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44  NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSN., INC. v. BRUEN 

Opinion of the Court 

deadly weapons per se, but only the carrying of such weap-
ons “for the purpose of an affray, and in such manner as to 
strike terror to the people.”  O’Neil v. State, 16 Ala. 65, 67 
(1849).  Therefore, those who sought to carry firearms pub-
licly and peaceably in antebellum America were generally 
free to do so. 

Statutory Prohibitions.  In the early to mid-19th century,
some States began enacting laws that proscribed the con-
cealed carry of pistols and other small weapons.  As we rec-
ognized in Heller, “the majority of the 19th-century courts
to  consider  the  question  held  that  [these]  prohibitions  on 
carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second 
Amendment  or  state  analogues.”    554  U. S.,  at  626.    Re-
spondents  unsurprisingly  cite  these  statutes16—and  deci-
sions upholding them17—as evidence that States were his-
torically free to ban public carry.

In  fact,  however,  the  history  reveals  a  consensus  that
States could not ban public carry altogether.  Respondents’ 
—————— 

16 Beginning in 1813 with Kentucky, six States (five of which were in
the  South)  enacted  laws  prohibiting  the  concealed  carry  of  pistols  by 
1846.  See 1813 Ky. Acts §1, p. 100; 1813 La. Acts p. 172; 1820 Ind. Acts 
p. 39; Ark. Rev. Stat. §13, p. 280 (1838); 1838 Va. Acts ch. 101, §1, p. 76;
1839 Ala. Acts no. 77, §1.  During this period, Georgia enacted a law that
appeared to prohibit both concealed and open carry, see 1837 Ga. Acts 
§§1, 4, p. 90, but the Georgia Supreme Court later held that the prohibi-
tion could not extend to open carry consistent with the Second Amend-
ment.  See infra, at 45–46.  Between 1846 and 1859, only one other State, 
Ohio,  joined  this  group.  1859  Ohio  Laws  §1,  p. 56.    Tennessee,  mean-
while,  enacted  in  1821  a  broader  law  that  prohibited  carrying,  among 
other  things,  “belt  or  pocket  pistols,  either  public  or  private,”  except 
while traveling.  1821 Tenn. Acts ch. 13, §1, p. 15.  And the Territory of 
Florida  prohibited  concealed  carry  during  this  same  timeframe.    See 
1835 Terr. of Fla. Laws p. 423. 

17 See State v. Mitchell, 3 Blackf. 229 (Ind. 1833); State v. Reid, 1 Ala. 
612, 616 (1840); State v. Buzzard, 4 Ark. 18 (1842); Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. 
243 (1846); State v. Chandler, 5 La. 489 (1850); State v. Smith, 11 La. 
633 (1856); State v. Jumel, 13 La. 399 (1858).  But see Bliss v. Common-
wealth,  12  Ky.  90  (1822).    See  generally  2  J.  Kent,  Commentaries  on 
American Law *340, n. b.