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Yes, I've known about this little known act. It was passed in response to several groups that formed up their own privete militias. We're talking KKK and other like minded groups. Today it would be the Aryan Brotherhood and other similar groups.
These folks were building their own private armies. Guns, canons, ammo and ammo dumps. In 1902 this law was passed to put them out of business and confiscate thier arms. The law was upheld by the supreme court and has never been revoked.
1902 was a pretty wild time in both the US and Europe. You had anarchist, communist, socialist, social Darwinist, the eugenics movement, the KKK and any number of other radical groups in play. Some European countries actually lost control of many areas of their counties to these groups. (Italy was the most notable) The lid blew off in 1914 with the advent of WW1.
Today we don't even consider private armies as legitimate, but it was an open question in 1902.
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