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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Search Results
Item type:Item, Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Baltimore 277-83 (1801)(1801)Regulated gunpowder storage and transport to reduce fire and explosion risks. It limited private possession, required excess powder to be stored in a public magazine, imposed transport and shipping restrictions, authorized searches for violations, established a superintendent to manage the magazine, and imposed penalties for noncompliance.Item type:Item, Oliver H. Prince, Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia 407, 409 (1822)(1806)Required "All male white inhabitants ... from the age of eighteen to forty-five years ... to appear and work upon the several roads, creeks, causeways, water- passages, and bridges" and to "carry with him one good and sufficient gun or pair of pistols, and at least nine cartridges to fit the same, or twelve loads of powder and ball, or buck shot."Item type:Item, John G. Aikin, A Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama 391–92 (1833)(1805)Prohibited any "slave" from keeping or carrying any gun or ammunition without permission from a justice of the peace.Item type:Item, 1 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 540 (1834)(1809)Authorized the arrest of individuals who willfully and maliciously stabbed, shot, or injured another.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1267 (1834)(1801)Provided a six month to six year prison sentence for murder.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1281 (1834)(1802)§ 13 provided one- to five-year prison sentence for wounding another nonfatally with a deadly weapon. § 15 provided one- to two-year prison sentence for assault and attempted robbery.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1284 (1834)(1804)Provided one- to five-year prison sentence for wounding another nonfatally with a deadly weapon.Item type:Item, An Ordinance to Prevent Shooting With Guns, or Other Fire-Arms, Georgetown Ordinances (1811)(1801)"[I]t shall not be lawful for any person to shoot with any gun, or other fire-arm, within any of the inhabited parts of Georgetown or its additions; and if any person shall, contrary to this ordinance, shoot any gun or other fire-arm, such person shall forfeit and pay five dollars for every offence, to be recovered as other fines are now by law recoverable, the one half to the use of the Corporation, and the other half to the use of the informer."Item type:Item, Laws of the Town of Alexandria § 3 (1800)(1800)To prevent accidents... Sec. 3, No person to discharge any fire arms: "Sec. III. No person shall discharge any Musket, Fowling-piece, Pistol, or other Fire Arms, within the limits of the corporation, unless in defence of his or her person or proprety, under the penalty of One Dollar for each offence."Item type:Item, 1805 Va. Acts 51(1805)An Act Concerning Free Negroes and Mulatoes: That no free negro or mulato shall be suffered to keep or carry any firelock of any kind? without first obtaining a license from the court?Item type:Item, 1806 Va. Acts 51(1806)Ch. 94: Required every "free negro or mulatto" to first obtain a license before carrying or keeping "any fire-lock of any kind, any military weapon, or any powder or lead."Item type:Item, 1801 Tenn. Pub. Acts 260-261(1801)Ch. 22, § 6: Prohibited any person to ride or go armed to the terror of the people, or privately carry any dirk, large knife, pistol, or any other dangerous weapon. If the violator did not post a surety, the violation would be punished as. "breach of the peace or riot at common law."Item type:Item, Ordinances of the City Council of Charleston 153 (1802)(1802)No. 145, § 5: That it shall and may be lawful for the fire-masters to enter into the houses, out-houses, stables and yards of every owner or tenant of the same in Charleston, wherever they shall see occasion and enquire, search, and examine if any quantities of gun-powder ,hay, straw, fodder, pitch, tar, rosin, turpentine, hemp, oil, tallow, or other combustible matter, are lodged in any such place within the said city, which may be in danger of taking fire; and if the said fire-masters shall find there is apparent danger that fire may be communicated by such combustibles, they shall admonish the owner or the tenant of such house or houses, to remove the sameItem type:Item, Ordinances of the City Council of Charleston 114 (1802)(1802)No. 117, § 9: And be it further ordained by the authority aforesaid, That no person or persons, shall fire any squibs, crackers, or other fireworks, except at times of public rejoicing, and at such places as the intendant for the time being may permit, by license under his hand; nor burn any chips, shavings, or other combustible matters, in any of the streets, lanes, wharves, alleys, or open or enclosed lots of the city, nor fire any gun, pistol, or fire arms, within the limits of the city, except on occasion of some military parade, and then by the order of some officer having the command, under the penalty of ten dollars, for every such offense; nor shall any person or persons, raise or fly any paper or other kite, within the said city, under the said penalty of ten dollars.]Item type:Item, Ohio Const. of 1802, art. VIII, §20(1802)Declared the People have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state. That Standing armies are dangeorus in time of peace, and shall not be kept up.Item type:Item, Edward Livingston, Laws and Ordinances, Ordained and Established by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of New York 83-84 (1803)(1803)Ch 23, § 1: That no person shall hereafter be permitted to fire or discharge any gun, pistol, fowling piece, or fire-arm, at any place on the island of New York, within the distance of four miles from the City Hall, under the penalty of five dollars upon each offender, to be recovered with costs.Item type:Item, 1807 Miss. Terr. Laws 593(1807)Prohibition for people to purchase and trade guns and hunting articles with "any Indian."Item type:Item, 1804 Miss. Terr. Laws 90-91(1804)An Act Respecting Slaves, § 4: Prohibited any "Slave" from keeping or carrying any gun, powder, shot, club, weapon, or ammunition.Item type:Item, 1806 Mass. Acts 121-22(1806)An Act Providing for the Punishment of the Crimes of Burglary, and Other Breaking and Entering of Buildings: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That if any person, with intent to kill, rob, steal, commit a rape, or to do or perpetrate any other felony, shall in the night time break and enter, or having, with such felonious intent, entered, shall in the night time break a dwelling house, any person then being lawfully therein, and such offender being, at the time of such breaking or entering, armed with a dangerous weapon, or arming himself or herself, in such house, with a dangerous weapon, or committing an actual assault upon any person lawfully being in such house; every such offender, and any person present, aiding, assisting or consenting in such burglary, or accessary thereto before the fact, by counselling, hiring, or procuring such burglary to be committed, who shall be duly convicted thereof in the Supreme Judicial Court, shall suffer the punishment of death.Item type:Item, 1804 Mass. Acts. 111(1805)Ch. 81, An Act to Provide for the Proof of Fire Arms Manufactured Within this Commonwealth: Requiring appointment of two per county for the inspection of barrels. Barrels required inspection under varying charges of powder and at varying degrees of elevation. Proven barrels are stamped post-inspection. Failed barrels fined thirty cents. Failed pistols fined twenty-five cents. Unproven barrels & pistols fined at ten dollars.Item type:Item, 1801 Mass. Acts 507-08(1801)An Act to Provide for the Storing and Safe Keeping of Gun Powder in the Town of Boston, and to Prevent Damage from the Same, ch. XX § 1: §1... That all Gun Powder imported and landed at the port of Boston, shall be brought to and lodged in the Powder House or Magazine in said town, and not elsewhere, on pain of confiscation of all Powder put or kept in any other house or place...Item type:Item, 1811 Md. Laws 465(1809)§ 4: Prohibited carrying any pistol, hanger, cutlass, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon with intent to feloniously assault any person, or to be found in any dwelling house, warehouse, stable, or outhouse, garden, or area of a house with intent to steal goods or chattels.Item type:Item, 1806 Md. Laws 44(1806)An Act to Restrain the Evil Practices Arising From Negroes Keeping Dogs, and to Prohibit Them From Carrying Guns or Offensive Weapons, ch. 81: Prohibited "any negro or mulatto" from keeping a dog or gun, except any "free negro or mulatto" who has a license for such purpose.Item type:Item, 1807 Ky. Acts 1(1807)An Act to Amend an act titled "An Act Concerning the Militia," ch. 1§ 3: Imposed a fine of up to fifty cents on each non commissioned officer and private appearing on parade without a gun after being duly notified.Item type:Item, Police Code, or Collection of the Ordinances of Police Made by the City Council of New-Orleans 114-116 (1808)(1808)Captains of vessels are obliged, within twenty four hours from their arrival in this port, to deposit the gun-powder they may have on board, in the powder-magazine situate on the right bank of the river, the owner paying to the keeper of the magazine a suitable compensation. All citizens are strictly forbidden to keep in their houses, or elsewhere within the city or suburbs, more than one hundred pounds of gun-powder at a time, and in case of fire, such as live near the place where it is, if they have powder in their houses, shall be obliged to throw into their wells the barrels containing the same.Item type:Item, 1804 Ind. Acts 108,§ 4(1804)Prohibited a "slave or mulatto" from carrying or possessing a gun, powder, shot, club or other weapon and ammunition. (This is an improperly cited Louisiana Territory law, not a law of the territory of Indiana.)Item type:Item, Title XIV. Of Aleatory Contracts (Art. 2982-2984) Book III, art. 2983, (La. 1940) (enacted 1808)(1808)The law grants no action for the payment of what has been won at gaming or by a bet, except for games tending to promote skill in the use of arms, such as the exercise of the gun, foot, horse and chariot racing."Item type:Item, 1 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 578-79 (1834)(1800)Tit. 64,§ 6: That if any person within this Commonwealth, shall challenge, by word or writing, the person of another to fight at sword, pistol, or other deadly weapon, such person, (a) so challenging, shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, being thereof lawfully convicted, in any court of record within the Commonwealth, by the testimony of one or more witnesses, or by the confession of the party offending, the sum of five hundred dollars, or shall suffer twelve months' imprisonment, without bail or mainprize.Item type:Item, An Act prescribing the rules and conduct to be observed with respect to Negroes and other Slaves of this territory, in A General Digest of the Acts of the Legislature of Louisiana, Passed from the Year 1804 to 1827, at 103-04 (1828)(1806)19: No slave shall, by day or by night, carry any visible or hidden arms, not even with a permission for so doing, and in case any person or persons shall find any slave or slaves, using or carrying such fire arms, or any offensive weapons of any other kind, contrary to the true meaning of this act, he, she or they, lawfully, may seize and carry away such fire arms, or other offensive weaponsItem type:Item, 1806 Ky. Acts 122(1806)An Act to Amend the Several Acts for the Better Regulation of the Town of Lexington,§ 3: Be it further enacted, That said trustees are herby authorised [sic] to make such regulations as they may deem necessary and proper, relative to the keeping of gun-powder in the said town of Lexington, and if necessary may prohibit any inhabitants of said town, from keeping in the settled parts thereof, any quantity of gun powder which might in case of fire be dangerousItem type:Item, By-Laws & Ordinances for the Police of the Town of Lexington 36 (1809)(1809)4: "Be it further ordained, That no person except watchmen in the discharge of their duty, shall fire a gun or pistol within the limits of the in lots of this town, unless in the defence of life or property, under the penalty of three dollars for every such offence.Item type:Item, 1804 La. Acts 284(1804)An Act for Regulating and Governing the Militia of the Territory of New Orleans,§ 13: each non-commissioned officer and private of the infantry, shall constantly keep himself provided with good musket or guns, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints and a knapsack, a cartridge box or pouch, with box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridgesItem type:Item, Treaty Between the United States of America and the French Republic, Art. III, Apr. 30, 1803, 8 Stat. 202, T. S. No. 86(1803)Granted the inhabitants of the ceded territory all rights, advantages, and immunities of a full US citizen.Item type:Item, 1804 Ind. Acts 108(1804)A Law Entitled a Law Respecting Slaves, § 4: Prohibited a "slave or mulatto" from carrying or possessing a gun, powder, shot, club or other weapon and ammunition.