1851 R.I. Pub. Laws 9, An Act In Amendment Of An Act Entitled An Act Relating To Theatrical Exhibitions And Places Of Amusement, §§ 1-2

§ 1. No pistol gallery, or rifle gallery, or any other building, or enclosure, where fire arms are used for practicing in firing with ball or shot, shall hereafter be kept in the compact part of the town of Newport, under a penalty of two hundred dollars for the first offence and five hundred dollars for every subsequent offense; to be recovered, to and for the use of the State, by indictment in any court proper to try the same. And the town council of said town is hereby authorized and directed to define the limits of the compact part of said town, which limits shall be taken and deemed, to all intents under this act, to comprehend the compact part of the town. § 2: The town council of said town is hereby authorized and required to assess, levy and collect a tax not exceeding two hundred dollars per annum on any person who shall own or keep a pistol gallery, rifle gallery, or other building or enclosure, referred to in the preceding section, which tax shall be collected and appropriated in the same manner as is provided in the fifth section of the act of which this is an amendment in regard to the tax therein mentioned.