1855

William H. R. Wood, Digest of the Laws of California: Containing All Laws of a General Character Which were in Force on the First Day of January, 1858; Also, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, Articles of Confederation, Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798-99, Acts of Congress Relative to Public Lands and Pre-Emptions. Together with Judicial Decisions, Both of the Supreme Court of the United States and of California, to Which are Also Appended Numerous Forms for Obtaining Pre-Emption and Bounty Lands, Etc., Etc. Page 334, Image 340 (1861) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

California

Crimes and Punishments, Art. 1904. That any person in this state having, carrying or procuring from another person any dirk, dirk-knife, bowie-knife, sword, sword-cane, pistol, gun or other deadly weapon, who shall, in the presence of two or more persons, draw or exhibit any of said deadly weapons in a rude, angry and threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense, or who shall, in any manner, unlawfully use the same, in any fight or quarrel, the person or persons so offending, upon conviction thereof in any criminal court in any county of this state, shall be fined in any sum not …
Brandishing

1855

1855 Ky. Acts 139, An Act to Incorporate the Town of Baltimore, Hickman County, ch. 475, § 10.

Kentucky

Any person who shall shoot off a gun or pistol, or shall run or gallop a horse creature in said town, shall be liable to a fine of not less than two nor more than four dollars . . . .
Firing Weapons

1855

George W. Malambre, Laws and General Ordinances of the City of Dayton, Containing the Laws of the State upon Municipal Government; All the General Ordinances in Force August 30th, 1855; a List of the Officers of the City under the New Act of Incorporation, Together with the Amount of Taxes Levied in Each Year for General and Special Purposes, since 1851, and the Total Amount in Each Year, of Property Subject to Taxation Page 214, Image 219 (1855) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Ohio

Ordinances of the City of Dayton. Offenses. § 38. Sec. XXXIX. If any person, or persons, shall fire any cannon, gun, or other firearms, within the bounds of the building lots, or cemetery ground in this city, or within one hundred yards of any public road, within this corporation, except by permission of council, and except in proper situations for firing salutes, or by command of a military officer in performance of military duty, every person, so offending, on conviction thereof, shall pay a fine not exceeding ten dollars, and costs.
Sensitive Places and Times

1855

1855 Ill. Criminal Code 365, Offenses Against the Persons of Individuals, Div. V, § 43.

Illinois

If any person hereafter shall willfully and maliciously, or by agreement, fight a duel or single combat with any engine, instrument or weapon, the probable consequence of which might be the death of either party, and in so doing shall kill his antagonist, or any person or persons, or shall inflict such wound as that the party injured shall die thereof within one year thereafter, every such offender, his second, as well as the second of the person killed, and all aiders, abettors, and counselors, being thereof duly convicted, shall be considered to have committed a high misdemeanor, and shall …
Dueling

1855

1855 Ill. Laws 465, An Act to Incorporate the Springdale Cemetery Association, § 15.

Illinois

Any person who shall . . . shoot off or discharge any gun or other firearms within the said limits shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor . . . .
Sensitive Places and Times

1855

1855 Ill. Laws, 25, An Act To Incorporate the Town of Daville, § 16.

Illinois

[The town council shall have the power] To regulate the storage of tar, pitch, rosin, gun-powder and other combustible materials.
Storage

1856

W.H. Gaylord, Standing Rules of Order of the Cleveland City Council: With a Catalogue of the Mayors and Councils of the City of Cleveland, from Its Organization, April, 1836, to April, 1871, and Officers of the City Government for 1872 Page 128, Image 152 (1872) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Ohio

[Ordinances of the City of Cleveland,] Gunpowder, An Ordinance to Establish a Magazine, and Regulate the Sale of Powder. Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Cleveland… § 3. No person shall keep within the city, any quantity of gunpowder exceeding twenty-five pounds, or of gun cotton exceeding five pounds, for a longer period than twenty-four hours, except in the powder magazine; and said twenty-five pounds shall be kept in tin or copper canisters, neither of which shall contain over seven pounds and shall be labelled “gunpowder,” and be kept near the front or rear entrance …
Storage

1856

1856-1857 N.C. Sess. Laws 22, Pub. Laws, An Act to Declare the Meaning of that Portion of the Revised Code which Relates to Fire Hunting by Night, ch. 24, § 1.

North Carolina

[T]he true intent and meaning of the 95th section of the 34th chapter of the Revised Code was and is hereby declared to be to prevent fire hunting for deer with a gun or guns in the night time, and nothing more.
Hunting

1856

Chas. Ben. Darwin, Ordinances of the City of Burlington, with Head Notes and an Analytic Index Page 159, Image 159 (1856) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Iowa

Burlington City Ordinances, [To Prevent Fires,] § 9. The Mayor, wharf master, or either fire warden may give such directions as either of them may think proper, relative to the location of any boat having on board gunpowder, gun cotton, hay or other combustible materials; each of said officers are hereby respectively empowered to put in force any order or direction given under this section. Any person refusing or neglecting to obey such orders or directions shall be liable to the penalty provided in the last section of this Ordinance.
Storage

1856

1856-1857 N.C. Sess. Laws 34, Pub. Laws, An Act Entitled “Revenue,” ch. 34, § 23, pt. 4.

North Carolina

On every pistol, except such as are used exclusively for mustering, and on every bowie-knife, one dollar and twenty five cents; on dirks and swordcanes, sixty five cents: Provided, however, That of said arms, only such shall be taxable, as at some time within the year have been used, worn or carried about the person of the owner, or of some other, by his consent.
Registration and Taxation

1856

John W.A. Sanford, The Code of the City of Montgomery, Prepared in Pursuance of an Order of the City Council of Montgomery Page 7-9, Image 12 (1861) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Alabama

[An Act to Incorporate the City of Montgomery, Approved December 23d, 1837] § 6. And be it further enacted, That the said Mayor and Aldermen, shall have power and authority for the ordinary current expenses of said city, to assess, levy and collect annually, a tax on. . . pistol galleries, fifty dollars…
Registration and Taxation

1856

W. H. Gaylord, Standing Rules of Order of the Cleveland City Council: With a Catalogue of the Mayors and Councils of the City of Cleveland, from Its Organization, April, 1836, to April, 1871, and Officers of the City Government for 1872 Page 101, Image 124 (1872) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Ohio

[Ordinances of the City of Cleveland,] An Ordinance to Prevent the Firing of Guns and Fire-works, § 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Cleveland, That no person shall fire any cannon, gun, rifle, pistol, or fire-arms of any kind, or fire or explode any squib, rocket, cracker, Roman candle, or other combustible fire-works within the city. § 2. This ordinance shall not apply to any military company, when drilling under command of any officer thereof, or to the use of fire-arms in the lawful defense of the person, family or property of any person, …
Firing Weapons

1856

Revised Ordinances of the Corporation of Winchester, with the Act of Incorporation and Certain Other Acts of the General Assembly Concerning the Town of Winchester, and the Constitution of Virginia Page 78, Image 78 (1856) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Virginia

Ordinances of the [City of Winchester,] Of Certain Offences Punishable by Fine or Otherwise within the Corporation of Winchester, § 3. Any person who shall fire a gun, pistol or other firearm within this Corporation, except in case of necessity in the discharge of a public duty, or at military parade by order of the officer in command, shall for each offense forfeit the sum of one dollar.
Firing Weapons

1856

1856 Mass. Acts 85-87, An Act to Incorporate the Proprietors of Oak Grove Cemetery, chap. 154, § 6

Massachusetts

Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure or remove any tomb, monument, grave-stone, or other structure placed in the cemetery aforesaid . . . or discharge any gun or other fire-arms, within the said limits, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace, or other court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine not less than five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars…
Sensitive Places and Times

1857

William Lewis Sharkey, The Revised Code of the Statute Laws of the State of Mississippi Page 610, Image 614 (1857) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Mississippi

Sabbath, Violation of, Art. 229. If any person shall be found hunting with a gun, on the Sabbath, he shall, on convicted thereof, be fined not less than five, nor more than twenty dollars.
Sensitive Places and Times

1857

Henry Jefferson Leovy, The Laws and General Ordinances of the City of New Orleans, Together with the Acts of the Legislature, Decisions of the Supreme Court, and Constitutional Provisions, Relating to the City Government. Revised and Digested, Pursuant to an Order of the Common Council Page 242, Image 268 (1857) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Louisiana

[Ordinances of the City of New dueOrleans,] Revenue – Taxes and Licenses, § No. 680. Every keeper of a pistol gallery, the whole tax being levied on each and every gallery, sixty dollars.
Registration and Taxation

1857

Louis J. Dupree, A Digest of the Ordinances of the City Council of Memphis, from the Year 1826 to 1857 Together with All Acts of the Legislature of Tennessee Which Relate Exclusively to the City of Memphis, with an Appendix Page 161, Image 161 (1857) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Tennessee

[Ordinances of the City of Memphis, Pistols and Guns, § 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to fire any pistol, gun or other firearm within the limits of this city, unless it be on the occasion of a military parade, and then only by the order of an officer of a military company. Nor shall any person raise a kite or any like paper, or balloon, in the limits of the city. Any person violating any of the terms and provisions of this ordinance shall be fined by the recorder not less than five nor more than fifty …
Firing Weapons

1857

1857 D.C. Code 570, Of Proceedings to Prevent and Detect the Comission of Crime, ch. 141, § 16.

None

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 . . . he may, on complaint of any person having reasonable cause to fear an injury or breach of the peace, be required to find sureities for keeping the peace for a term not exceeding six months, with the right of appealing as before provided.
Carrying Weapons

1857

Samuel Ames, The Revised Statutes of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: To Which are Prefixed, The Constitutions of the United States and of the State Page 204-205, Image 219-220 (1857) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Rhode Island

Of Bowling-alleys, Billiard Tables and Shooting Galleries, § 2. Any person who shall keep any pistol gallery, rifle gallery or other building or enclosure where fire-arms are used for practicing in firing with ball or shot in the compact part of the city of Newport, shall be fined two hundred dollars for the first offence, and five hundred dollars for each subsequent offence. § 3. The town council of each town shall define the limits of the compact part of such town ; which limits shall be taken and deemed to comprehend the compact part of such town within the …
Sensitive Places and Times

1857

Samuel Ames, The Revised Statutes of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: To Which are Prefixed, The Constitutions of the United States and of the State Page 614, Image 629 (1857) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Rhode Island

Discipline, Inspection, Etc. § 9. No non-commissioned officer or private shall unnecessarily, or without orders from his superior officer, come on to any place of parade with his musket, rifle or pistol loaded with balls, slugs, shot or other dangerous substance, or shall so load with same while on parade.
Sensitive Places and Times

1859

A Municipal Register of the City of Concord, Containing the City Charter and Ordinances, the Rules of the City Council, and a List of the City Officers Page 74, Image 75 (1868) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

New Hampshire

[Ordinances of the City of Concord,] An Ordinance to Guard Against Damage to the Property of the City, Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Concord, as follows: §1. No person shall discharge any gun or fire-arms within, on, or at, any bridge or building belonging to the city, or in any way damage the same, or any fence or other property belonging to the city, or write upon, cut out, or make any obscene image or representation. § 2. Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be subject to a fine …
Firing Weapons

1858

Henry John Horn, The Charter and Ordinances of the City of St. Paul, Together with Legislative Acts Relating to the City, and the State Constitution, in an Appendix Page 113, Image 114 (1858) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Minnesota

Revised Ordinances [of the City of St. Paul], An Ordinance to Restrain the Use of Fire Arms and the Exhibition of Fire Works. The Common Council of the City of Saint Paul do ordain as follows: § 1. It shall not be lawful for any person to fire or discharge any cannon, gun, fowling piece, pistol or fire arms of any description, or fire, explode or set off any squib, cracker or other thing containing powder or other combustible or explosive material, or to exhibit any fire works or make or exhibit any bonfire, within the limits of said city, …
Firing Weapons

1858

The Charter and Ordinances of the City of St. Paul, (To August 1st, 1863, Inclusive,) Together with Legislative Acts Relating to the City. Page 166-167, Image 167-168 (1863) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Minnesota

Ordinances of the City of St. Paul, An Ordinance to Regulate the Sale of Gunpowder, § 1. No person shall keep, sell or give away gunpowder or guncotton in any quantity without first having paid into the City Treasurer the sum of five dollars, and obtain from the Common Council a permission in writing, signed by the Mayor and Clerk, and sealed with the corporate seal, under a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars, for every offence, provided any person may keep for his own use not exceeding one pound of powder or one pound of gun cotton, at one and …
Manufacturing, Inspection and Sale of Gunpowder and Firearms

1858

A Compilation of the Acts of the Legislature Incorporating the City of Macon, Georgia, and of the Ordinances, Passed by the City Council of Macon, to the 14th February, 1858, Now of Force Page 48, Image 48 (1858) available at The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources.

Georgia

Ordinances. § 5. It shall not be lawful for any person to fire a gun, pistol, or any other fire arms, within three hundred yards of any house, except in cases of military parade; nor shall any person burn rockets, crackers, or any kind of fireworks within the limits of the city. Any person so offending shall be fined in a sum not exceeding twenty dollars.
Sensitive Places and Times

1858

1858-1859 N.C. Sess. Laws 34-36, Pub. Laws, An Act Entitled Revenue, chap. 25, § 27, pt. 15.

North Carolina

The following subjects shall be annually listed, and be taxed the amounts specified: . . . Every dirk, bowie-knife, pistol, sword-cane, dirk-cane and rifle cane, used or worn about the person of any one at any time during the year, one dollar and twenty-five cents. Arms used for mustering shall be exempt from taxation.
Registration and Taxation