For the better furtherance and advancement of staple commodities, and more especially that of potashes and saltpeeter, it is thought fit that every master of a family within the several plantations of this colony shall use their best endeavors to preserve and keep in dry and tight houses or casks all those ashes that shall proceed and be made by the wool that is burned in clearing their grounds . . . And that every master of a family shall have a special care, after a notice thereof given, to preserve and keep all their urine which shall be made …

It is ordered and appointed, that the commanders of all the several plantations, do upon holy days exercise the men under his command, and that the commanders yearly do likewise upon the first day of December, take a muster of their men, together with the women and children, and their ages, countries, and towns, where they were born, with the ships they came in, and year of the Lord, as also of arms and munition . . .

All trade with the savages prohibited as well public as private .

No commander of any plantation, shall either himself or suffer others to spend powder unnecessarily, that is to say, in drinking or entertainments. (edited for clarity).

Act XLVII: No man shall go or send abroade without a sufficient party well armed. Act XLVIII: No man shall go to work in the grounds without their arms, and a sentinel upon them. Act LI: All men that are fitting to bear arms, shall bring their pieces to the church upon pain of every offence, of the mayster allow not thereof to pay 2 lb. of tobacco, to be disposed by the church-wardens, who shall levy it by distress, and the servants be punished. (The Statutes at large: being a collection of all the laws of Virginia, from the …

No commander of any plantation, shall either himself or suffer others to spend powder unnecessarily, that is to say in drinking or entertainment. (edited for clarity).

All men that are fitting to bear arms, shall bring their pieces to the church upon pain for every offence, if the default be in the master, to pay 2lb of tobacco, to be disposed by the church-wardens, who shall levy it by distress, and the servants shall be punished [ ] commander. (The Statutes at large: being a collection of all the laws of Virginia, from the first session of the legislature in the year 1619).

It is ordered and appointed, That if any person or persons shall sell or barter any guns, powder, shot, or any arms or ammunition unto any Indian or Indians within this territory, the said person or persons shall forfeit to public uses all the goods and chattels that he or they then have to their own use, and shall also suffer imprisonment during life, the one half of which forfeiture shall be to him or them that shall inform and the other half to public uses.

All persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council.

An act in 1637, which makes it a felony to barter with the Indians repealed, and enacted that for trading with them for arms and ammunition shall be felony, and for other commodities imprisonment at discretion of the Governor and Council.

Not to shoot or hunt on other men’s land that is seated and bounds marked under penalty of 40s. but may pursue deer and shoot on their own land.

[Act XLI, (1642-43). It is enacted and confirmed that masters of every family shall bring with them to church on Sundays one fixed and serviceable gun with sufficient powder and shot upon penalty of ten pounds of Tobacco for every master of a family so offending to be disposed of by the church wardens who shall levy it by distress, and servants being commanded and yet omitting shall receive twenty lashes on his or her bare shoulders, by order from the county courts where he or they shall live.]

Be it also enacted and confirmed, that what person or persons soever shall sell or barter with any Indian or Indians for piece, powder and shot and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall forfeit his whole estate . . . and if any person shall barter or trade with the Indians for any other commodities such person shall suffer imprisonment at the discretion of the Governor and Counsel. . . What person or persons soever within the colony, shall lend any Indian either piece, powder and shot, it shall be lawful for any person meeting with any such Indian so furnished, …

Be it further enacted and confirmed, for the better observation of the Sabbath and for the restraint of diverse abuses committed in the colony by unlawful shooting on the Sabbath day as aforesaid, unless it shall be for the safety of his or their plantations or corn fields or for defense against the Indians, he or they so offending shall forfeit for his or their first offense being thereof lawfully convicted . . . the quantity of twenty pounds…

Whereas the rights and interests of the inhabitants are very much infringed by hunting and shooting of diverse men upon their neighbors lands and dividends contrary to the privileges granted to them by their patents, whereby many injuries do daily happen to the great damage of the owners of the land whereon such hunting or shooting is used, It is therefore enacted and confirmed that if any planter or person shall hunt or shoot upon or within the precincts or limits of his neighbor or other divident without leave first obtained for his so doing, and having been warned by …

It is enacted and confirmed that masters of every family shall bring with them to church on Sundays one fixed and serviceable gun with sufficient powder and shot upon penalty of ten pound of tobacco for every master of a family so offending to be disposed of by the churchwardens who shall levy it by distress, and servants being commanded and yet omitting shall receive twenty lashes on his or their bare shoulders, by order form the county courts where he or they shall live.

Articles Agreed On And Concluded At James City In Virginia For The Surrendering And Settling Of That Plantation Under The Obedience And Government Of The Commonwealth Of England . . . Art. 13: That all ammunition, powder and arms, other than for private use shall be delivered up, security being given to make satisfaction for it.

What persons or persons soever shall, after publication hereof, shoot any guns at drinking (marriages and funerals only excepted) that such person or persons so offending shall forfeit 100 lb. of tobacco to be levied by distress in case of refusal and to be disposed of by the militia in ammunition towards a magazine for the county where the offence shall be committed.

That the Lord’s day be kept holy, and that no journeys be made except in case of emergent necessity on that day, that no goods be laden in boats nor shooting in guns . . . the party delinquent to pay one hundred pounds of tobacco or laid in the stocks . . .

If any planter or person shall hunt or shoot upon or within the limits or precincts of his neighbor or others’ dividends without leave first obtained for his so doing and having been warned by the owner of the land, to forbear hunting and shooting as aforesaid: He or they so offending shall forfeit for every such offense four hundred pounds of tobacco . . .

I. WHEREAS it is necessary, in this time of danger, that the militia of this Colony should be well regulated and disciplined, Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly… that from and after the passing of this Act every … officer, bearing any commission in the militia of this Colony, shall be an inhabitant of, and resident in, the County of which he is or shall be commissioned…IV. …that every person so as aforesaid enlisted (except free mulattoes, negroes, and Indians) shall be armed in the manner following, that is to say: …

An act to oblige the free male inhabitants of this state above a certain age to give assurance of Allegiance to the same, and for other purposes. WHEREAS allegiance and protection are reciprocal, and those who will not bear the former are not entitled to the benefits of the later, Therefore Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that all free born male inhabitants of this state, above the age of sixteen years, except imported servants during the time of their service, shall, on or before the tenth day of October next, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation …

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man, great nor small, of what condition soever he be, except the Ministers of Justice in executing the precepts of the Courts of Justice, or in executing of their office, and such as be in their company assisting them, be so hardy to come before the Justices of any Court, or other of their Ministers of Justice, doing their office, with force and arms, on pain, to forfeit their armour to the Commonwealth, and thir bodies to prison, at the pleasure of a Court; nor go nor ride armed by night …

[An Act to Reduce into one, the Several Acts Concerning Slaves, Free Negroes, and Mulattoes (1792),] § 8. No negro or mulatto whatsoever shall keep or carry any gun, powder, shot, club, or other weapon whatsoever, offensive or defensive, but all and every gun, weapon, and ammunition found in the possession or custody of any negro or mulatto, may be seized by any person, and upon due proof thereof made before any Justice of the Peace of the County or Corporation where such seizure shall be, shall by his order be forfeited to the seizor for his own use ; …

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…