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 - 22 of 22

Laws, Statutes, Ordinances, and Constitutions 11 (John Holt ed., 1763)
(1763)
Prohibited the discharge of firearms within the city of New York.
Laws, Statutes, Ordinances, and Constitutions 39-40 (John Holt ed., 1763)
(1763)
Limits gunpowder stored within New York City, requires excess powder to be kept in licensed public magazines, regulates storage, transport, fees, and inspections, and imposes fines for violations to reduce fire and explosion risks.
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.
7 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 534, 537 (1823)
(1762)
Ensured that "every person so exempted shall always keep in his house or place of abode such arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, as are by the [1757] act required to be kept by the militia."
1760 N.C. Sess. Laws 518
(1760)
"[T]hat all Freemen and Servants within this Province, between the Age of Sixteen and Sixty ... there be mustered, trained, and exercised in Arms, and be provided with a well-fixed Gun, shall forfeit and Pay, if at a private Muster, Six Shillings, if at a general Muster Ten Shillings; and shall also be provided with a Cartouch-Box, a Sword, Cutlass or Hanger, and have at least Nine charges of Powder (made into Cartridges) and sizeable Bullets or Swan Shot, and Three spare-flints, a Worm, a Picker..."
1760 N.C. Sess. Laws 521
(1760)
Every trooper (horseman) needed "Holsters, Housing, Breast-Plate and Crupper, a Case of good Pistols, a good Broad Sword, Twelve Charges of Powder, Twelve sizeable Bullets, a Pair of Shoe-Boots, with suitable Spurs, and a Carbine well fixed, with a good Belt, Swivel and Bucket."
1762 R.I. Pub. Laws 132
(1762)
An Act of June 1762: That every person who shall import gunpowder into the town of Newport aforesaid shall cause the same to be conveyed immediately to the powder house at the North Easterly part of town, before the vessel in which the said Powder shall be imported, be brought to any Wharf; upon the penalty of paying into the Town-Treasury of the said Town of Newport, a Fine of Ten Shillings Lawful Money, for every cask which shall not be conveyed to the Powder House as aforesaid
A Digest of the Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia, at 87, Firing of Guns, &c., Act of April 9, 1760, § 7. (1828)
(1760)
No person whatsoever shall presume to shoot at, or kill with a fire arm, any pigeon, dove, partridge, or other fowl, in the open streets of the city of Philadelphia, or in the gardens, orchards and inclosures, adjoining upon and belonging to any of the dwelling-houses within the limits of the said city, or suburbs thereof, or any of the boroughs or towns within this province,
1763 Pa. Laws 306, An Act to prohibit the Selling of Guns, Gun-Powder, or other Warlike Stores, to the Indians, § 1
(1763)
Prohibited the giving, selling, bartering guns, ammunition, or warlike equipment to "any Indian," punishable by fine or imprisonment.
Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, at 270, Hunting (1818)
(1760)
§That no person whatsoever shall presume to shoot at or kill with a firearm any pigeon, dove, partridge, or other fowl in the open streets of the city of Philadelphia, or in the gardens, orchards and enclosures adjoining upon and belonging to any of the dwelling houses within the limits of the said city, upon the forfeiture of five shillings for every such offense.
1756-1776 N.C. Sess. Laws 168
(1768)
An Act To Amend An Act Entitled, "An Additional Act To An Act, Entitled, An Act To Prevent Killing Deer At Unseasonable Times, And For Putting A Stop To Many Abuses Committed By White Persons Under Pretense Of Hunting, ch. 13: Whereas by the before recited act, persons who have no settled habitation, or not tending five thousand corn hills, are prohibited from hunting, under the penalty of five pounds, and forfeiture of his gun[.]
John. A Haywood, Manual of the Laws of North-Carolina 199-200 (1808)
(1768)
Hunting, § 2: From and after the First day of January next, no person whatever (masters excepted) not having a freehold of one hundred acres of land within this province, or tending ten thousand corn hills, at least five feet distance each, shall hunt or kill deer, under the penalty of ten pounds proclamation money for every offence;
Laws, Statutes, Ordinances, and Constitutions 20 (John Holt ed., 1763)
(1763)
§ XVI: And whereas the present store-keeper of the magazine with the consent of the corporation, for the more safe conveying of gun-powder to and from the said magazine, hath provided leather bags, or covers, in order to cover all casks of gun powder to and form the said magazine, be it ordained by the authority aforesaid that from and after the publication hereof, no cart-man, or other person whatsoever, do presume to carry any gun powder to or from the said Magazine, or through any part of this city, but what shall be covered with leather bags as aforesaid, under the penalty of forty shillings, for every offense; the one half thereof to the informer, and the other half to the church wardens of this city for the time being, for the use of the poor thereof.
Laws, Statutes, Ordinances, and Constitutions 18-19 (John Holt ed., 1763)
(1763)
Ordinances of the City of New York, § XII: For every load of gunpowder, to or from the powder-house, not exceeding four casks, two shillings and six pence. If less than four casks eighteen pence. If more than four casks three shillings.]
Temporary Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire in New England 9-10 (1761)
(1761)
An Act for Preventing and Suppressing Riots, Routs, and Other Unlawful Assemblies: Prohibited gathering in numbers of twelve or more and being armed with clubs and other weapons, or any group numbering thirty or more, from unlawfully, riotously, or tumultuously assembling
The Massachusetts Resolves (Oct. 29, 1765), reprinted in Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766, at 56 (E. Morgan ed. 1959)
(1765)
Resolved that Massachusetts subjects have the same rights as are present and essential for natural born subjects.
A Collection of Original Papers Relative to The History of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay 492 (1769)
(1769)
Prohibited the selling or bartering guns, ammunition, and swords to "any Indian," punishable by fine.
58 Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly (1762-63)
(1763)
An Act for Prohibiting All Trade with the Indians, for the Time Therein Mentioned, ch. 4, § 3: Prohibited the selling and giving to "any Indian Woman" any gunpowder or to "any Indian Man" more than one pound of gunpowder, punishable by fine.
William Blackstone, 1 Commentaries on the Laws of England 104 (1847)
(1765)
Discussed "the fifth and last auxiliary right", that Englishmen shall have arms for their defence. "Suitable to their condition and degree, and such as are allowed by law.
2 Backgrounds of Selective Service, Part 4: Georgia Enactments 60-61 (1947)
(1765)
Required anyone obliged to bear arms under militia service to refuse to fire his gun not exceeding six times each muster day, or shall refuse to do his duty, obey the lawful commands of his officer, or being drunk at the time of muster. Violators fined up to ten shillings Sterling.
1800 Ga. Laws 153-54
(1768)
Prohibited "any slave" from possessing firearms, ammunition, or weapons without a ticket from their master or a white person over the age of sixteen present and any time after sunset on Saturday but before sunrise Monday morning.
19 The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia 76-78 (1911)
(1768)
"Establishing and Regulating Patrols" for "Searching and examining any Negroe house for Offensive Weapons Fire Arms and Ammunition." While the statute regulating possession of firearms referred only to slaves, the title of the statute suggests that it applied to any black person, slave or free. The law prohibited slaves possessing or carrying "Fire Arms or any Offensive Weapon whatsoever" except with a permit "from his Master Mistress or Overseer to Hunt and Kill Game Cattle or Mischievous Birds or Birds of Prey." Other provisions allowed a slave to possess a gun while in the company of a white person 16 years or older, or while actually protecting crops from birds. Under no conditions was a slave allowed to carry "any Gun Cutlass Pistol or other Offensive Weapon" from Saturday sunset until sunrise Monday morning

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