At 7:45 PM -0600 9/22/04, Clayton E. Cramer wrote:
Professor Cornell responded, with a copy of the statute. (Thanks.)
It is actually not a gunpowder storage
law, but one that prohibits leaving loaded firearms in homes or
buildings--and for an interesting and unsurprising
reason: it put people who were trying to put fires out at risk. This
makes perfect sense, because house fires
were common at the time.
____
I have a book on fortress design that makes it clear that 18th
century engineers were well aware of the touchy nature of black
powder. Design features for an armory included wooden floors without
exposed nailheads (risk of striking a spark if something fell) and
ventilation systems that forced air to make several turns before
entering building. Reason for the latter was the risk that a house
fire might send embers drifting into the armory. And these were
design requirements for the government's own powder storage!
House fires were not at all infrequent, given that food was cooked
over open fires, and all lighting was by candle. I recall hearing
that the custom in VA was to design the kitchen as a separate
outbuilding, so that when (rather than if) it went up in flames, at
least the house was spared.
--
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- that 1786 law about loaded guns in Boston Clayton E. Cramer
- David T. Hardy
