beene found to be very prejudiciall to the peace and wellfaire of this colony. Bee it therefore further enacted by this present grand assembly, and the authority thereof, and it is hereby enacted, that if any person or persons shall, from and after publication of this act, presume to assemble together in armes to the number of five or upwards without being legally called together in armes the number of five or upwards, they be held deemed and adjudged as riotous and mutinous, and that they be proceeded against and punished accordingly."Item type:Item, Laws and Acts of Her Majesties Colony of Rhode Island, and Providence-Plantations Made from the First Settlement in 1636 to 1705, at 23 (1896)(1673)Established a militia in 1673, consisting of persons from 16 to 60 years old Each militiaman was required to "at all times hereafter have on[e] good gun or muskitt Fitt for Service one pound of good powder & thirty bullits at Least." If a son or servant had no valuable estate of his own, his parents or master would be liable for any fines imposed upon him.Item type:Item, 1 The Colonial Laws of New York from the Year 1664 to the Revolution 49-54 (1896)(1665)Every Male within this Government from Sixteen to Sixty years of age, or not freed by public Allowance, shall if freeholders at their own, if sons or Servants at their Parents and Masters Charge and Cost, be furnished from time to time and so Continue well furnished with Armes and other Suitable provition hereafter mentioned: under the penalty of five Shillings for the least default therein Namely a good Serviceable Gun, allowed Sufficient by his Military Oficer to be kept in Constant fitness for present Service, with a good sword bandeleers or horne or worme a Scowerer a priming wire Shott Badge and Charger one pound of good powder, four pounds of Pistol bullets or twenty four bullets fitted to the gunne, four fathom of Serviceable Match for match lock gunn four good flints fitted for a fire lock gunn. Troopers had to "keepe and maintaine a good Horse Fitted with Sadle, bridle, Holsters, Pistolls or Carbine, and a good Sword. Further, "In defence of himself his wife Father or Mother Children or Servants a man may Lawfully use force to resist any attempt made to that purpose."Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years of 1682 and 1700, Preceded by Duke of Yorke's Laws in Force from the Year 1676 to the Year 1682, at 39 (1676)(1676)Every Male within this Goverment from Sixteen to Sixty years of age, or not freed by public Allowance, shall if freeholders at their own, if sons or Servants at their Parents and Masters Charge and Cost, be furnished from time to time and so Continue well furnished with Armes and other Suitable provition hereafter mentioned . . . Namely a good Serviceable Gun, allowed Sufficient by his Military Officer to be kept in Constant fitness for present Service, with a good sword bandeleers or horne a worme a Scowerer a priming wire Shott Badge and Charger one pound of good powder, four pounds of Pistol bullets or twenty four bullets fitted to the gunne, four fathom of Serviceable Match for match lock gunn four good flints fitted for a fire lock gunn." As for horsemen, their mandatory arms were "Holsters, Pistolls, or Carbine, and a good Sword.Item type:Item, Ordinances for Defence, in Duke of Yorke's Book of Laws 450 (1664)(1671)Required "every person that can bear arms from 16 to 60 years of age, be always provided with a convenient proportion of powder and bullet fit for service, and their mutual defence." This meant "at least one pound of powder and two pounds of bullet."Item type:Item, George H. Ryden, Delaware - The First State in the Union 103-04 (1938)(1671)Required " That every Person that can beare Arms from 16 to 60 years of Age, bee allways provided with a convenient proportion of Powder & Bullett fit for Service, and their mutual Defence."Item type:Item, America's Founding Charters: Primary Documents of Colonial and Revolutionary Era Governance 232 (Jon L. Wakelyn ed. 2006) (Concessions and Agreements, Jan. 11, 1664)(1664)All inhabitants and freemen of Carolina above seventeen years of age and under sixty shall be bound to bear arms and serve as soldiers whenever the grand council shall find it necessary."Item type:Item, 3 Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1636-1667, at 345 (reprint 1965)(1658)Required that captains make "a perfect list" of "all persons able to beare Armes within theyr respective divisions that is of all men betweene 16 and 60 yeares of Age."Item type:Item, 7 Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, October 1678-November 1683, at 53 (1889); see also 1698 Md. Acts 99(1678)Kept the militia ages "between sixteen and sixty yeares of age." Further required that each "appeare and bring with him one good serviceable fixed Gunn and six shoots of Powder." Troopers were required to bring their own horses, and "to find themselves with sword Carbine Pistolls Holsters & Amunition."Item type:Item, The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth 115 (William Brigham ed., 1836)(1658)Required that one quarter of each militia to be armed during Sunday church services. Each militia member required to have a firearm, sword, three charges of powder and bullets. Violators fined two shillies and six pence for each day's neglect.