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, 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, 1827 N.H. Laws 231-32(1827)Required local tax collectors to collect assessed taxes, and provide advance notice before seizing property for nonpayment, and authorized distraint and public auction of a delinquent taxpayer’s goods after specified notice periods and procedures if taxes remain unpaid.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 1289-90 (1834)(1813)Prohibited the concealed carry of any pocket pistol, dirk, knife, or sword cane, unless traveling.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1167 (1834)(1815)Required all free men to bear arms for the common defense, but conscientious objectors were ordered to pay a sum equal to the value of the foregone personal services.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, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1301 (1834)(1828)Criminalized the nonfatal wounding of another with a deadly weapon in a sudden affray or heat of passion.Item type:Item, 1 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 148–49 (1834)(1814)Authorized the governor to take and keep public arms.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1472 (1834)(1829)§ 5 prohibited enslaved persons and other minorities from possessing firearms, subject to seizure. § 6 provided an exception for housekeepers and licensed individuals.Item type:Item, 2 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 1291 (1834)(1819)Provided that if any slave wound or attempt to kill any white person, that slave and their aiders and abettors would be punished by death.Item type:Item, Mo. Const. of 1820 art. XIII, § 3(1820)Declared that the right of the People to bear arms in defence of themselves and of the state shall not be questioned.Item type:Item, Miss. Const. art. I, § 23(1817)Declared every citizen has a right to bear arms in defence of himself and the State.Item type:Item, Item type:Item, Me. Const. of 1819, art. I, § 16(1819)Provided that every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms for the common defense, and the right shall never be questioned.Item type:Item, 1819 Ind. Acts 39(1819)An Act to Prohibit the Wearing of Concealed Weapons: Prohibited concealed carry of an dirk, pistol, sword in cane, or any other unlawful weapon. Violators guilty of a misdemeanor, fined not more than one hundred dollars.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, University of Virginia Board of Visitors Minutes 6-7 (Oct. 4-5, 1824)(1824)Banned students from keeping or using weapons or arms of any kind or gunpowder on campus.Item type:Item, An Ordinance, for the Government of the Powder Magazine of this City, and for other purposes (1828)(1828)That no person or persons within the City of Richmond, shall retain in his, her or their possession at any time, more than twenty-five pounds of Powder.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, Charter and Revised Laws of Alexandria § 23 (1821)(1821)An Act Reducing into One and Amending the Several Acts Respecting the Removal of Nuisances, § 23: That no person shall discharge any musket, fowling piece, pistol, or other fire arms, or any composition of gun powder, or fulminating powder, within the limits of the town of Alexandria, unless in the execution of some law, or in the discharge of some duty imposed by law. Every person ofiending herein, shall forfeit and pay one dollar for each offence."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, 1819 Va. Code 423(1819)Ch. 111 §§ 7-8: Prohibited "free negro or mulatto" from keeping or carrying any kind of firelock, military weapon, powder, or lead without a license from a court.Item type:Item, 1818 Vt. Acts & Resolves 64-65(1818)An Act Regulating and Governing the Militia of This State, § 42: No noncommissioned officer, private or citizen shall unnecessarily fire a gun, single musket or pistol, in any public road, or near any house or place of parade, on the evening preceding, on the day or evening of the same, on which any troop company, battalion or regiment shall be ordered to assemble for military dutyItem type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 673(1821)Shooting, 1821—Chapter 68, § 1: [A]ny person or persons who shall after the first of January next, shoot at a mark within the bounds of any town, or within two hundred yards of any public road of the first or second class within the state, such person or persons so offending shall be subject to a fine of ten dollars each[.]Item type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 100(1825)Arms, 1825—Chapter 19, § 1: When any sheriff, coroner, or constable, shall know of his own knowledge, or upon the representation of any person, or if he or they, shall have good reason to suspect, any person of being armed with the intention of committing a riot or affray, or the wounding or killing any person, it shall be the duty of all such officers, immediately to arrest all such persons so suspected, and return them before some justice of the peace, whose duty it shall be, upon proof being made, that there was reasonable ground to suspect such person or persons for being armed, with intent to disturb or commit a breach of the peace, to bind such person or persons in a bond with two or more good and sufficient securities, in a sum of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and not exceeding two thousand dollars, conditioned for his or their good behavior and peaceable deportment for the term of twelve months thereafterItem type:Item, 1825 Tenn. Priv. Acts 306(1825)An Act to Amend an Act Passed at Murfreesboro, October 20, 1821, Incorporating Winchester and Reynoldsburgh, ch. 292 § 3: That said mayor and aldermen may, and shall, have power and authority to make any rules and laws regulating the police of said town and the inhabitants thereof, to restrain and punish drinking, gaming, fighting, breaking the sabbath, shooting and carrying guns, and enact penalties and enforce the same, so that they do not conflict or violate the constitution of this State, and are consistent with the laws of this state.Item type:Item, 1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 100(1821)Arms, 1821—Chapter 13, § 1: Every person so degrading himself by carrying a dirk, sword cane, Spanish stiletto, belt or pocket pistols, either public or private, shall pay a fine of five dollars for every such offence, which may be recovered by warrant before any justice of the peace, in the name of the county for its use, in which the offence may have been committed; and it shall be the duty of a justice to issue a warrant on the application, on oath, of any person applying; and it shall be the duty of every judge, justice of the peace, sheriff, coroner, and constable within this state, to see that this act shall have its full effect: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall affect any person that may be on a journey to any place out of his county or state.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, 1821 Tenn. Pub. Acts 63(1821)An Act to Amend the Militia Laws of This State, ch. 55, §§ 2-3: § 2. [T]he commissioned and staff officers of the infantry are hereby required to meet at the place of holding their battalion musters at eleven o'clock on the day preceding said muster, armed with a rifle, musket, or shot gun and dressed in the uniform prescribed by law, for the purpose of being trained as at regimental drills, and the commanding or senior officer present shall call, or cause the roll to be called, and make a return of all delinquents to the next regimental or battalion court martial. § 3. That regimental courts martial shall have power to fine delinquents, field or staff officers, and it shall be the duty of the commanding or senior officer present at any regimental, battalion or drill muster, to make a return of all such delinquents to the next regimental or battalion court martial, and they shall have a discretionary power to assess fines or not as they may think proper on delinquents.Item type:Item, Ordinances of the Town of Columbia 61-62 (1823)(1823)No. 41: That hereafter it shall not be lawful for any person to fire or discharge any gun, pistol or other small arms within the limits bounded by Henderson, Blossom, Lincoln and Upper streetsItem type:Item, Ordinances of the Town of Columbia 75-76 (1823)(1823)Ordinance no. 57: No merchant, retailer, dealer in powder, or any person or persons whatever, within the said town, shall retain, keep or have in his, her or their possession, at any time, a greater quantity of gunpowder than fifty pounds weight.Item type:Item, The General Ordinances of the City of Charleston, South Carolina 199–200 (1895)(1815)ch. 15, §§ 566-570: Sec. 566.[1] It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to carry gunpowder without a secure and proper covering, in any wagon, cart, dray, or otherwise, through the streets, lanes, or on the wharves of this City, and any person or persons so offending, shall forfeit, for every such offence, the sum of fifty dollars. Sec. 567.[2] It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell any gunpowder, which may at the time be within the City of Charleston, in any quantity, without having first obtained a license to keep and sell gunpowder, the said license to be issued by the Clerk of Council, who shall receive, for the use of the City, from the person obtaining the license, the sum of one dollar for each license so issued, and every such license shall be in force for one year from the date thereof, unless previously annulled by the City Council, and no longer; and every person or persons offending herein shall forfeit and pay for the said offence the sum of one hundred dollars. Sec. 568.[3] It shall not be lawful for any merchant, factor, retailer, or dealer in gunpowder, or any person or persons whomsoever, to retain, have, or keep in his, her, or their possession, any quantity of gunpowder exceeding one pound in weight, unless the same shall be well secured in a tin canister or canisters, which said canisters shall be plainly marked or labelled on the outside thereof, with the word "Gunpowder," and shall be deposited and kept on the right side of the principal door or entrance to the store, shop, or premises wherein the same may be; and any person or persons offending against any of the provisions of this section, shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of one hundred dollars. Sec. 569.[4] No merchant, factor, retailer, or dealer in gunpowder, or any person or persons whomsoever, within this City, shall retain, keep, or have, in his, her or their possession, at any one time, a greater quantity of gunpowder, than twenty-five pounds weight; and, on information given to the Mayor, or the same coming by any means, to his knowledge, of a greater quantity than twenty-five pounds weight, in the possession of, or within the enclosure or enclosures of any person or persons whomsoever, the Mayor is hereby required and directed to prosecute such person or persons so offending, in any court of competent jurisdiction, when, on conviction of the same, the party shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars. Sec. 570.[5] It shall not be lawful to establish or keep within the limits of the City, any magazine, or place for the storage of gunpowder, nor to keep any gunpowder in any place within the said limits, excepting in small quantities, as herein provided, under a penalty or fine not exceeding five hundred dollarsItem 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, 1823 S.C. Acts 63(1823)Ch. 20, § 13: Prohibits any "free negro, or other free person of colour" from carrying any firearms or other military weapons without a written ticket from his or their guardian. Violators punished under pain of forfeiture.Item 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.]