1859 N.M. Laws 94-96, § 4

1859 N.M. Laws 94-96, § 4

Abstract

An Act prohibiting the carrying of Weapons, concealed or other-wise, § 4: Be it further enacted: That if any person in any baile or fandango, or in any public assembly of whatever class or description it may be, shall fire off or discharge any firearm of the class mentioned in the first section of this act, or shall cut or wound any person with any description of deadly weapon mentioned in the first section of this act, in any baile or fandango, or in any other public assembly, and any death shall result from said cut or wound so given, the person who shall so wound or cut, on conviction, shall be considered guilty of murder in the first degree, and shall suffer the penalty of death in the said first degree.

Summary

This law broadly prohibited carrying concealed weapons, including pistols, bowie knives, Arkansas toothpicks, Spanish daggers, slungshots, and other deadly weapons, with escalating penalties for repeat offenses. Drawing or discharging such weapons at public gatherings carried heavier penalties, and causing a death by cutting or wounding someone there was expressly classified as first-degree murder and punishable by death. Sheriffs and constables were required to enforce the law, with exceptions for certain officials, mail conductors, and travelers while actually traveling between towns.

Law Text

SECTION 1. That, from and after the passage of this act, it shall be unlawful for any person to carry concealed weapons on their persons, of any class of pistols whatever, bowie knife (cuchillo de cinto), Arkansas toothpick, Spanish dagger, slung-shot, or any other deadly weapon, of whatever class or description they may be, no matter by what name they may be known or called, under the penalties and punishment which shall hereinafter be described. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted: That if any person shall carry about his person, either concealed or otherwise, any deadly weapon of the class and description mentioned in the preceding section, the person or persons who shall so offend, on conviction, which shall be by indictment in the district court, shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court trying the cause, on the first conviction under this act; and for the second conviction, the party convicted shall be imprisoned in the county jail for a term of not less than three months, nor for more than one year, also at the discretion of the court trying the cause. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted: That if any person shall discharge or draw any deadly weapon, of the class or description set forth in the first section of this act, in any baile or fandango, or in any other public assembly whatever, the person who shall so offend, on conviction thereof, which shall be by indictment in the district court, shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than three hundred, at the discretion of the court trying the cause, or imprisoned in the county jail for a term not less than three months nor more than one year. SEC. 4. Be it further enacted: That if any person in any baile or fandango, or in any public assembly of whatever class or description it may be, shall fire off or discharge any firearm of the class mentioned in the first section of this act, or shall cut or wound any person with any description of deadly weapon mentioned in the first section of this act, in any baile or fandango, or in any other public assembly, and any death shall result from said cut or wound so given, the person who shall so wound or cut, on conviction, shall be considered guilty of murder in the first degree, and shall suffer the penalty of death in the said first degree. SEC. 5. Be it further enacted: That it shall be the duty of the sheriffs, their deputies, or constables, to arrest and take all persons who shall be found with deadly weapons of the class and description mentioned in the first section of this act, and present them to some justice of the peace, or other authority, to be examined; and it shall also be the duty of the judges of the district courts to cause, at the first term to be held in each county, the sheriffs and their deputies to take an oath that they will truly and faithfully comply with the provisions of this act, and that they will arrest at all times every person who shall violate any of the provisions of this act. SEC. 6. Be it further enacted: That none of the provisions of this act shall be applied to the sheriffs, their deputies, or constables, in the execution of any process of the courts, or to conductors of the mail, or to persons when actually on trips from one town to another in this Territory; provided, that nothing in this act shall be so construed as to permit the conductors of mails, or travellers, to carry any deadly weapons, as mentioned in the first section of this act, on their persons, after they shall have arrived at the town or settlement. SEC. 7. Be it further enacted: That it shall be the duty of the several judges of the district court to give this act specially in their charges to the grand juries at each term of the court; and further, it shall be the duty of the grand juries, at each term of the court, to make a special report whether there has been any violation of the provisions of this act in their counties since the last term of the court. SEC. 8. That all laws or parts of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed, and this act shall be in force and take effect from and after its passage. SEC. 9. That the Secretary of the Territory of New Mexico be required to have this law published in the Santa Fé Gazette, as soon as possible, for six successive weeks, for the information of the people.