Summary of Private and Local Acts[, Port Gibson] . . . . Said president and selectmen may pass ordinances to regulate the keeping, carting and transporting gunpowder, or other combustible or dangerous materials, and, the use of lights in stables, to remove or prevent the construction of any fireplace, hearth or chimney, stoves, ovens, boilers, kettles or apparatus used in any house, building, manufactory or business which may be dangerous in causing or promoting fires; to appoint one or more officers, at reasonable times, to enter into and examine all dwelling houses, lots, yards and buildings, in order to discover …

An Act of 1825, § 1. When any sheriff, coroner, or constable, shall know of his own knowledge, or upon the representation of any person, or if he or they, shall have good reason to suspect, any person of being armed with the intention of committing a riot or affray, or the wounding or killing any person, it shall be the duty of all such officers, immediately to arrest all such persons so suspected, and return them before some justice of the peace, whose duty it shall be, upon proof being made, that there was reasonable ground to suspect such …

[I]f any person or persons shall sell or offer for sale by retail any gunpowder in any highway, or in any street, lane, or alley, or on any wharf, or on parade or common, such person so offending shall forfeit and pay for each and every offence a sum not more than five dollars nor less than one dollar, to be recovered and applied as aforesaid.

Ordinances of the City of Cincinnati, An Ordinance to Prevent Accidents from the Firing of Cannon or Other Guns on Boats, in Front of the City of Cincinnati, § 1. Be it, and it is hereby ordained, by the City Council of the city of Cincinnati, That from and after the fifteenth day of March inst. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons having charge or being on board of any boat upon the Ohio river, when passing by, stopping at, or leaving the city of Cincinnati, to cause any cannon, gun or other fire-arms to be …

That said mayor and aldermen may, and shall, have power and authority to make any rules and laws regulating the police of said town, and the inhabitants thereof, to restrain and punish drinking, ramingn[sic], fighting, breaking the sabbath, shooting and carrying guns, and enact penalties and enforce the same, so that they do not conflict or violate the constitution of this State, and are consistent with the laws of this State.

An ordinance forbidding the firing of Guns, prohibiting Fireworks in certain cases, and to prevent damage by fire, § 1. Be it ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the City of Boston, in City Council assembled, That no person shall fire or discharge any gun, fowling piece, or fire arms within the limits of the city, which shall be loaded with balls or shot, or with powder only, under a penalty for every such offence, of a sum not less than one dollar nor more than twenty dollars: Provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall …

That is any negro or mulatto slave shall join, or be willingly present at any riot, rout or unlawful assembly, or shall commit an assault and battery upon any white person, or shall without special permission of his or her master or mistress, presume to carry any gun, pistol, sword, dirk, or other unusual or dangerous weapon or arms; every negro or mulatto slave so offending, and being thereof convicted before any Justice of the Peace for the county, in which the offence shall be committed, shall be whipped with not less than ten nor more than forty lashes, publically …

[Ordinances of Pittsburgh, PA. An Additional Ordinance “for the suppression of nuisances and enforcing useful regulations within the city of Pittsburgh.”, . . . § 2. That if any person shall fire off or discharge wantonly and without reasonable cause, any gun, pistol, fowling piece, or any other fire-arms, at any place or from any house, within the city, or in any of the streets, alleys or highways of the said city, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of five dollars. § 3. That if any person shall, without any reasonable cause, allow or …

A By-Law Relative to the Storage and Sale of Gunpowder. Be it ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the city of New Haven, in Court of Common Council assembled, 1st. That hereafter no person or persons shall, within the limits hereafter described, either directly or indirectly, sell and deliver any gunpowder, or have, store, or keep any quantity of gunpowder greater than one pound weight, without having obtained a license for that purpose from said Court of Common Council, in the manner herein prescribed. Provided, that nothing in this by-law contained shall be construed to prevent any …

Crimes. § 25. If any person shall challenge another, or shall accept a challenge to fight with sword, pistol, rapier or other dangerous weapon, every person so challenging or accepting such challenge, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and may be imprisoned not exceeding two years; and if any person shall willingly or knowingly carry or deliver to any person a written challenge, or verbally deliver any message purporting to be a challenge to fight such duel or shall be second to either party, or shall command, counsel, or advise or procure any person to …

. . . [I]f any person shall hunt by fire light in the night time, with a gun or other firearms beyond his own enclosure, such person shall on conviction, be fined in a sum not exceeding twenty five dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one month, at the discretion of the court.

That if any person or persons shall play bullets along or across any street in any town or village within this state… or if any person or persons shall shoot or fire a gun at a target within the limits of any recorded town plat in this state… shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five dollars, nor less than fifty cents.

That every person, not being a traveller, who shall wear or carry a dirk, pistol, sword in a cane, or other dangerous weapon concealed, shall upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars.

An Act to Regulate the transportation of gunpowder and to authorize the forfeiture of such as shall be transported in violation of the provisions of this act (1831) #20, § 1. From and after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of all owners, agents and others, who may or shall have any gunpowder, exceeding in quantity five pounds, transported upon the waters or within the limits of this State, to have the word gunpowder marked in large letters upon each and every package which may or shall be transported. § 2. All gunpowder exceeding five pounds …

If any person, habitually, carry about his person, hid from common observation, any pistol, dirk, bowie knife, or weapon of the like kind, he shall be fined fifty dollars. The informers shall have one half of such fine.

It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to deposit or keep in any store, ware house [sic] or other building in the city of Cincinnati any greater quantity than twenty eight pounds of gunpowder at any one time, and all gunpowder which shall be deposited or kept in said city contrary to the provisions of this act or contrary to the provisions of any of the ordinances of said city shall be forfeited to the said city of Cincinnati, and may be seized and disposed of in such a manner as the city council of said city …

. . . it shall not be lawful for free negroes and free mulattoes to have, own, keep or possess any gun, pistol, sword or any warlike instruments whatsoever: Provided however, that if upon application of any such free negro or free mulatto to one of the justices of the peace of the county in which such free negro or free mulatto resides, it shall satisfactorily appear upon the written certificate of five or more respectable and judicious citizens of the neighborhood, that such free negro or free mulatto is a person of fair character, and that the circumstances of …

§ 1 . . . [I]t shall be lawful for the select-men of each and every town within this State, or a majority of them, by their order, in writing, directed to the owners or persons having charge of the same, to cause to be removed to some safe and convenient place within said town, and within such time, as in said order may be prescribed, and quantity of gunpowder so deposited or kept, within the limits of said town, as in the opinion of said select-men, or a majority of them, may endanger the persons or dwellings of any …

[Ordinances of the City of Portland,] § 41. Be it further ordained, That if any person shall fire or discharge any gun or pistol from the top or window of any house or other building, or in or upon any of the streets, wharves, lanes, alleys, or public squares, or in any yard or garden within the city, the same being loaded with ball or shot or with powder only , every person so offending, shall, for each offence, forfeit and pay one dollar. Provided, nevertheless, and it is hereby ordered, That nothing herein contained, shall be construed to prohibit …

Qui-Tam Suits and Forfeitures, § 27. Every person, who shall refuse to remove any gun-powder in his charge, when legally requested by the selectmen of the town in which the same is deposited or kept, or who shall not deposit and keep it at the place legally designated by them, shall forfeit fifty dollars.

That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the county of Hamilton, to examine on or before the first day of May next, all buildings wherein any gunpowder may be kept or stored by a greater quantity than one keg within said county and without the corporate limits of the city of Cincinnati[.]

An Act for the Prevention of Vice and Immorality, § 10. And if any person within this territory, shall challenge, by word or in writing, the person of another to fight at sword, rapier, pistol, or other deadly weapon, the person so challenging, shall forfeit and pay for every such offense, being thereof lawfully convicted, in any court of record within the county wherein the offense shall be committed, having competent jurisdiction by the testimony of one or more witnesses, or by the confession of the party offending, a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, not less than …

Of Proceedings to Prevent the Commission of Crimes, § 16. If any person shall go armed with a dirk, dagger, sword, pistol, 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 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.

An Act for Suppressing and Prohibiting Every Species of Gaming for Money or Other Property and for making Void all contracts and payments made in consequence thereof, and so for restraining the disorderly practice of discharging fire arms at certain hours and places, § 4. Be it enacted, That if any person shall presume to discharge or fire, or cause to be discharged or fired, any gun or other fire-arms at any mark or object, or upon any pretense whatever, unless he or she at the same time be with such gun or fire-arms at the distance of at least …

That every person who shall willfully run any horse or fire any gun or pistol within said corporation, shall for the first offence, pay the sum of five dollars, and for the second offence, shall pay ten dollars, and double that for any other offence, to be recovered before the President of the Selectmen of said town; Provided, That no person shall be liable to the penalties for shooting, when the same may be accidental or necessary.