18 total bills, 1 anti-gun bills,
0 pro-gun bills for this session
Proposed Delaware Firearm Legislation
18 total bills, 1 anti-gun bills,
0 pro-gun bills for this session
2013-2014 Session2015-2016 Session2017-2018 Session2019-2020 Session2021-2022 Session2023-2024 Session
Filter: Click on bill number for details. jump to upper chamber
note: Delaware carries over legislation from odd-numbered years to even numbered years without exception
Title: Recognizing Histiocytic Disorders As Rare And Impactful Diseases Which Require Increased Research Funding.
Description: This House Concurrent Resolution recognizes histiocytic disorders as serious orphan or rare diseases which affect 1 in 150,000. Further, this resolution emphasizes the lack of public awareness about these diseases and encourages strong efforts to develop cures.
Last Action: Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 20 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: March 20, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 And Title 24 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Criminal History Background Checks In Connection With The Sale Or Transfer Of Firearms.
Description: Federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) are required to perform criminal history background checks on prospective firearms purchasers. However, when the sale or transfer of a firearm does not involve a licensed dealer, no background check is required. This is an enormous loophole—one in which convicted felons, minors and other prohibited purchasers can readily avoid background checks and more easily acquire guns. This bill would require that a criminal history background check be performed in connection with the sale or transfer of all firearms, with a few exceptions noted below. Background checks would be performed by licensed firearms dealers, who are already required to conduct a background check whenever they sell a firearm or when requested by private parties. Dealers would be required to maintain records of such background checks in accordance with state and federal law. Background checks would not be required in private party transactions (1) in which the buyer or transferee is a member of the seller or transferor’s immediate family (parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling or spouse); (2) involving antique firearms and certain replicas thereof; (3) involving the return by a licensed pawnbroker of a firearm to the person from whom it was received; or (4) involving qualified active duty and retired law-enforcement officers. Persons who violate this act would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for a first offense. Any subsequent offense would be a class G felony.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: May 8, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Prohibited Conduct In Connection With Large-capacity Magazines.
Description: This bill would prohibit the manufacture, sale, purchase, transfer or delivery of large-capacity magazines, which are defined as ammunition feeding devices with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds. Acknowledging that thousands of law-abiding Delawareans currently possess large-capacity magazines lawfully, the bill would make such possession unlawful only if it occurs in a public place while in possession of a firearm capable of accepting it. Possession of a large-capacity magazine would not be unlawful in areas that are not public places, and an exception exists to allow the possession and use of large-capacity magazines at shooting ranges. Persons who violate this Act would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a class G felony for any subsequent offense.
Last Action: Reported Out of Committee (HOUSE ADMINISTRATION) in House with 3 On Its Merits
Last Action Date: May 1, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 22 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Firearms And Ammunition.
Description: This bill allows the City of Wilmington to enact laws, ordinances and regulations relating to firearms.
Last Action: Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House
Last Action Date: March 21, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Deadly Weapons, Firearms Or Destructive Weapons.
Description: This Act will increase the protections against criminal firearms violence afforded to our children by creating a new crime called Possession of a Firearm or Destructive Weapon in a Safe School Zone. The Act will ban the possession of firearms in schools and on school property. Firearms or destructive weapons that are possessed on private property or in private residences, businesses or motor vehicles on public roadways are exempt from the ban, as are firearms in motor vehicles that are on school property to facilitate attendance at a legitimate school function. Possession of a Firearm or Destructive Weapon in a Safe School Zone will be a Class D felony.
Last Action: Amendment HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
Last Action Date: June 26, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Unlawful Carrying Of A Concealed Weapon.
Description: This Act will establish a one year minimum mandatory prison sentence to be imposed upon any person convicted of unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm.
Last Action: Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
Last Action Date: May 8, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Possession Of Firearms By Prohibited Persons.
Description: This Act will help deter the illegal possession of firearms by dangerous criminals by increasing the penalties imposed upon persons convicted of violating the crime of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. Adults convicted of illegally possessing a firearm after having been previously adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for acts constituting a violent felony will receive a one year minimum mandatory prison sentence, and persons prohibited from legally possessing a deadly weapon who are convicted of illegally possessing a firearm within 10 years of a prior conviction or adjudication of delinquency for a violent felony, or for illegally possessing a deadly weapon, will receive a three year minimum mandatory prison sentence.
Last Action: Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits
Last Action Date: January 30, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Penalties For Possession And Purchase Of Deadly Weapons By Persons Prohibited.
Description: This Act establishes that the minimum sentence of incarceration to be imposed upon any person who is convicted of illegally possessing a firearm while negligently causing serious physical injury or death through the use of such firearm shall be six (6) years, unless the defendant caused such injury or death within ten (10) years of a previous conviction for a violent felony in which case the minimum sentence shall be eight (8) years; or unless the defendant caused such injury or death after two (2) previous convictions for violent felonies in which case the minimum sentence shall be fifteen (15) years.
Last Action: Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 6 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
Last Action Date: May 8, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Possession Of Deadly Weapons By Persons Prohibited And Title 16 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Health And Safety.
Description: SYNOPSIS This Act is designed to create procedures in Delaware for making sure firearms are not in the hands of dangerous people while protecting due process and not creating a barrier to care for those suffering from mental illness. Unlike other states, this Act intends to put Delaware at the forefront of this important issue by not simply looking narrowly for mental illness. Statistically, mental illness has little to do with homicide perpetration but conversely increases the chance of being a victim of violence. This bill looks instead for propensities of violence, a much more reliable and evidence-based metric. This metric will also ensure that we can provide care to those more likely to commit violent acts and help destigmatize mental illness here in Delaware. Specific components of this Act are set forth below. This Act applies when a person who has been committed to a hospital for treatment of a mental condition by a judge shall be deemed a person prohibited. The current law appears to apply to “any person who has ever been committed for a mental disorder,” but in reality this only applies to persons who have been involuntarily committed and subject to adjudication such as a hearing. It also clarifies that perpetrators of violent crimes who have been found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity, Guilty But Mentally Ill, or Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial are persons prohibited, including juveniles who fall into those categories. The provisions of 1448B will not retroactively apply to any persons adjudicated in the past, which would create undue burden. This Act expands the definition of “persons prohibited” to include those persons who are prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to a court order under the procedures set forth in 1448B of Title 11. Newly created 1448B sets forth a procedure whereby law enforcement, upon receiving a report of a violent person and who is demonstrating behaviors that the provider believes are dangerous can refer the matter to the Department of Justice to petition the Superior Court for an order requiring such person to relinquish the person’s firearms or ammunition. This Act revises and clarifies an existing statute, 11 Del C. 5402, which currently solidifies the need for mental health professionals to report those with mental illness who may be a threat to others. Currently, the section contains a limited duty of a treating hospital to warn law enforcement of a specific threat, but this clarifies the original intent of the section and requires that to avoid liability that all treating mental health professionals must report dangerous persons to law enforcement. The appropriate law enforcement agency must then determine whether a civil action should be initiated under newly created 1448B of this Title, to relinquish the person’s firearms or ammunition and to take appropriate investigative action. Pursuant to 1448B, the Court may order dangerous persons to relinquish to a law enforcement officer, voluntarily or otherwise, any firearms or ammunition owned, possessed, or controlled by such person. The Court may also, in its discretion, issue an order directing any law enforcement agency to forthwith search for and seize firearms and ammunition of any such person prohibited upon a showing of good cause by the petitioner. The court order to relinquish firearms would issue upon a finding that the person was prohibited, without further showing. The order authorizing police to search for and seize weapons would require a further showing, akin to an affidavit in support of a warrant, of “good cause” that the prohibited weapons would be found in a particular place or in the possession of the person prohibited. Any person subject to an order of the Court pursuant to 1448B may petition the Court for an order to return firearms or ammunition by establishing to a preponderance of evidence that he or she is not a danger to self or others. In addition, as is the case under the current law, any person who is adjudicated to be a person prohibited pursuant to this Act has the opportunity to demonstrate, pursuant to 1448A of Title 11, that he or she is no longer prohibited from possessing a firearm and therefore is no longer a person prohibited. .
Last Action: Defeated by Senate. Votes: Defeated 6 YES 13 NO 2 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: June 27, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Use Of A Firearm By Persons Previously Convicted Of A Violent Felony.
Description: This Act will restore 11 Del. C. 1448(e)(2) to its place in Delaware’s Criminal Code. The paragraph was inadvertently repealed in 2013.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: January 30, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11, Chapter 5 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Mandatory Reporting Of Lost Or Stolen Firearms.
Description: This bill would require owners of lost or stolen handguns to report such loss or theft within 48 hours of discovery. Owners may report such loss or theft to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction, or to any State Police Troop.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: June 12, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Falsely Reporting That A Firearm Has Been Lost Or Stolen And Providing A False Statement To Law Enforcement Concerning Lost Or Stolen Firearms.
Description: This Act makes clear that it is a class A misdemeanor to falsely report to a law enforcement agency that a firearm has been lost or stolen. The Act also increases the penalty for providing a false statement to law enforcement that a firearm has been lost or stolen intending to prevent, hinder or delay the investigation of any crime or offense.
Last Action: Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 1 Favorable, 8 On Its Merits
Last Action Date: January 29, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 22 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Municipalities And Limitations On Firearm Regulations.
Description: This act would repeal Section 111 of Title 22 of the Delaware Code in its entirety, and eliminate the limitations imposed upon municipalities to regulate firearms and ammunition within their jurisdictions. This act would leave in place the limitations imposed upon counties by Title 9 of the Delaware Code, Section 330 to regulate firearms and ammunition. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control, over 30,000 people in the United States die each year from gunfire. Many are children. Additionally, more than 75,000 individuals suffer non-fatal injuries caused by gunfire in the United States annually, including thousands of children. Therefore, over the next decade, the number of deaths from firearms in America will likely exceed 300,000 persons, and the total number of persons killed or injured by guns can be expected to significantly exceed one million persons. According to a report from the Children’s Defense Fund, in 2008, 2,947 children and teens died from guns in the United States and 2,793 died in 2009, for a total of 5,740 -- one child or teen every three hours, eight every day, 55 every week for two years. Over a four year period, the number of children and teens killed by guns in the United States will easily exceed the number of first graders enrolled in all of Delaware’s public schools in the 2007-2008 school year: 9,903 children. The 5,740 children and teens killed in the United States by guns in 2008 and 2009: Would fill more than 229 public school classrooms of 25 students each. Was greater than the number of U.S. military personnel killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan (5,013). The number of preschoolers killed by guns in 2008 (88) and in 2009 (85) was nearly double the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2008 (41) and 2009 (48). Black children and teens accounted for 45 percent of all child and teen gun deaths in 2008 and 2009, but were only 15 percent of the total child population. Black males 15-19 were eight times as likely as White males of the same age and two-and-a-half times as likely as their Hispanic peers to be killed in a gun homicide in 2009. The leading cause of death among Black teens ages 15 to 19 in 2008 and 2009 was gun homicide. For White teens 15 to 19 it was motor vehicle accidents followed by gun homicide in 2008 and gun suicide in 2009. The most recent analysis of data from 23 industrialized nations shows that 87 percent of the children under age 15 killed by guns in these nations lived in the United States. The gun homicide rate in the United States for teens and young adults ages 15 to 24 was 42.7 times higher than the combined rate for the other nations. Given that 2,800 children and teens die from guns each year, if no action is taken to curb gun violence, about 28,000 American children can be expected to be killed by guns over the next decade. For the 2012 school year, the total non-public school enrollment in Delaware for grades K through 12 is approximately 21,000 students. In 2010, 48 people were murdered in Delaware, and 38 of those were by firearm. In 2011, 41 people were murdered in Delaware, and 28 were by firearm. In 2010, there were 125 shootings in City of Wilmington, with 142 victims; 58 of the victims were under the age of 21, and 26 of the victims died. A report on the economic costs of gun violence in the United States issued in October 2012 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded: “Firearm related deaths and injuries resulted in medical and lost productivity expenses of about $32 billion in 2005. But the overall cost of gun violence goes well beyond these figures. When lost quality of life, psychological and emotional trauma, decline in property values, and other legal and societal consequences are included, the cost of gun violence in the U.S. was estimated to be about $100 billion annually in 1998. A new study has examined the direct and indirect costs of violent crime in eight geographically-diverse U.S. cities, and estimated the average annual cost of violent crime was more than $1,300 for every adult and child. Because much of these costs are due to lowering residential property values, violent crime greatly reduces tax revenues that local governments need to address a broad array of citizens’ needs. The direct annual cost of violent crime to all levels of government was estimated to be $325 per resident.” The unnecessary human suffering caused by gun violence both nationally and in Delaware is enormous. The economic toll caused by gun violence in the United States and Delaware is likewise enormous. The residents of each municipality in Delaware should be permitted to engage in legitimate regulation of firearms and ammunition within the boundaries of their communities, if they so choose. If the residents of a municipality do not support such regulation, they may simply elect not to enact ordinances on the subject. However, if the residents of a municipality conclude that their communities can be made safer by enacting ordinances to regulate firearms and ammunition, consistent with the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, they should not be prohibited by the State from doing so.
Last Action: Amendment SA 2 - Introduced and Placed With the Bill in Senate
Last Action Date: April 9, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Giving Of A Firearm To A Person Prohibited.
Description: Currently giving, selling, lending, or otherwise furnishing a firearm to a convicted felon, mentally ill person or other prohibited person knowing that the person is prohibited, is a class F felony. This Bill makes it a class A misdemeanor for someone to give a firearm to a person prohibited without knowledge that the person was prohibited from possessing a firearm. If the intended recipient is not known well enough, the use of a criminal background check by a licensed gun dealer would ensure that the law is not being broken.
Last Action: Stricken
Last Action Date: June 11, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Crimes And Assault Weapons.
Description: This act would add a new section 1462 to Title 11 of the Delaware Code and set in place a prospective prohibition against the manufacture, production, delivery, sale, or purchase of assault weapons. Persons who legally possess assault weapons at the time the act goes into effect may continue to possess them legally, but must provide proof of ownership to the Delaware State Police within 120 days of the effective date of the act. A first violation of the new section 1462 would be a class F felony, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 3 years to be served at Level V. A second violation within ten years of the first violation would be a class E felony, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 5 years to be served at level V. Presently, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia are reported to have enacted legislation placing restrictions on assault weapons. Other states are considering such legislation. This act would also make it unlawful to violate the new Section 1461 in a Safe School and Recreation Zone, pursuant to Title 11 of the Delaware Code, Section 1457.
Last Action: Stricken
Last Action Date: April 3, 2013
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Firearms.
Description: This bill prohibits the possession, sale and manufacture of a firearm undetectable by metal detectors.
Last Action: SS 1 for SB 137 - Re-Assigned to Public Safety Committee in Senate
Last Action Date: June 19, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Title 16 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Firearm Recovery
Description: This bill allows law enforcement officers to purchase firearms as undercover officers using CFRP funds.
Last Action: Reported Out of Committee (PUBLIC SAFETY & HOMELAND SECURITY) in House with 3 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
Last Action Date: March 19, 2014
Title: An Act To Amend Titles 7, 11, And 23 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Environmental Violations.
Description: This legislation declassifies a number of minor violations associated with wildlife, hunting, fishing and boating by changing them from Class C and Class D environmental misdemeanors to environmental violations. These environmental violations will not be reported on criminal history records kept by The Delaware Criminal Justice Information System (DELJIS); however DNREC is authorized to retain records on environmental violations to ensure that second offenses and higher penalties are pursued when appropriate. The legislation also modernizes penalties associated with several other offenses by classifying them as various environmental misdemeanors and raises the minimum fine for Class C environmental violations from $50 to $100 for first offenses and Class D environmental violations from $25 to $50 for first offenses. Finally, the jurisdiction for a number of violations is changed from Superior Court to Magistrate Court.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: September 2, 2014
