322 CHIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. [ART. 27

Concealed Weapons.

1904, art. 27, sec. 33. 1888, art. 27, sec. 30. 1886, ch. 375. 1894, ch. 547. 1904,
ch. 114. 1914, ch. 146, sees. 30, 30A & 30B.

39.* Every person who shall wear or carry any pistol, dirk-knife,
bowie knife, slung shot, billy, sand club, metal knuckles, razor, or any
other dangerous or deadly weapon of any kind whatsoever (pen knives
excepted) concealed upon or about his person, and every person who
shall wear or carry any such weapon openly with the intent or purpose
of. injuring any person in any unlawful manner, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than
one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in jail, or the Maryland House
of Correction, for not more than two years; and in cases of conviction,
if it shall appear from the evidence that such weapon was carried, con-
cealed as aforesaid or openly, with the deliberate purpose of injuring
the person or destroying the life of another, the court, or justice of the
peace, presiding in the case, shall impose the highest sentence of im-
prisonment hereinbefore prescribed.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the carrying of
any of the weapons mentioned in the preceding paragraph of this sec-
tion by an officer of this State, or of any County or City therein, who is
entitled or required to carry such weapon as part of his official equip-
ment, or by any conservator of the peace, who is entitled or required to
carry such weapon as part of his official equipment, or by any officer or
conservator of the peace of some other State temporarily sojourning in
this State, or by any special agent of a railway, or by any person who
shall carry such weapon as a reasonable precaution against apprehended
danger, but the tribunal before which any case arising under the pro-
visions of this section may be tried, shall have the right to judge of the
reasonableness of the carrying of any such weapon, and the proper occa-
sion therefor, under the evidence in the case.

All prosecutions for violations of the provisions of this section may
be either upon presentment and indictment in any court having criminal
jurisdiction in this- State, or by trial before any justice of the peace in
and for the County or city where the offense occurs, and jurisdiction
original and concurrent with the said courts having criminal jurisdic-
tion is hereby given to the said justices of the peace, and they shall have
power to issue all processes and do all Acts which may be necessary for
the exercise of said jurisdiction, and may try and determine all such
cases and may pronounce judgment and impose sentence therein to the
same extent as the aforesaid courts having criminal jurisdiction could
do in such cases, if such cases were tried before such court without a
jury; provided, however, that if any person, when brought before any
such justice having jurisdiction of the case, shall, before the trial for

*The act of 1914, chapter 146, repealed and re-enacted section 30 of the Code of
1888 and added two additional sections to be known as sections 30A and 30B
of said code. Section 30 of the code of 1888 becomes section 39 of this code, and
for purposes of convenience, the two additional sections provided for by said act
are here codified as a part of section 39. The paragraphs in section 39 indicate
the beginning of the two new sections.