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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For questions about coverage, rights, or submissions, contact the Firearms Research Center (firearmsresearchcenter.org).
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Item type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 226 (1809)(1639)"ALL persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council"Item type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 292 (1809)(1645)"all negro men and women, and all other men from the age of 16 to 60" could be drafted to carry on war against the IndiansItem type:Item, 9 Stat. at Large of South Carolina: Containing the Acts Relating to Roads, Bridges and Ferries, With an Appendix, Containing the Militia Acts Prior to 1794, at 358 (David J. McCord ed., 1841)(1792)"[A]ll free negroes and Indians, (nations of Indians in amity with the State excepted,) Moors, mulattoes and mestizoes, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, shall be obliged to serve in the said militia.Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1134 (1797)(1793)Included "each and every free able bodied white male citizen of this state, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years." However, "all young men under the age of twenty-one years, and all servants purchased bona fide, and for a valuable consideration, [were] exempted from furnishing the necessary arms, ammunition and accoutrements ... and [were] exempted from militia duties and fines during such minority or servitude, except in cases of rebellion, or an actual or threatened invasion."Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, Charter to William Penn, And Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, Passed Between the Years 1682 and 1700, at 32 (1879)(1676)Prohibited the giving, selling, or bartering guns, ammunition, armour, or boats and the repair of guns to "any Indian," punishable by fine.Item type:Item, 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."Item type:Item, 18 The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia 117-18 (1910)(1755)Requirement that "any Slave" have a ticket to use a firearm that must be renewed every month, subject to seizure.Item type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 292 (1809)(1645)"all negro men and women, and all other men from the age of 16 to 60" could be drafted to carry on war against the IndiansItem type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 226 (1809)(1639)"ALL persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council"Item type:Item, 2 Del. Laws 1134 (1797)(1793)Included " each and every free able bodied white male citizen of this state, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years." However, " all young men under the age of twenty-one years, and all servants purchased bona fide, and for a valuable consideration, [were] exempted from furnishing the necessary arms, ammunition and accoutrements . . . and [were] exempted from militia duties and fines during such minority or servitude, except in cases of rebellion, or an actual or threatened invasion."Item type:Item, 1642 Va. Acts 255(1642)Act 23: Be it also enacted and confirmed, that what person or persons soever shall sell or barter with any Indian or Indians for piece, powder and shot and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall forfeit his whole estateItem type:Item, 1633 Va. Acts 219(1633)Acts Made by the Grand Assembly, Holden At James City, August 21st, 1633, An Act That No Arms or Ammunition Be Sold To The Indians, Act X: It is ordered and appointed, That if any person or persons shall sell or barter any guns, powder, shot, or any arms or ammunition unto any Indian or Indians within this territory, the said person or persons shall forfeit to public uses all the goods and chattels that he or they then have to their own use, and shall also suffer imprisonment during life, the one half of which forfeiture shall be to him or them that shall inform and the other half to public uses.Item type:Item, 1639 Va. Acts 224(1639)Act 17: An act in 1637, which makes it a felony to barter with the Indians repealed, and enacted that for trading with them for arms and ammunition shall be felony, and for other commodities imprisonment at discretion of the Governor and Council.Item type:Item, 1639 Va. Acts 226, Act 10(1639)All persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council.Item type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 481 (1823) (enacted 1680)(1680)An act for preventing Negroes Insurrections: "No negro, or enacted by the kings most excellent majestie by and with other slave to the consent of the generall assembly, and it is hereby carry arms, of enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after fensive: the publication of this law, it shall not be lawfull for any negroe or other slave to carry or arme himselfe with any club, staffe, gunn, sword or any other weapon of defence or offence..."Item type:Item, 1803 Va. Acts 187(1792)Ch. 103, §§ 8-9: Prohibited any "negro or mulatto" from possessing or carrying a gun, powder, shot, club, or other weapon.Item type:Item, 4 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 131 (1823)(1723)Ch. 4, § 14: "And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That no negro, mulatto,or Indian whatsoewver; (except as is hereafter excepted,) shall hereafter presume to keep, or carry any gun, powder, shot, any club, or other weapon whatsoever, offensive or defensive; but that every gun, and all powder and shot,whipped. and every such club or weapon. as aforesaid, found or taken in the hands, custody, or possession of any such negro, mulatto, or Indian, shall be taken away..."Item type:Item, 1 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 441 (1823) (enacted 1632)(1657)Prohibited the giving or selling piece, powder, or shot to "any Indian," subject to imprisonment and seizure of property.Item type:Item, 4 Stat. at Large of S.C. 34 (1838)(1756)An Act for Disposing of the Acadians Now in Charleston, § 10: Prohibited "Acadians" from using a firearm or other offensive weapon and allowed people to seize such weapons.Item type:Item, 1740 S.C. Acts 11–12(1740)An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and other Slaves in this Province, § 23: Prohibited any "negro or slave" from possessing or using firearms or weapons without a ticket or license from their master, punishable by seizure of weapons.Item type:Item, 2 Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England 561 (1857)(1677)Required seizure of guns and ammunition from "any Indian."Item type:Item, Acts and Orders of 1647, in Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History 39 (Donald S. Lutz ed., 1998)(1647)Prohibited the giving, selling, repairing guns, ammunition, or weapons to or for "the Indians."Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, 2 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 ch. 61 sec. 5 at 79 (1896)(1700)"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any negro shall presume to carry any guns, swords, pistols, fowling-pieces, clubs or other arms or weapons whatsoever, without his master's special license for the same, and be convicted thereof before a magistrate, he shall be whipped with twenty-one lashes on his bare back." Passed November 27, 1700; repealed by the Queen in Council, February 7, 1705-6.Item type:Item, 2 Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801 ch. 144 sec. 5 at 235-236 (1896)(1705)"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any negro shall presume to carry any guns, swords, pistols, fowling-pieces, clubs or other arms or weapons whatsoever, without his master's special license for the same, and be convicted thereof before a magistrate, he shall be whipped with twenty-one lashes on his bare back." Passed January 12, 1705-6. Allowed to become a law by lapse of time in accordance with the proprietary charter, having been considered bythe Queen in Council, October 24, 1709, and not acted upon.Item type:Item, 1715-55 N.C. Sess. Laws 36(1729)An Additional Act to an Act for Appointing Toll-Books, and for Preventing People from Driving Horses, Cattle, or Hogs to Other Persons' Lands, ch. 5, § 7: Prohibited "slaves" to hunt on any person's land besides their master's with any weapon.Item type:Item, John Haywood, A Manual of the Laws of North-Carolina 234-35 (1814)(1784)Hunting, § 3: If any person or persons shall be discovered hunting in the woods with a gun, in the night time, by fire light, such person or persons so offending shall, upon conviction, by indictment or presentment in any court of record in this state, be fined by such court 20 current money, to be applied to the use of the county wherein the offence was committed until all costs accruing upon the presentment be paid.Item type:Item, 2 The Colonial Laws of New York from the Year 1664 to the Revolution 687 (1894)(1664)Prohibited "any slave" from possessing or using any gun, pistol, sword, club, or any other kind of dangerous weapon not in the presence of their master.Item type:Item, E.B. O'Callaghan, Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674, at 234-35 (1868); N.Y. Col. MSS, VIII 56(1656)Prohibited admission of "any Indians" in possession of a gun or other weapon into Fort Amsterdam or in the Flatland.Item type:Item, E.B. O'Callaghan, Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674, at 47 (1868); N.Y. Col. MSS, IV. 216(1645)Prohibited the selling and bartering of firearms and ammunition with "the Indians."Item type:Item, E.B. O'Callaghan, Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674, at 128 (1868); N.Y. Col. MSS, XI. 53, 54(1652)Prohibited sale of powder, lead, and guns. The exact text is lost but the intention is to restrict sale of arms, especially ammunition, "to the Indians."Item type:Item, E.B. O'Callaghan, Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674, at 101 (1868); N.Y. Col. MSS, IV. 411(1648)Renewed the 1645 prohibition of trade of "any munitions of War with the Indians." Punishable by death.Item type:Item, The Colonial Laws of New York from the Year 1664 to the Revolution 40-41 (1894)(1680)Prohibited the giving or selling to, or bartering with, "any Indian," or repairing guns and ammunition of "any Indian," punishable by fine.Item type:Item, 1752 N.Y. Laws 199(1730)Ch. 560, § 20: Prohibited slaves from having or using any gun, pistol, sword, club, or any other kind of weapon. Violators punished by up to twenty lashes.Item type:Item, Acts of Assembly, Passed in the Province of New York, From 1691, to 1718, at 144 (1719)(1712)"An Act for Preventing, Suppressing, and Punishing the Conspiracy and Insurrection of Negroes, and other Slaves": Prohibition on "any Negro, Indian, Mulatto Slave" from having or using any gun or pistol outside of their master's presence.Item type:Item, 1799 Miss. Terr. Laws 113(1799)A Law for The Regulation of Slaves: Prohibited any "Negro or mulatto" from carrying gun, powder, shot, club, or other weapon. Also prohibits a "negro or mulatto" from possessing a gun, weapon, or ammunition.Item type:Item, Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay 132-133 (1814)(1633)Ch. 58, § 2 (1633): Prohibited the possession, trade, sale, and repair of guns, ammunition, armor, and weapons generally for "any Indian" enforced by fine.Item type:Item, 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.Item type:Item, Records of The Colony of New Plymouth in New England 173 (1856)(1676)Prohibited the selling, bartering, and giving of arms or ammunition to "any Indian," punishable by death.