3 Stat. at Large of Pa. 253-254, ch. 245, § IV
| dc.coverage.spatial | Pennsylvania - Philadelphia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-10-24T14:09:33Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-11-12T17:04:17Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-17T04:19:31Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1721 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Restricted the firing of guns or other firearms within the city. Violators fined five shillings or two days jail time. | |
| dc.description.lawtext | [Section IV.] Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons, of what sex, age, degree or quality soever, from and after publication hereof, shall fire any gun or other firearms, or shall make or cause to be made, or sell, or utter, or offer to expose to sale, any squibs, rockets or other fireworks, or shall cast, throw or fire any squibs, rockets or other fireworks, within the city of Philadelphia, without the governor's special license for the same, of which license due notice [shall] first be given to the mayor of the said city, such person or persons so offending, and being thereof convicted before any one justice of the peace of the said city, either by confession of the party so offending, or by the view of any of the said justices, or by the oath or affirmation of one or more witnesses, shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of five shillings, one-half to the use of the poor of the said city, and the other half to the use of him or them who shall prosecute and cause such offender to be as aforesaid convicted: which forfeitures shall be levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods as aforesaid; and for want of such distress, if the offender refuse to pay the said forfeiture, he shall be committed to prison for every such offense the space of two days, without bail or mainprise. Provided, That such conviction be made within ten days after such offense committed. And if such offender be a negro or Indian slave, he shall, instead of imprisonment, be publicly whipped, at the discretion of the magistrate. | |
| dc.description.summary | The law prohibited firing guns or using, making, or selling fireworks in Philadelphia without the Governor’s special license, with violations punishable by a five-shilling fine or two days in prison for nonpayment. Enslaved Black or Indigenous people faced public whipping instead of imprisonment, and offenses had to be prosecuted within ten days. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/5148 | |
| dc.relation.isreferencedbyGoogle | https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Statutes_at_Large_of_Pennsylvania_fr/CYFCAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=statutes+at+large+of+pennsylvania&printsec=frontcover | |
| dc.subject | DISCHARGE | |
| dc.title | 3 Stat. at Large of Pa. 253-254, ch. 245, § IV |