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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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, 1841 Ala. Laws 148-49(1841)§ 4: Prohibited the concealed carrying of "a bowie knife, or knife or instrument of the like kind or description, by whatever name called, dirk or any other deadly weapon, pistol or any species of firearms, or air gun," unless the person is threatened with an attack or is traveling or "setting out on a journey." Punished by a fine of $50-100.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 1211 (1834)(1831)Required the quartermaster general to distribute public arms among the members of each company.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, Wis. Stat. Ann. 2379, § 4384 (1889)(1848)If any person shall go armed with a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol or pistols, or other offensive and dangerous weapon, without reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury or violence to his person, or to his family or property, he may, on complaint of any other person having reasonable cause to fear an injury or breach of the peace, be required to find sureties for keeping the peace for a term not exceeding six months, with the right of appealing as before provided.Item type:Item, Tex. Const., Art. I, § 13(1845)Declared every citizen "shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defence of himself and the State"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, Mason Brayman, Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois 176 (1845)(1845)Criminal Jurisprudence, § 139: Prohibited the carrying of "any pistol, gun, knife, dirk, bludgeon or other offensive weapon, with intent to assault any person. Punishable by fine up to $100 or imprisonment up to 3 months.Item type:Item, Leslie A. Thompson, A Manual or Digest of the Statute Law of the State of Florida 498 (1847)(1832)Act of Jan. 5, 1847, Ch. 75, § 3: Prohibited concealed carry of any dirk, pistol, or other arm or weapon. Violators fined not less than five dollars not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not less than ten days nor exceeding six months.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, Ark. Const. art. II, § 21 (1836)(1836)Establishes the right to keep and bear arms for "the free white men of this State."Item type:Item, 1839 Wis. Terr. Stat. 381(1838)If any person shall go armed with a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol or pistols, or other offensive and dangerous weapon, without reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury, or violence to his person, or to his family, or property, he may, on complaint of any other person having reasonable cause to fear an injury or breach of the peace, be required to find sureties for keeping the peace for a term not exceeding six months, with the right of appealing as before provided.Item type:Item, Statutes of the Territory of Wisconsin: Passed by the Legislative Assembly thereof, a Session commencing in November 1838, and at an adjourned Session commencing in January, 1839, at 381 § 16(1838)"If any person shall go armed with a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol or pistols, or other offensive and dangerous weapon, without reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury, or violence to his person, or to his family, or property, he may, on complaint of any other person having reasonable cause to fear an injury or breach of the peace, be required to find sureties for keeping the peace for a term not exceeding six months, with the right of appealing as before provided."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, 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, 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, Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Richmond ch. 26, § 13 (1830)(1830)That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to fire or discharge any Gun, Pistol, Fowling-Piece or Fire-Arms, or to make any other unusual noise within the limits of this City, whereby the inhabitants thereof may be alarmed, except in cases of necessity or in the performance of some public and lawful act of duty, nor to discharge or set-off any Rocket, Cracker, Torpedo, Squib or Balloon, containing any substance in a state of combustion, or other Fire-works within the said City, without permission first had and obtained in writing, from the Mayor of the City, under the penalty of six dollars and sixty-six cents for each offence, if freeItem type:Item, 1838 Va. Acts 76(1838)Ch. 101, § 1: It is against the law to habitually or generally keep or carry about his person any pistol, dirk, bowie knife, or any other weapon of the like kind . . . hidden or concealed from common observation.Item type:Item, 1847-48 Va. Laws 129, ch. 14, § 16.(1848)If any person shall go armed with any offensive or dangerous weapon without reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury, or violence to his person, or to his family or property, he may be required to find sureties for keeping the peace for a term not exceeding twelve months, with the right of appealing as before provided.Item type:Item, 1847-48 Va. Acts 67(1846)Ch. 79, § 1: That if any person shall unlawfully shoot at another in any public square ... with intent in so doing to maim, disfigure, disable or kill such person, or to do him some other bodily harm, ... every such offender, his aiders and abettors, shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor. and shall on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the common jail for a period not less than six months nor more than three years...Item type:Item, 1847-48 Va. Acts 110(1847)Ch. 7, § 8: Created a fine for habitual conceal carrying of any pistol, dirk, Bowie knife, or weapon of the like kind. Fifty dollarsItem 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."