It's almost like the government went from one extreme to another, ya know? I wonder just how popular the first laws were?
The Obligation To Arms
In early America, it was generally the law that all men older than 16 bear arms. In some areas, exceptions were made for certain ethnic groups or people whose loyalty and trustworthiness was in doubt. But for the most part, men were expected to carry a gun everywhere.
In 1619, Virginia enacted a statute that ordered everyone to come to church on the Sabbath with their guns. If they didn’t, they would be fined three shillings. In 1643, Connecticut law stated that everyone was expected to come to church with “a musket, pystoll or some peece, with powder and shott.” The Massachusetts Bay Colony had similar laws in place, designed to help protect the town’s population from the constant threat of attacks.
These laws also applied to town and public meetings. In Rhode Island, anyone who showed up without a gun and ammunition would be fined five shillings. Most of the earliest laws specified that each weapon needed to have at least one charge, but by 1657, a Plymouth law raised that to six charges.
In the 1630s, there were also laws requiring people who traveled through particular areas to be armed. Rhode Island law stated that anyone traveling more than 3 kilometers (2 mi) out of town had to carry a gun or pay a five-shilling fine. No one was allowed to travel the road between Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony alone or unarmed. Maryland’s vaguely worded law stated that no one was allowed “any considerable distance from home” without a weapon prepped to fire at least once.
I can't help but wonder if folks would have armed themselves without being forced into it by the PTB. Guess that's a question we'll never have the answer to.
Cofee in the kitchen this morning. Just a tad chilly outside today.
8 comments:
Politicians were both smarter and more honest back then, apparently.
Politicians and honesty are words that are not good bed fellows! Joel
If open carry was even remotely possible now, can you just imagine all the special little snowflakes fainting at the sight of a gun?
Who would have believed that we went from a Country where your are required to carry a gun to a Country where you are punished for carrying a gun! We have gone from wanting to own a gun to being afraid to own a gun. Somewhere somehow this world got really screwed up. Very cold and very windy here, so coffee in the kitchen sounds good.. Have a great weekend.
I may have been reading this all wrong but to me the biggest reason for being made to carry a gun was for the fines the goverment would collect. Of course I get it that the raids by American Indians was a problem too.
Coffee in the kitchen will be fine. It was nice to wake up to a warmer house this morning.
Bubba, and Chickenmom, too -
Open carry is just around the corner, effective January 1 in Texas. I, for one, will be carrying all the time, probably not openly, but it's nice to know it's there and I can show my force if needed.
But then again, we are a different breed here in Texas, and to each his own.
I must live in the past because I believe that everyone should be armed and know how to use those arms safely. I read one time about a town, I think it was in Georgia, where they pasted a law that all homes had to have a gun. Crime dropped drastically.
Alabama is an open carry state. I have to do a mental adjustment every summer when I go back there.
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