“NOTICE.

THE FOLLOWING ACT OF ASSEMBLY passed March, 1886, is published for the benefit of those who are in the habit of carrying guns, &c., on days of election: 

    SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That from and after the passage of this Act it shall not be lawful for any person in St. Mary’s county to carry on the days of election and primary election, within three hundred yards of the polls, secretly or otherwise, any gun, pistol, dirk, dirk-knife, razor, billy or bludgeon; and any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof by the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s county, having criminal jurisdiction thereof, or before any Justice of the Peace of said county shall be fined not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offence, and on refusal or failure to pay said fine shall be committed to the jail of said county until the same is paid.

    SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That any constable of said county, or sheriff thereof, who shall refuse to arrest any person violating any of the provisions of this Act upon in­formation of such offense, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof before the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s county, shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars, and shall in the discretion of the court be discharged from office.

J. PHILIP GREENWELL.
Sheriff of St. Mary’s county.”

Full Text (From Newspapers.com): 1887, Saint Mary’s Beacon, Oct 13, 1887

–N.B.–

This newspaper seems to be referencing a law that is in the repository as a state law, under the title of “1886 Md. Laws 315, An Act to Prevent the Carrying of Guns, Pistols, Dirk-knives, Razors, Billies or Bludgeons by any Person in Calvert County, on the Days of Election in said County, Within One Mile of the Polls, ch. 189, § 1.”

The law is included here again because this newspaper’s instance provides greater context, contains slightly different wording, includes a greater portion of the law’s text, and covers a different county. 

“Notice.” Saint Mary’s Beacon, October 13, 1887, p. 2. Volume 48, Number 357. (Leonard Town, MD).

        “Sec. 5. Any person who shall discharge or fire off, any gun or other fire arms, or fire off or throw any fire crackers, chasers or other fireworks in said city, except when performing military duty, shall be fined not less than one nor more than twenty dollars, in the discretion of the Mayor, Counselor or Alderman, or Justice of the Peace before whom the same shall be tried.”

1897, MD, The Code of the City of Annapolis, Article 32—Profane Swearing and Disorderly Conduct, § 5 Firing Weapons

The Code of the City of Annapolis, By the Counselor: Authorized by Order of the Corporation of the City of Annapolis, Passed October 11, 1897, and Adopted as the Laws of the City by an Ordinance Passed December 13, 1897—Also—the Charter of the City of Annapolis, the Standing Orders of the Corporation, and Certain Ordinances Not Part of the Code (Annapolis, MD: Evening Capital Print, 1897), 124. Article 32—Profane Swearing and Disorderly Conduct, § 5 Firing Weapons. (Undated).

        “Sec. 1. No person or persons, shall keep in any store, vault, cellar, building or buildings, within the limits of said city, without special permission from the City Council, a greater quantity of gunpowder at any one time than fifty pounds, (which shall be secured in tin canisters or wooden kegs,) nor a greater quantity of dynamite or any other explosive not named, than five pounds, (which shall be well secured in tin canisters,) nor any nitro-glycerine whatever, under a penalty of not less than five nor more than twenty dollars for each offense; and every day such violation of this ordinance may continue or be persisted in shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
        Sec. 2. Any person or persons keeping gunpowder, dynamite or any other explosive not named herein, in any store, vault, cellar, building or buildings, said explosives kept for sale, shall have it kept, if gunpowder, in a tin canister or wooden keg, and if dynamite or other explosive, not named herein, in a tin canister, near one of the front doors, and a sign placed thereon denoting its contents. Any person or persons failing to comply with the provisions of this section shall forfeit ten dollars to the use of the said City of Annapolis, to be collected as small debts are, before a Justice of the Peace in the name of the Mayor, Counselor and Aldermen of the City of Annapolis.
        Sec. 3. The Mayor or any Justice of the Peace is hereby authorized, as often as he shall be informed upon oath of probable cause to suspect any person or persons of concealing or keeping within the corporate limits of the said city of Annapolis, any quantity of gunpowder over the above fifty pounds, or any quantity of dynamite or other explosive not named herein over and above five pounds, or any quantity of nitro-glycerine, to issue a search warrant to examine into the truth of such allegation or suspicion, and search any place whatever therin.”

1897, MD, The Code of the City of Annapolis, Article 18—Gunpowder and Explosives, §§ 1-3

The Code of the City of Annapolis, By the Counselor: Authorized by Order of the Corporation of the City of Annapolis, Passed October 11, 1897, and Adopted as the Laws of the City by an Ordinance Passed December 13, 1897—Also—the Charter of the City of Annapolis, the Standing Orders of the Corporation, and Certain Ordinances Not Part of the Code (Annapolis, MD: Evening Capital Print, 1897), 45-46. Article 18—Gunpowder and Explosives, §§ 1-3. (Undated).

“And be it further Enacted, That all such Armour, Gunpowder, and Ammunition, of whatsoever Kinds, as any Papist whatever, within this Province, hath or shall have in his House or Houses, or elsewhere, or in the Hands and Possession of any other Person at his or their Disposition, shall be taken from such Papist, or Others, which have or shall have the same to the Use of such Papist, by Warrant of any Four Justices of the Peace of the County where such Papist shall be Resident (other than such necessary Weapons as shall be thought fit by the same Justices to remain and be allowed for the Defence of the Person or Persons of such Papists, or for the Defence of his, her or their Houses), and that such Armour and Ammunition, so taken, shall be kept and maintained in such Places as the Justices of the Peace, for the said County, shall, at their next County Court, direct and appoint.

And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any such Papist, having, or which shall have, any such Armour, Gunpowder, and Ammunition, or any of them, or if any other Person or Persons, who shall have any such Armour, Gunpowder, and Ammunition, or any of them, to the Use of any such Papist, shall refuse to declare or manifest to the said Four Justices, or either of them, what Armour, he, she or they have, or shall have, or shall let, hinder, or disturb, the Delivery thereof to the said Justices, or to any other Person or Persons authorized by their Warrant to take and seize the same, then every such Person, so offending, contrary to this Act in this Behalf, shall forfeit and lose, to the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, his Heirs and Successors, his and their said Armour, Gunpowder, and Ammunition ; and shall also be imprisoned by Warrant of or from any Four Justices of the Peace of such County, by the Space of Three Months, without Bail or Mainprize.”

1756, MD, An Act to Prevent Popery within this Province

Votes and Proceedings of the Lower House of Assembly of the Province of Maryland, February Session, 1756 (Annapolis, MD: Jonas Green, 1757), 95.

See also: Maryland Historical Society, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland ; 24, 1755-1756, Ed. William H. Browne, vol. 52 (Baltimore, MD: The Lord Baltimore Press, 1935), 454.

“And be it further Enacted, That all Arms Gunpowder and Ammunition of what kind soever any Papist or reputed Papist within this Province hath or shall have in his House or Houses or elsewhere shall be taken from Such Papist or reputed Papist by Warrant under the hand of one Justice of the Peace for the County wherein such Papist or reputed Papist shall be Resident and that the said Arms and Ammunition so taken Shall be kept in Such Place as the Said Justice shall appoint. And be it further Enacted that if any Such Papist or reputed Papist having or which Shall have any Armes Gunpowder and Ammunition or any of them shall refuse to declare or manifest the Same to the Said Justice of the Peace or to any other Person Authorized by the Warrant of the Said Justice to take and Seize the same then every Such Person so Offending shall forfeit and lose the Said Armour Gunpowder and Ammunition and Shall also be imprisoned by Warrant of or from the Said Justice for the Space of three Months without Bail or Mainprize.”

1756, MD, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland, Ed. William H. Browne

“And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that any Person of the Militia who shall get drunk on any Muster-day before or at Muster shall forfeit the Sum of Ten Shillings Current Money and any Person who shall presume to vend Sell or Dispose of any Strong Liquor at any Place of training or at any other Place within Five Miles of any Place of training to any Person belonging to the Militia on any Muster day except between the Time of Discharge from such Training for that day and the Sun sitting thereof Such Person so vending selling or disposing of Such Strong Liquors Shall forfeit and pay the Sum of Five Pounds Current Money And no Person other than a licenced Ordinary Keeper shall vend Sell or dispose of any Strong Liquors to any Person whatever at such Time and Place aforesaid even between the Hours aforesaid under the Penalty of Five Pounds Current Money for every Such Offence and it Shall and may be lawfull for the Commanding Officer of the Party at such Muster and he is hereby directed and required to order the Strong Liquors of the Person so offending to be Siezed and Destroyed Provided always that nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to any Merchant or licenced Ordinary-Keeper who shall vend Sell or Dispose of any Strong Liquors in his or her House the same not being to any Person of the Militia or any for the Use of Such Person[.]”

1756, MD, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1755-1756, An Act for regulating the Militia of the Province of Maryland

The Selective Service System, Backgrounds of Selective Service: Military Obligation. The American Tradition a Compilation of the Enactments of Compulsion from the Earliest Settlements of the Original Thirteen Colonies in 1607 through the Articles of Confederation 1789, Ed. Arthur Vollmer, vol. 2 pt. 5 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1947), 92-93.

27.  If the said board of police shall have reason to believe that in the neighborhood of any election polls in the said city or elsewhere, within any election precinct of the same, there is any depot or collection of fire arms or other weapons or ammunition intended to be used for the purpose of intimidating or injuring voters, or interfering with the freedom or peace of any election then pending or approaching, it shall be the duty of said board to apply to the Criminal Court, or some justice of the peace of said city, for a warrant, on proper oath, to search the premises, and the said court or justice shall issue the same without delay, and shall cause the said arms, weapons and ammunition, if found, to be seized and delivered to said board, to be detained until the day after the returns of said election shall have been made, and until the same shall be disposed of by law. 

Full Text: Google Books

That not person, persons house, company, association or body corporate, shall deposit, keep or have in his, her, their or its possession any spirituous or fermented liquors, or intoxicating drinks of any kind whatsoever, or any article used or sold as a beverage in the composition of which, whiskey, brandy, high wines or alcoholic, spirituous or fermented liquors shall be an ingredient or ingredients, in any automobile or other vehicle in which any device for the prevention or arrest or apprehension of said motor vehicle, or the occupants thereof of the type commonly known as a smoke screen is carried, whether the said device be attached as a part of said motor vehicle in which any gun, pistol, revolver, rifle machine gun, or other dangerous or deadly weapon of any kind whatsoever is carried, whether in said automobile or vehicle, or on the person of any occupant of the same.

§ 16c. That it shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, pursue or kill any of the birds or animals named in Section 12, 13, 14 and 14A of this Act, or any insectivorous birds (excepting English sparrows), in Allegany County on Sunday, or on election days, and it shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this Act if any person is found in the fields or woods with on a gun on Sunday or on election days, or to hunt or kill in any trap or destroy any of the birds . . .

That any person who breaks and enters, either by day or by night, any building, whether inhabited or not, and opens or attempts to open any vault, safe or other secure place by the use of nitroglycerine, dynamite, gunpowder or other explosive, shall be deemed guilty of burglary with explosives.

§ 116. It shall be unlawful for any person to shoot a gun, guns, or other firearms, from and off Eastern avenue bridge crossing Back river, in Baltimore county.

It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of twenty-one years to fire a gun, cat rifle, pistol, or any explosive instrument of metal, within one mile in any direction of the Library Hall in Catonsville, Baltimore county; and any person under said age of twenty-one years, violating this section, shall upon conviction before the Circuit Court, or any justice of the peace for said county, be fined a sum not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than five days nor more than thirty days, or be both fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court or the justice of the peace.

§ 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall be unlawful for all persons under the age of fifteen years to carry or have in his or her possession any shot gun, rifle, revolver or other firearm of any description within the limits of Garrett County. § 2. And be it enacted, That any person convicted of violating this Act before any court of competent jurisdiction shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than twenty dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ten nor more than thirty days for each and every offense.

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, body politic or corporate, or other form or association, to practice shooting at any mark, board, sign, tree, bank, or other object with any gun, rifle, cannon, mortar, pistol or other firearm within the limits of this State, whether on land or water, for military drill, amusement or skill, without first obtaining in writing the consent to so use any such firearms of all freeholders, tenants or occupants of real estate residing within the carrying capacity of such firearm, and secondly, without first obtaining leave of the Commissioners of the county within which said shooting is proposed to be carried on, and the petition to said County Commissioners for such leave shall be accompanied with the written consent of each and every of such freeholder, tenant, . . . and the Board of County Commissioners aforesaid shall in no case grant such leave to practice with firearms if in their opinion the use of the public highways or streets of any real estate sub-division be endangered by the use of such firearms . . .

§ 5. And be it enacted, That no person shall trace, track or hunt for any partridge, quail, woodcock, pheasant, rabbit or other game which may be tracked in the snow, while the fields or woods are covered with snow sufficient to permit such tracking; and whosoever shall be found traversing woods or fields with dog or gun, while the same are covered with snow , as aforesaid, shall be deemed prima facie guilty of a violation of this section, and shall pay a fine of ten dollars upon conviction thereof. § 6, And be it enacted, That no person shall hunt for, shoot at or kill from boats or from the shore, with light in the night time, any muskrat, or shall hunt for, shoot at or kill at night with lights any partridge, quail or wild duck, under a penalty of five dollars for every such muskrat, bird or duck so killed; and if at the trial it shall be proved that the person charged with hunting for, shooting at or the killing of the said game in the night time, was at or about the place where the shot was fired, and that he had a gun in his possession on the night in question in the vicinity where such shooting occurred, either prior to, or at the time of, or after the shooting, such fact shall be deemed prima facie evidence of his having violated the provisions of this section, and the offender shall pay a fine of ten dollars therefor.

And be it enacted, That the Commissioners shall have the power, by ordinances duly enacted . . . to regulate or prevent the firing of cannon, guns, pistols, squibs, or any kind of firearms or explosives…

The Common Council shall have power to pass all such ordinances, not contrary to the Constitution and laws of this State, as it may deem necessary to the good government of the town . . . to regulate or prevent the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal oil, benzene, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitro-glycerine, dynamite, giant powder, petroleum, gasoline or gas, or any product thereof, or any other explosive or combustible material or any material which may seem to be dangerous.

No person whatsoever shall hunt with dog or gun on the Lord’s day, commonly called “Sunday,” nor shall profane the Lord’s day by gunning, hunting, fowling, or by shooting or exploding any gun, pistol or firearm of any kind, or by any other unlawful recreation or pastime, and any person violating the provisions of this section shall, for every such offense, upon conviction before any justice of the peace for the county, forfeit the gun, pistol or other firearm used in such violation, and be fined not less than five dollars, nor more than thirty dollars. . .

Ordinances of Baltimore, § 742A. Every person in said city of Baltimore not being a conservator of the peace, entitled or required to carry such weapons as a part of his official equipment, who shall wear or carry any pistol, dirk-knife, bowie-knife, sling-shot, billy, sand-club, metal knuckles, razor or any other dangerous or deadly weapon of any kind whatsoever, (pen knives excepted.) concealed upon or about his person; and every person who shall carry or wear such weapons openly, with the intent or purpose of injuring any person, shall, upon a conviction thereof, be fined not more than five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not more than six months in jail or in the house of correction; that this act shall not release or discharge any person or persons already offending against the general law in such cases made and provided, but any such person or persons may be proceeded against, prosecuted and punished under the general law of this State as if this act had not been passed.

Crimes and Punishments, Rogues and Vagabonds, § 246. If any person shall be apprehended having upon him any pick-lock, key, crow, jack, bit, or other implement, at places and under circumstances from which an intent may be presumed feloniously to break and enter into any dwelling-house, warehouse, store-house, stable or out-house, or shall have upon him any pistol, hanger, cutlass, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon, also at places and under circumstances from which may be presumed an intent feloniously to assault any person, or shall be found in or upon any dwelling-house, warehouse, storehouse, stable or outhouse, or in any enclosed yard or garden or area belonging to any house, with an intent to steal any goods or chattels, every such person shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond, and on being convicted thereof, shall be sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than one month nor more than two years, or to imprisonment in jail, at the discretion of the court, for a like term.

That from and after the passage of this act, it shall not be lawful for any person in Calvert County to carry, on the days of election and primary election, within three hundred yards of the polls, secretly, or otherwise, any gun, pistol, dirk, dirk-knife, razor, billy or bludgeon, and any person violating the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof by the Circuit Court of Calvert County . . . shall be fined not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offense. . .

(description of protected zone with hunting limited to coastal landowners) . . . and any person violating this section, shall, on conviction thereof, before any Justice of the Peace or Circuit Court of the county where such violation occurs, be subject to a penalty for each offense of not less than fifty dollars . . .

Wild Fowl. § 280. It shall be lawful to shoot teal ducks, mallards, black ducks, bald pates, and all other ducks known as marsh ducks, in any manner other than by swivel, gun or big gun, from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset every day, from the fifteenth day of August to the first day of October of each year, on the waters of the Chesapeake bay, lying and being within the bounds prescribed by section 278.

“CHAPTER 547.
AN ACT to amend and re-enact Section thirty (30), of Article twenty-seven (27), of the Code of Public General Laws, entitled “Crimes and Punishments,” sub-title “Concealed Weapons,” and punishing the offense of carrying concealed weapons.

    WHEREAS, It is represented to this General Assembly that the existing law in reference to the offense of carrying concealed weapons does not make proper discrimination in favor of those who travel in dangerous localities, or from other imminent necessity, or prudent precaution in the presence of threatened injury to their lives or persons, may reasonably arm themselves for self-protection; and the law has been made an instrument of injustice to those not deserving of punishment; therefore,
    SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That section thirty (30), of article twenty-seven (27) of the Code of Public General Laws, entitled “Crimes and Punishments,” sub-title “Concealed Weapons,” be and the same is hereby amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

    SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect from the date of its passage.
    Approved April 6th, 1894.”

Full Text: 1894, MD, Maryland Laws, ch. 547, §§ 1-2

Laws of the State of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of the General Assembly Begun and Held at the City of Annapolis on the Third Day of January, 1894, and Ended on the Second Day of April, 1894 (Annapolis, MD: King Bros., 1894), 833-834. Chapter 547—An Act to Amend and Re-enact Section Thirty (30), of Article Twenty-Seven (27), of the Code of Public General Laws, Entitled “Crimes and Punishments,” Sub-title “Concealed Weapons,” and Punishing the Offense of Carrying Concealed Weapons, §§ 1-2. Enacted April 6, 1894.

City of Baltimore, § 742. Whenever any person shall be arrested in the city of Baltimore, charged with any crime or misdemeanor, or for being drunk or disorderly, or for any breach of the peace, and shall be taken before any of the police justices of the peace of the said city, and any such person shall be found to have concealed about his person any pistol, dirk knife, bowie-knife, sling-shot, billy, brass, iron or any other metal knuckles, razor, or any other deadly weapon whatsoever, such person shall be subject to a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars in the discretion of the police justice of the peace before whom such person may be taken, and the confiscation of the weapon so found, which said fine shall be collected as other fines are now collected; provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to those persons who, as conservators of the peace are entitled or required to carry a pistol or other weapon as a part of their official equipment.

. . . the special police appointed by this act are authorized to arrest any person or persons who may be discovered in the act of hunting or shooting crippled ducks, or in purloining ducks that have been killed by other persons having a proper license to shoot, as well as other persons violating the provisions of this section, and upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace of Cecil or Harford Counties, the license of such persons or persons shall be revoked, and such persons or persons, whether licensed or not, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars for each offense, and shall forfeit the boat and gun or guns, and material so employed in violation of the provisions of this section, which boat and gun or guns, and material shall be sold, and the proceeds of such fine and sale, after the costs of prosecution have been paid, shall go to the officer or officers making the arrest. . .