Gun Regulation

Gun Regulation or gun control, as it is commonly referred to now, is not new to the United States. The issue of concealed weapons, in particular, was commonly legislated in individual municipalities and states. (The right to keep and bear arms for common and personal defense was commonly recognized at the state level.) Even in the 19th century, a permit was often required for the privilege of carrying a concealed weapon, usually after just cause was given and accepted. The theory behind the regulation of concealed weapons was that hiding them suggested nefarious intent. The privilege of carrying concealed weapons, however, was extended without the need for a permit to a select few — almost always to travelers passing through cities or on journeys and to citizens who could prove that they feared for their lives and property while in the city. Concealed weaponry was a hot topic, even then, in some cities. Louisville (Kentucky) debated the issue often in its newspapers. Kentucky settled the issue in 1871, banning the carrying of concealed “deadly weapons.” Even so, the new statute allowed for carrying concealed weapons “when a person has reasonable grounds to believe his person or the person of some of his family, or his property is in immediate danger from violence or crime” [Ky. Acts 89, An Act To Prohibit The Carrying of Concealed Deadly Weapons, 1871]. Those engaged in policing (sheriffs, constables, policemen) were exempt from the law, during the prosecution of their duties [Ky. Gen. Stat. Chap. 29, §1, 1880]. An 1859 Ohio law was to the point: “Whoever shall carry a weapon or weapons, concealed on or about his person, such as a pistol, bowie knife, dirk, or any other dangerous weapon, shall be deemed guilty” [Act of March 18, 1859, §1: Ohio Laws at 56]. West Virginia, in 1870, provided for a fine of $50, half of it going to informers, for “any person, habitually, carry about his person, hid from common observation, any pistol, dirk, bowie knife, or weapon of the like kind” [West Va. Code Chap. 148 §7]. The state’s code also provided for the “reasonable cause” to “go armed with a deadly or dangerous weapon,” requiring, however, such person give a recognizance [West Va. Code Chap. 153, §8]

While most people agreed, in theory, that something should be done about the random gun violence in their home towns, many people ignored any statutes regarding permits. Judge Nathaniel Harrison, of the newly-formed West Virginia Circuit Court, was the poster boy for thumbing his nose at such inconvenient statutes. In the 1860s, he was widely known to flaunt his own state’s regulations against carrying concealed weapons. (Harrison resigned in 1870 rather than face an onslaught of charges, among which carrying a concealed weapon was arguably his least offense.)

The issue of concealed weapons implies that carrying openly was perfectly acceptable, and it may have been, but it would have been difficult to do so until late in the 19th century, until the convenient gun belt came into general production. Until that time, guns could be worn at the waist using a holster clipped to the waistband. Given the cut and length of men’s suit coats at the time, however, doing so would almost always conceal the weapon; and no self-respecting man appeared in public without a coat of some kind. This is not to say that women did not carry guns, but, like the men, carrying so openly (lawfully) would have been difficult given the manner of dress and also given the culture at the time, that frowned on women engaging in any “mannish” behavior. Concealed weapons covered by most legislation, by the way, included Bowie knives, dirks, blades concealed in canes, and brass knuckles. Excluded from this list, in Baltimore, were oyster hammers and oyster knives.