§ 12. If any negro shall keep or carry a gun, or other deadly weapon, powder, or shot, the same may be seized by any free white person; and upon due proof thereof, before a justice of the peace, it shall be forfeited, and vested in the person seizing; and if the negro offending be a slave, he shall by a judgment of a justice of the peace, be punished by stripes not exceeding thirty-nine; if a free negro, fined five dollars.