Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Frassetto, "Firearms and Weapons Legislation up to the Early 20th Century"

Helping bring history to bear on a timely topic, Mark Anthony Frassetto (Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. candidate(?)) has posted "Firearms and Weapons Legislation up to the Early 20th Century." He describes the document as "a compilation of state firearms and weapons legislation from the colonial era until the start of the twentieth century." Here's the rest of the abstract:
This research provides a comprehensive view of firearm and weapons regulations during this era. This document was created in an attempt to understand the historic scope of the Second Amendment in the wake of the Supreme Court's Heller and McDonald decisions. Relevant legislation is categorized by type as well as historical era. Sources are divided into four historical periods: (1) English, which includes English statutes up to the split with the American colonies in 1776; (2) Colonial, which includes statutes passed within the American colonies beginning in 1607 and continuing to the ratification of the Constitution in 1791; (3) Pre-14th Amendment; and (4) Post-14th Amendment.
The full version is available here, at SSRN. (Hat tip: bookforum)