1804 Mass. Acts. 111

1804 Mass. Acts. 111

Abstract

Ch. 81, An Act to Provide for the Proof of Fire Arms Manufactured Within this Commonwealth: Requiring appointment of two per county for the inspection of barrels. Barrels required inspection under varying charges of powder and at varying degrees of elevation. Proven barrels are stamped post-inspection. Failed barrels fined thirty cents. Failed pistols fined twenty-five cents. Unproven barrels & pistols fined at ten dollars.

Summary

The law establishes a system of official “firearm provers” who must test all musket and pistol barrels using standardized explosive charges and then stamp approved barrels with identifying marks showing the prover’s initials and year, while rejecting unsafe barrels without stamping them. It requires that any firearms made or sold in the state (outside federal or contract exceptions) must have passed this proofing process or else trigger penalties, including fines for manufacture, sale, or purchase of unproven weapons. It also criminalizes forging or altering proof stamps, punishable by fines up to $50.

Law Text

Sect. 1st. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same That the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Council be and he hereby is empowered to appoint in any part of this Commonwealth where the Manufacture of fire Arms is carried on, suitable persons to be provers of fire arms not exceeding two in any County who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust, whose duty it shall be to prove all Musket Barrels and Pistol barrels which being sufficiently ground bored and breeched shall be offered to him to be proved — who shall prove the Musket barrels twice in manner following vizt. first with a charge consisting of one eighteenth part of a pound of Powder, one ounce of which in a five & an half inch Howitz at an elevation of forty five degrees will carry a twenty four pound shot, eighty Yards — with a ball suited to the bore of the barrel — the second proof to be with a charge consisting of one twenty second part of the same powder with a ball suited to the bore of the barrel, and shall prove the pistol barrels once with a charge consisting of one twenty second part of a pound of Powder, one ounce of which in a five and half inch Howitz at an elevation of forty five degrees, will carry a twenty four pound shot seventy Yards, with a ball suited to the bore of the barrel — which said powder and ball it shall be the duty of the prover to provide — And if the said musket and pistol barrels shall stand the proof aforesaid and shall in no respect fail, then it shall be the duty of the said prover to stamp the same on the upper side and within one and as half inches of the breech of said barrels with a stamp consisting of the initial letters of the provers name & over those letters the letter P. also in the line of the said initial letters and further up said barrel the figures designating the Year of our Lord in which the proof is made and over the said figures the letter M. which said letters and figures shall be so deeply impressed on said barrel as that the same cannot be erased or disfigured and shall be in the form following AB 1805 and when any barrels shall burst or shall in any manner fail in the proving as aforesaid so that in the opinion of the prover they are unfit for use they shall not be stamped but the said prover shall suffer the owner to take them away — & any prover so proving musket or pistol barrels as aforesaid shall be entitled to recieve from the owner for each musket barrel thirty three Cents, and for each pistol barrel twenty five Cents, whether the same stand proof and are Stamped or not. Sec. 2d. And be it further enacted, that if any person after the first day of June next shall manufacture within this Commonwealth any musket or pistol without having the barrels proved and stamped as aforesaid, except such as are or may be Manufactured in the Armory of the United States, or in fulfilment of some contract made and entered into or that may hereafter be made and entered into for the Manufacturing of fire arms for the United States, shall forfiet and pay for every such Musket or pistol the sum of ten dollars to be recovered in an action of Debt before any Court proper to try the same by any person who shall sue for and recover the same to his own use. Sec. 3d. And be it further enacted that if any person after the said first day of June next, shall sell and deliver or shall knowingly purchase any Musket or Pistol which shall have been manufactured within this Commonwealth after the said first day of June next, which shall not have the marks of proof above required the person so selling and the person so purchasing, shall each forfeit the sum of Ten Dollars, to be recovered by action of debt before any Court proper to try the same to the use of any person who shall sue for and recover the same. Sec. 4th. And be it further enacted, that if any person, shall falsely forge or alter the stamp of any prover of Fire arms, so appointed as aforesaid impressed on any musket or Pistol Barrel pursuant to this Act, and be convicted thereof before the Supreme Judicial Court he shall be punished by fine not exceeding Fifty Dollars nor less than twenty dollars, according to the nature and agravation of the offence. Approved March 8, 1805.