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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Now showing 1 - 40 of 145

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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
Ark. Const. art. II, § 21 (1836)
(1836)
Establishes the right to keep and bear arms for "the free white men of this State."
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.
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."
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 free
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.
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...
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.
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 dollars
1849 Vt. Acts & Resolves 26
(1849)
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, giving, or disposing of any instrument or weapon usually known as a slungshot, and prohibited the carrying any slungshot or similar weapon. Violators guilty of misdemeanor, punishable by fine not exceeding five hundred but not less than two hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding two years.
1837 Vt. Acts & Resolves 38
(1837)
An Act for Regulating and Governing the Militia of This State, ch. 9, art. 20: Every non commissioned officer and private, who shall neglect to keep himself armed and equipped as provided by this act, or who shall, at any time of examination, or any company training, in the month of June, be destitute, or appear unprovided with the arms and equipments herein directed, excepting as before excepted, shall pay a fine not exceeding seventy-five cents for a gun, and twenty-five cents for each and every other article, in which he shall be delinquent; or if he shall appear with his arms in an unfit condition, he shall be fined not exceeding seventy-five cents, at the discretion of his commanding officer.
1836 Tex. Gen. Laws 54-55, An Act to Provide for the National Defense by Organizing the Militia, § 1.
(1836)
That every citizen so enrolled and notified, shall within ten days thereafter provide himself with a good musket, a sufficient bayonet and belt, six flints, knapsack and cartridge box, with twenty-four suitable ball cartridges
1839 Tex. Gen. Laws, at 172
(1839)
An Act Concerning Slaves, § 6: Prohibited any "slave" from carrying firearms or weapons without the consent of his master.
1839 Tex. Gen. Laws, at 214
(1839)
An Act To Incorporate The City Of Austin, § 7: That the Mayor and Counsel shall have full power and authority ... to prevent gunpowder being stored within the city and suburbs in such quantities as to endanger the public safety. . .
Tenn. Const. art. I, § 26
(1831)
Establishes the right to keep and bear arms for the "free white men of this State."
1837-1838 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200, ch. 137, § 1.
(1837)
Prohibited any merchant from selling a Bowie knife or Arkansas tooth pick. Punishable by fine of $100-500 and imprisonment for $1-6 months.
1831 Tenn. Pub. Acts 314
(1831)
Acts 1741, c. 24, § 40: Prohibited any "slave" from being armed with a gun, sword, club, or other weapon without a certificate from a court.
1837-1838 Tenn. Pub. Acts 201, ch. 137, § 4
(1837)
Prohibited the stabbing or cutting of another person with any knife or weapon known as a "Bowie knife, Arkansas tooth pick, or any knife or weapon that shall in form, shape or size resemble a Bowie knife," regardless of whether the person dies. Punishable by imprisonment for 3-15 years.
1837-38 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200, ch. 137, § 1
(1837)
An Act to Suppress the Sale and Use of Bowie Knives and Arkansas Tooth Picks in this State, ch. 137, § 1: That if any merchant, . . . shall sell, or offer to sell . . . any Bowie knife or knives, or Arkansas tooth picks . . . such merchant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof upon indictment or presentment, shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned in the county jail for a period not less than one month nor more than six months.
1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 325
(1836)
Felonies, 1829—Chapter 23, § 56: If any person within this state shall fight a duel, or shall deliberately and maliciously challenge, by word or writing, any other person, to fight with sword, pistol, or other deadly weapon, or shall deliberately and maliciously invite another verbally, or by writing, to meet him in this state, or elsewhere, with a view or intent to challenge or fight; or if any person so challenged, shall deliberately and maliciously accept the said challenge, in either case, such person so deliberately and maliciously giving or receiving, or sending any such challenge, and being convicted thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment, at hard labor in the penitentiary, for a term not less than three nor more than ten years: Provided always, that no person who shall be verbally challenged, shall be a competent witness to prove the fact of such verbal challenge, against any person who may be indicted for the same.
1837-38 Tenn. Pub. Acts 200-01, ch. 137, § 2
(1837)
An Act to Suppress the Sale and Use of Bowie Knives and Arkansas Tooth Picks in this State: Prohibited the carrying of a concealed Bowie knife, Arkansas tooth pick, or other knife or weapon. Punishable by fine of $200-500 and imprisonment for 3-6 months.
1836 Tenn. Comp. Stat. 496
(1835)
Misdemeanors, 1835—Chapter 58, § 2: Prohibited any "free person" from selling, loaning, or giving any gun, pistol, sword, or dirk to "any slave."
William Rice, A Digested Index of the Statute Law of South Carolina From the Earliest Period to the Year 1836, at 356 (1838)
(1835)
Prohibited any "free negro or other free person of color" from carry firearms without a ticket.
The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Providence, with the Acts of the General Assembly Relating to the City 60 (1835)
(1835)
An Act to Prevent the Firing of Guns within Certain Limits, § 1: That if any person shall fire or discharge any musket, rifle, fowling piece, blunderbuss or other small arms, not being at the time under military duty, within the following limits viz: the whole city of Providence, excepting the public waters and public rivers therein; also such parts of the town of Cranston and Johnston as are contained with the following limits to wit: beginning in Pawtuxet road at the Providence line, thence running Southerly on said Pawtuxet road, until it comes to a cross road heading to Cranston . . . , except upon land owned or occupied by him, or except on other days than the first day of the week, by permission of the owner or occupant of the land, on, and into which he may shoot, he shall pay as a fine the sum of five dollars for the first offence, and ten dollars for every subsequent offence; to be recovered by action of debt before any justice of the peace within the county in which said offence may be committed, by any person who may sue for the same with cost of suit
1838 R.I. Pub. Laws 3-5
(1838)
An Act Concerning Crimes and Punishments: Every person who shall be convicted of voluntarily engaging in a duel, with any dangerous weapon, to the hazard of life, shall be imprisoned not exceeding seven years, nor less than one year. § 7. Every person who shall be convicted of challenging another to fight a duel with any with any dangerous weapon to the hazard of life, and every person who shall be convicted of accepting any challenge to fight such duel, though no duel be fought, shall be imprisoned not exceeding seven years nor less than one year.
1844 R.I. Pub. Laws 503
(1844)
Required all white males aged eighteen to forty-five years old to be enrolled in the militia except idiots, lunatics, common drunkards, paupers, vagabonds, and persons convicted of any infamous crime.
1840 R.I. Pub. Laws 3, 17
(1840)
An Act to Regulate the Militia, § 46: If any non-commissioned officer or private shall become a pauper, vagabond, or common drunkard, or be convicted of any infamous crime, he shall be forthwith disenrolled from the militia."
1843 R.I. Pub. Laws 13
(1843)
An Act to Regulate The Militia, § 38: No non-commissioned officer or private, shall unnecessarily, or without orders from his superior officer, come on to any place of parade, with his musket, rifle, or pistol loaded with balls, slugs, shot, or other dangerous substance, or shall so load the same while on parade.
1847 Pa. Laws 266
(1847)
No. 208, § 1: That if any person shall open any tomb or grave in the lands of the cemetery of Laurel Hill cemetery company of Philadelphia . . . or shall shoot or discharge any gun or other fire arms within said limits shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. . .
A Digest of Acts of Assembly, Relating to the Incorporated District of the Northern Liberties; and of the Ordinances for the Government of the District, at 101-02, Gun Cotton, § 1 (1847)
(1847)
§That no gun-cotton shall be introduced in Philadelphia, nor placed in storage therein, in greater bulk or quantity in any one place, than is permitted by existing laws, with regard to gunpowder; and that all the fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed by an act entitled "An act for securing the city of Philadelphia, and the neighborhood thereof, from damage by gunpowder,"
Purdon's Digest, A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred to the Twenty-Eighth Day of May, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Three, at 107, Burial Grounds § 2 (Vol. 8, 1853)
(1849)
Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure or remove any tomb, monument, grave, stone or other structure, placed in any cemetery or grave yard appropriated to, and used for the internment of human beings, within this state, or shall willfully injure, destroy, or remove any fence, railing or other work for the protection or ornament of such places of internment, or shall willfully destroy, cut break or remove any tree, shrub or plant within the limits of said places of internment, or shall within the same, shoot or discharge any gun or other fire arms, or shall open any tomb or grave within the same, and clandestinely remove or attempt to remove any body or remains therefrom, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, before any justice of the peace of the county where the said offence is committed, be punished by a fine, at the discretion of the justice, according to the aggravation of the offence, of not less than one nor more than fifty dollars, for the use of the said county. . .
1848 Pa. Laws 182, No. 147, § 13
(1848)
. and if any person shall be guilty of carrying any lighted cigar . . . or who shall discharge any pistol or gun, or any fire arms on or near said bridge, so that the said bridge, by possibility, be set on fire, or injured by said cause, he or she so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said corporation, the sum of five dollars for every such offence. . .
1842 Ohio Acts 73, An Act to Incorporate the Woodland Cemetery Association of Dayton, § 5 (vol. 40)
(1841)
That any person who shall willfully . . . shoot or discharge any gun within the limits aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
An Act Incorporating the City of Cincinnati: And a Digest of the Ordinances of Said City, at 57-58, An Ordinance to Regulate the Keeping of Gunpowder, § 1 (1835)
(1835)
That no person or persons in the city of Cincinnati, shall keep, have, or possess, in any house, warehouse, shop, shed, or other building, nor in any street, side walk, lane, alley, passage, way, or yard, nor in any cellar, wagon, cary, or carriage, of any kind whatever; nor in any other place, within said city, Gun Powder, in any way or manner, other than as provided for by this ordinance; nor in any quantity exceeding twenty-five pounds, to be divided into six equal parts. § 2. Be it further ordained, That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell gun powder by retail within said city, without having first obtained a license from the city council for that purpose; and every person obtaining a grant for a license to sell gun powder, shall receive a certificate of such grant from the city clerk, and pay into the city treasury, a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, nor less than ten dollars
1837 Ohio Laws 30-31, General Acts vol. 35, An Act to Organize and Discipline the Militia, § 29.
(1836)
That in every regiment, squadron or battalion the field officers shall each arm himself with a good and sufficient sword and pair of pistols, and furnish himself with a good and sufficient horse, with saddle, bridle, martingale and holsters; and in each company of cavalry or troop of horse, the commissioned officers shall each be armed with a good and sufficient sword and pair of pistols

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