An Act Forbidding Firing Guns as Part of Drinking-Related Festivities, no. 12, 1656* Va. Acts 401, 401–2 (R. & W. & G. Bartow 1823) (Law Passed 1656).
“ACT XII.
WHEREAS it is much to be doubted, That the common enemie the Indians, if opportunity serve, would suddenly invade this collony to a totall subversion of the same, and whereas the only means for the discovery of their plotts is by allarms, of which no certainty can be had in respect of the frequent shooting of gunns in drinking, whereby they proclaim, and as it were, justifie that beastly vice spending much powder in vaine, that might be reserved against the common enemite, Be it therefore enacted that what person or persons soever shall, after publication hereof, shoot any gunns at drinkeing (marriages and ffuneralls onely excepted,) that such person or persons so offending shall forfeit 100 lb. of tobacco to be levied by distresse in case of refusall and to be disposed of by the militia in amunition towards a magazine for the country where the offence shall be comitted.”
William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619; Published Pursuant to an Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, Passed on the Fifth Day of February One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight, vol. 1 (New York, NY: R. & W. & G. Bartow, 1823), 401–02. Act 12. Passed March 10, 1656.
* Dates falling between January 1 and March 24 in early English and colonial records are often given according to the English legal (or “Old Style”) year, which began on March 25 (Lady Day), rather than January 1. In this context, “Old Style” refers to the commencement of the legal year, not to the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. To avoid ambiguity, contemporaries frequently employed dual dating (e.g., “1655/56”), indicating both the year as reckoned under the March 25 new year and the year as reckoned under the modern January 1 system. Accordingly, March 10, 1655/56 corresponds to March 10, 1656 in modern usage. Page 393 of the attached document contains a footnote explaining the practice of dual dating in greater detail. Also, see C. R. Cheney, Handbook of Dates for Students of English History (London, UK: Royal Historical Society, 1970; originally published 1945), 5.
Original source document from HathiTrust: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hw2scp.