Guns and Alcohol

This page collects resources for defending laws regulating the combination of guns and alcohol (or other drugs) against Second Amendment challenges. Additional resources will be added over time. Historical laws are also available at the Repository of Historical Gun Laws at Duke Law School. Please get in touch with any questions you might have about these resources, methodology in Second Amendment cases, or any other issues you confront in defending gun safety laws.

Historical Laws

Prohibitions on Firearms Where Liquor Is Sold

1. New Mexico: 1852 N.M. Laws 67, § 3 (prohibiting “any person to enter said Ball or room adjoining said ball where Liquors are sold, or to remain in said balls or Fandangos with fire arms or other deadly weapons, whether they be shown or concealed upon their persons”) [HeinOnline]
2. New Orleans, Louisiana: Edwin L. Jewell, The Laws and Ordinances of the City of New Orleans 1 (1882) (§ 1) (prohibiting carrying “a dangerous weapon, concealed or otherwise, into any theatre, public hall, tavern, picnic ground, place for shows or exhibitions, house or other place of public entertainment or amusement”) (enacted 1879) [Hathi]
3. Oklahoma: Will T. Little et al., Statutes of Oklahoma, 1890, at 496 (1891) (§ 7) (prohibiting carrying any pistol, revolver, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slung-shot, sword cane, spear, billy, metal knuckles, “or any other offensive or defensive weapon”  to “any … place where persons are assembled … for amusement, … or into any circus, show or public exhibition of any kind, or into any ball room, or to any social party or social gathering, … or to any place where intoxicating liquors are sold”) [HeinOnline]

Prohibitions on Firearms at Balls and Other Social Gatherings

1. New Orleans, Louisiana: Jerome Bayon, General Digest of the Ordinances and Resolutions of the Corporation of New Orleans 371 (1831) (art. 1) (prohibiting “any person to enter into a public ball-room with any cane, stick, sword or any other weapon”  and requiring weapons be checked before entering a ball room) (enacted 1817) [Hathi]
2. Texas: 1870 Tex. Gen. Laws 63, ch. 46, § 1 (prohibiting carrying any “bowie-knife, dirk or butcher-knife, or fire-arms” at “a ball room, social party or other social gathering composed of ladies and gentlemen”) [HeinOnline]
3. Tennessee: 1869-70 Tenn. Pub. Acts 23-24, ch. 22, § 2 (prohibiting “any person attending any fair, race course, or other public assembly of the people” to carry “any pistol, dirk, bowie-knife, Arkansas tooth-pick, or weapon in form, shape or size, resembling a bowie-knife, or Arkansas tooth-pick, or other deadly or dangerous weapon”) [HeinOnline]
4. Missouri: 1875 Mo. Laws 50-51, § 1 (prohibiting carrying “any kind of fire arms, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slung shot, or other deadly weapon” to “any place where people may be assembled for … social purposes … or into any other public assemblage of persons met for other than militia drill, or meetings called under the militia law of this state”) [HeinOnline]
5. Arizona: 1889 Ariz. Sess. Laws 17, no. 13, §§ 3, 7 (prohibiting carrying “a pistol or other firearm, dirk, dagger, slung shot, sword cane, spear, brass knuckles, bowie knife, or any other kind of a knife manufactured and sold for the purposes of offense or defense” to any “place where persons are assembled for amusement … or into any circus, show or public exhibition of any kind or into a ball room, social party or social gathering, … or to any other public assembly” and requiring “the keeper of each and every hotel, boarding house and drinking saloon” to post notice of carrying regulations) [HeinOnline]
6. Montana: 1903 Mont. Laws 49-50, ch. 35, § 3 (prohibiting carrying concealed any “pistol or other firearm, dirk, dagger, slung shot, sword cane, knuckles, or bowie knife” at “any …  place where persons are assembled for amusement …, or into any circus, show, or public exhibition of any kind, or into a ball room, social party, or social gathering, … or at any public assembly”) [HeinOnline]

Prohibitions on Weapon Sales to People Who Are Intoxicated or Addicted to Alcohol or Drugs

1. Mississippi: 1878 Miss. Laws 175-76, ch. 46, § 2 (“That it shall not be lawful for any person to sell to … any person intoxicated, knowing him to be … in a state of intoxication, any [bowie knife, pistol, brass knuckles, slung shot or other deadly weapon], or any pistol cartridge.”) [HeinOnline]
2. Red Bud, Illinois: Alfred D. Riess, The Revised Ordinances of the City of Red Bud 77 (1907) (§ 269) (“Whoever shall, within the limits of this City, by himself or agent, sell, give, loan, hire or barter, or offer so to do, to … any intoxicated person any pistol, revolver, derringer, slung shot, cross knuckle, knuckles of lead, brass or other metal, bowie knife, dirk, dagger or other dangerous or deadly weapon or thing, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.”) [PDF]
3. Yazoo City, Mississippi: E. R. Holmes, The Charter and Code of the Ordinances of Yazoo City 174 (1908) (§ 297) (“It shall not be lawful for any person to sell, give, or lend to any … person intoxicated, knowing him to be … in a state of intoxication, any deadly weapon, or other weapon the carrying of which concealed is prohibited, or pistol cartridge[.]”) [PDF]
4. Delaware: 1911 Del. Laws 28-29, ch. 15, § 3 (“It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, or a member of any firm, or the agents or officers of any corporations to sell to … any intoxicated person, any revolver, pistol, or revolver or other pistol cartridges, stiletto, steel or brass knuckles, or other deadly weapons, made especially for the defense of one’s person.”) [HeinOnline]
5. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Arthur C. Pulling, Minneapolis City Charter and Ordinances 774 (1926) (“No person shall hereafter, within the City of Minneapolis, sell, give or deliver to … any intoxicated person, or to any person under the influence of intoxicating liquors of any kind, or to any person under the influence of opium, cocaine, or chloral hydrate, or any of their compounds or derivatives, or to any person under the influence of any narcotic or drug whatever, any firearms, gun, pistol, cartridge, percussion cap, powder or any other explosive whatever.”) (enacted 1916) [Google Books]
6. Denver, Colorado: Henry A. Lindsley, The Municipal Code of the City and County of Denver 674 (1917) (§ 1447) (“No person shall sell, loan or furnish any gun, pistol or other firearm in which any explosive substance can be used, to any intoxicated person or person known to be under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or of any morphine, cocaine or any other stupefying or inebriating substance[.]”) [Hathi]
7. Pennsylvania: 1931 Pa. Laws 499, no. 158, § 8 (“No person shall deliver a firearm … to one who he has reasonable cause to believe has been convicted of a crime of violence, or is a drug addict, an habitual drunkard, or of unsound mind.”) [HeinOnline]
8. District of Columbia: 47 Stat. 652, § 7 (1932) (“No person shall within the District of Columbia sell any pistol to a person who he has reasonable cause to believe is not of sound mind, or is a drug addict[.]”) [HeinOnline]
9. South Dakota: 1935 S.D. Sess. Laws 356, ch. 208, § 8 (“No person shall deliver a pistol … to one who he has reasonable cause to believe has been convicted of a crime of violence, or is a drug addict, an habitual drunkard, or of unsound mind.”) [HeinOnline]
10. Washington: 1935 Wash. Sess. Laws 601, ch. 172, § 8 (“No person shall deliver a pistol … to one who he has reasonable cause to believe has been convicted of a crime of violence, or is a drug addict, an habitual drunkard, or of unsound mind.”) [HeinOnline]
11. Alabama: 1936 Ala. Laws 52, no. 82, § 8 (“No person shall deliver a pistol … to one who he has reasonable cause to believe has been convicted of a crime of violence, or is a drug addict, and habitual drunkard, or of unsound mind.”) [HeinOnline]

Prohibitions on Carrying While Intoxicated

1. Kansas: 1867 Kan. Sess. Laws 25, ch. 12, § 1 (“[A]ny person under the influence of intoxicating drink … who shall be found within the limits of this State, carrying on his person a pistol, bowie-knife, dirk or other deadly weapon, shall be subject to arrest upon charge of misdemeanor[.]”) [HeinOnline]
2. Missouri: John A. Hockaday et al., The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, 1879, at 224 (1879) (§ 1274) (“If any person … shall have or carry [any kind of firearms, bowie-knife, dirk, dagger, slung-shot, or other deadly weapon] upon or about his person when intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating drinks … he shall, upon conviction, be punished[.]”) [Hathi]
3. Boonville, Missouri: J. H. Johnston, The Revised Charter and Ordinances of the City of Boonville, Mo. 91 (1881) (§ 6) (“If any person … shall have or carry [any pistol, revolver, dirk, dagger, slungshot, knuckels of metal, or other deadly or dangerous weapon] upon or about his person while intoxicated, he shall upon conviction thereof be fined[.]”) [PDF]
4. Wisconsin: 1883 Wis. Sess. Laws 290, ch. 329, § 3 (“It shall be unlawful for any person in a state of intoxication, to go armed with any pistol or revolver.”) [HeinOnline]
5. Oklahoma: Will T. Little et al., Statutes of Oklahoma, 1890, at 495 (1891) (§ 4) (prohibiting officers to carry arms “while under the influence of intoxicating drinks”) [HeinOnline]
6. Arizona: 1907 Ariz. Sess. Laws 15, ch. 16, § 1 (“It shall be unlawful for any constable or other peace officer in the Territory of Arizona, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor of any kind, to carry or have on his person a pistol, gun, or other firearm, or while so intoxicated to strike any person, or to strike at any person with a pistol, gun or other firearm[.]”) [HeinOnline]
7. Idaho: 1909 Id. Sess. Laws 6, no. 62, § 1 (“If any person … shall have or carry [any dirk, dirk knife, bowie knife, dagger, slung shot, pistol, revolver, gun or any other deadly or dangerous weapon] upon or about his person when intoxicated, or under the influence of intoxicating drinks … he shall upon conviction, be punished[.]”) [HeinOnline]
8. New Jersey: 1916 N.J. Laws 275, ch. 130, § 1 (“It shall be unlawful for any person to go into the woods or fields at any time with a gun or firearm when intoxicated or under the influence of any drug or drugs or of intoxicating liquor.”) [HeinOnline]
9. West Virginia: 1925 W. Va. Acts 25, ch. 3, § 7(a) (requiring that persons applying for a license to carry “any revolver or other pistol, dirk, bowie-knife, slung shot, razor, billy, metallic or other false knuckles, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon of like kind or character” be “not addicted to intoxication”) [HeinOnline]
10. Michigan: 1931 Mich. Pub. Acts 671, ch. 37, § 237 (“Any person under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any exhilarating or stupefying drug who shall carry, have in possession or under control, or use in any manner or discharge any fire-arm within this state, whall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”) [HeinOnline]

Prohibitions on Being Drunk at or Selling Alcohol Near a Militia Muster and Other Militia Regulations

1. Boston, Massachusetts: General Court for Elections, Boston (1679), available in Arthur Vollmer, Military Obligation: The American Tradition, A Compilation of the Enactments of Compulsion From the Earliest Settlements of the Original Thirteen Colonies in 1607 Through the Articles of Confederation 1789, at 125, pt. 6, Massachusetts (1947) (“[N]o person whatsoever shall presume to bring into the feild and sell by retayle upon such occasions [militia training days] any wine, strong liquor, cider, or any other inebriating drinckes, excepting beere of a penny a quart, unless he or they so doing have license from the hands of two magistrates, or the cheife military officer or officers in the feild[.]”) (spelling in original) [Internet Archive]
2. New Jersey: An Act for better settling and regulating the Militia of this Colony of New-Jersey, for the repelling Invasions, and Suppressing Insurrections and Rebellions (1746) (§§ 3, 23), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 25, pt. 8, New Jersey (1947) (“3. … if any Soldier shall, during that Time, …  appear in Arms disguised in Liquor, it shall and may be lawful for the Captain or Commanding Officer to disarm such Soldier at the Head of his Company, and to set a Centinel over him during the Time of the Company’s being in Arms and no longer, or to fine him … 23. … no Innholder, or any other Person or Persons whatsoever, without Leave from the Captain or Commanding Officer for the Time being, shall presume to sell any strong Liquor to any of the Persons so listed, in such Days or Times that they are obliged to appear in Arms at the Place of Mustering or Training, or within a Mile thereof, until after they are dismissed for that Day[.]”) [Internet Archive]
3. Delaware: An Act for Establishing a Militia in this Government (1756), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 13, pt. 3, Delaware (1947) (“[B]e it further enacted by the authority Aofresaid that no Captain or other Officer shall Appoint any place of Meeting for his Company (town Companys only Excepted) within the Distance of half a mile of any Inn or Tavern and that no person or persons shall presume to keep a Booth or tent or expose to sale at or Bring on any Pretence whatsoever any strong Liquor to such place of Meeting[.]”) [Internet Archive]
4. Maryland: An Act for Regulating the Militia of the Province of Maryland (1756), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 93, pt. 5, Maryland (1947) (“[A]ny Person of the Militia who shall get drunk on any Muster-day before or at Muster shall forfeit the Sum of Ten Shillings Current Money and any Person who shall presume to vend Sell or Dispose of any Strong Liquor at any Place of training or at any other Place within Five Miles of any Place of training to any Person belonging to the Militia on any Muster day except between the Time of Discharge from such Training for that day and the Sun sitting thereof Such Person so vending selling or disposing of Such Strong Liquors Shall forfeit and pay the Sum of Five Pounds Current Money[.]”) [Internet Archive]
5. Georgia: An Act For the better ordering of the Militia of this Province (1765) (§ XIX), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 60, pt. 4, Georgia (1947) (“[I]f any such militia-man be drunk at the time of his exercising, the majority of the officers of the troop or company to which such person belongs, if the offence shall be committed in a single troop or company, or any two field officers of the regiment to which such person shall belong, if the offence shall be committed in a regiment, shall have full power and authority to inflect on the person so offending any pecuniary mulct not exceeding ten shillings Sterling[.]”) [Internet Archive]
6. Connecticut: An Act for regulating and ordering the Troops that are, or may be raised, for the Defence of this Colony (1775) (art. XIX), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 188, pt. 2, Connecticut (1947) (“That whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall be found drunk on his Guard, Party, or other Duty under Arms, shall be cashiered for it: Any Non-Commissioned Officer or Soldier, so offending, shall suffer such Punishment as shall be ordered by the Sentence of a Regimental Court-Martial.”) [Internet Archive]
7. Pennsylvania: An Act to regulate the Militia of the Common-Wealth of Pennsylvania (1777) (§§ IX-X), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 38, pt. 11, Pennsylvania (1947) (“IX. Any officer or private man found drunk when under arms, shall be suspended from doing duty in the battalion, company or troop on that day, and be fined at the discretion of a General or Regimental Court Martial. X. Whatever centinel shall be found sleeping or drunk on his post, or shall leave it before he is regularly relieved, shall be fined at the discretion of a Court Martial.”) [Internet Archive]
8. Pennsylvania: An Act for the Regulation of the Militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1780) (§ XLV and § XLVIII(12)), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 97, pt. 11, Pennsylvania (1947) (“[A]nd if any non-commissioned officer or private shall, on any occasion of parading the company to which he belongs … be found drunk … he shall be disarmed and put under guard … and shall be fined … No company or battalion shall meet at a tavern on any of the days of exercise, nor shall march to any tavern before they are discharged; and any person who shall bring any kind of spiritous liquor to any such place of training shall forfeit such liquors so brought for the use of the poor belonging to the township where such offender lives.”) [Internet Archive]
9. South Carolina: An Act for the Regulation of the Militia of this State (1782) (§ 5(7)), available in Military Obligation: The American Tradition 96, pt. 13, South Carolina (1947) (“Any officer or private who shall be found drunk on guard, or at any other time of duty, if an officer, be cashiered and turned into the ranks, or receive such other punishment as the court shall inflict; if a non-commissioned officer or private, he shall be confined til sober, and serve ten days longer than he was otherwise liable to.”) [Internet Archive]
10. Rhode Island: 1844 R.I. Pub. Laws 503-16, § 1 and § 45 (excluding “common drunkards” from persons required to enroll in the militia and prohibiting non-commissioned officers and privates from carrying loaded firearms “to any place of parade”) [HeinOnline]
11. Vermont: 1852 Vt. Acts & Resolves 25, no. 24, § 15 (compelling law enforcement and local officials with “information that any intoxicating liquor is kept or sold in any tent, shanty, hut or place of any kind for selling refreshments in any public place, except dwelling houses, on or near the ground of any … military muster” to search the premises and apprehend the owner) [HeinOnline]
12. Rhode Island: 1853 R.I. Acts & Resolves 238 (compelling law enforcement and local officials with “information that any ale, wine, rum, or other strong or malt liquors, or any mixed liquors as aforesaid, are kept for sale or sold in any tent, shanty, hut or place of any kind for selling refreshments in any public place, on or near the ground of any … military muster” to search the premises and apprehend the owner) [HeinOnline]
13. Maine: 1856 Me. Laws 302, ch. 265, § 73 (enabling the closing of “any booth, shed, or other temporary erection, situated within one mile of any muster field … used and occupied for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors”) [HeinOnline]
14. Connecticut: 1859 Conn. Pub. Acts 62, ch. 82, § 5 (enabling the closing of “any booth, shed, tent, or other temporary erection, within one mile of any military parade-ground, muster-field or encampment … used and occupied for the sale of spirituous or intoxicating liquor”) [HeinOnline]
15. Pennsylvania: 1875 Pa. Laws 48, no. 52, § 1 (prohibiting “any booth, stall, tent, carriage, boat, vessel, or any other place whatever, for the purpose of selling, giving, or otherwise disposing of any spirituous, vinous or malt liquors, or cider, or any fermented liquors whatsoever, or any admixtures thereof, or any liquid compounded or composed, in whole or part, of alcohol, or any other intoxicating drink whatever, … within three miles of the place of holding any soldiers’ encampment or re-union in this state, during the time of holding such encampment or re-union”) [HeinOnline]
16. Ohio: 1886 Ohio Laws 100, ch. 4, § 3079 (sanctioning persons who “shall temporarily erect any stand, booth, or other structure for the purpose of exposing for sale, giving, bartering, or otherwise dispose of any spirituous or other intoxicating liquors whatsoever, at or within a distance of one mile from any such parade or encampment”) [HeinOnline]
17. Iowa: 1896 Iowa Acts 104, ch. 102, § 22 (prohibiting the sale of “any malt, spirituous, or other intoxicating liquors within one mile of [the encampment grounds, or the camp grounds of the guard in active service]”) [HeinOnline]

Other

1. Chicago, Illinois: George Manierre, The Revised Charter and Ordinances of the City of Chicago 124 (1851) (§ 6) (prohibiting granting permits to keep, sell, or give away gun powder or gun cotton to “any retailer of intoxicating liquors or to any intemperate person”) [PDF]
2. Virginia: 1655 Va. Acts 401-402, act XII (“Be it therefore enacted that what person or persons soever shall, after publication hereof, shoot any gunns at drinking (marriages and funerails only excepted,) that such person or persons so offending shall forfeit 100 lb. of tobacco to be levied by distresse in case of refusal and to be disposed of by the militia in ammunition towards a magazine for the country where the offence shall be committed.”) [Internet Archive]