13 total bills, 9 anti-gun bills,
1 pro-gun bills for this session
Proposed Delaware Firearm Legislation
13 total bills, 9 anti-gun bills,
1 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: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Safe Storage Of Firearms.
Description: This Act revises the crime of “unlawfully permitting a minor access to a firearm,” an existing class A misdemeanor under Delaware law. The offense is renamed “unsafe storage of a firearm” to place emphasis on firearm safety and proper storage. Under the revised statute a crime is committed where a person intentionally or recklessly leaves a loaded firearm where a minor or other person prohibited by law could access that firearm – and the firearm is actually obtained by an unauthorized person. The offense is a class B misdemeanor. If there is an aggravating circumstance – such as the unauthorized person using the gun to commit a crime, then the offense is a Class A misdemeanor. It is an affirmative defense to this crime that the person stored the firearm in a locked container or with a trigger lock or otherwise in a location a reasonable person would have thought was safe from access by an unauthorized person.
Last Action: Stricken
Last Action Date: October 29, 2015
Title: An Act To Amend Title 22 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Possession Of Firearms, Ammunition, And Explosives In Municipal Buildings And Police Stations By Non-licensed Persons.
Description: This act establishes that municipal governments may pass ordinances regulating the possession of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, and explosives in municipal buildings and police stations subject to specific requirements. The act further allows municipalities to establish penalties for violation by ordinance.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: August 17, 2015
Title: An Act To Amend Title 9 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Possession Of Firearms, Ammunition, And Explosives In County Buildings And Police Stations By Non-licensed Persons.
Description: This act establishes that county governments may pass ordinances regulating the possession of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, and explosives in county buildings and police stations subject to specific requirements. The act further allows counties to establish penalties for violation by ordinance.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: August 17, 2015
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Law Enforcement Procedure With Respect To Firearms And Firearm Related Evidence.
Description: One of the findings of the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission was that the Wilmington Police Department should enhance its use of firearms investigative and intelligence tools and ballistics technology in investigating and preventing violent crime. The report went on to recommend adoption of a protocol such as the one employed by New Jersey statute in 2013 to mandate statewide the use of certain nationwide firearm and ballistics databases. This bill is modeled on the New Jersey statute. It mandates the entry of ballistics information into the National Integrated Ballistics Identification Network, and firearm information into the ATF E-Trace system and the National Crime Information Center System. This bill further directs the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, in cooperation with the Department of Justice, to develop a statewide standard protocol for the recovery and processing of firearms and firearm related evidence.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: September 14, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Criminal History Background Checks In Connection With The Sale, Transfer, Or Delivery Of Firearms.
Description: This bill closes a loophole to our gun background check laws. The current loophole allows for guns to be given to a potential purchaser if the background check is delayed for 3 days or more. In some cases a gun is given to a person who should not be in possession of a firearm. This leads to law enforcement having to retrieve a gun from a person prohibited if the background check provides that a person should not have a gun.
Last Action: Signed by Governor
Last Action Date: June 22, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Weapons.
Description: Importers, manufacturers and dealers of “destructive weapons” are licensed and regulated under Federal law. Under existing Delaware law, importers, manufacturers and dealers of destructive weapons are not permitted to deliver them to purchasers in Delaware who are otherwise permitted to own such weapons, such as military or police forces. This Bill will permit properly licensed importers, manufacturers and dealers to possess and store destructive weapons in this State and engage in activities associated with the sale and delivery of such weapons to (or from) qualified purchasers. All other changes made by this Act are technical corrections to conform the existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Last Action: Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 30 YES 9 NO 0 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: June 28, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Possession Of Firearms By Persons Prohibited.
Description: This Act closes two significant loopholes in Delaware law in order to ensure that punishment for the illegal possession of firearms by violent persons is certain. First, by adding a definition for “convicted” or “conviction” that includes adjudications of delinquency occurring on or after a person’s 16th birthday, this Act requires mandatory minimum sentences for adults who possess firearms and were convicted of a violent crime when they were 16 or 17 years of age. Currently, Delaware law excludes those persons adjudicated delinquent of violent felonies from mandatory minimum sentencing if they are later convicted of illegal possession of a firearm as adults. Second, this Act requires mandatory minimum sentences for those who repeatedly violate Delaware’s illegal possession law. Currently, a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm for reasons other than the commission of a violent felony (e.g. a person who has committed a misdemeanor act of domestic violence) can be convicted of illegal possession repeatedly without facing any mandatory minimum sentence. Additionally, this Act makes technical corrections consistent with legislative drafting conventions.
Last Action: Amendment SA 1 - Introduced and Placed With the Bill in Senate
Last Action Date: May 13, 2015
Title: Calling On The U.s. Congress To Enact Common Sense Gun Laws Barring Persons On The Terrorist Watch List And No Fly List From Being Able To Purchase Firearms In Delaware And Across The Country.
Description: This Senate Joint Resolution calls on the United States Congress to act in the public interest and approve pending legislation barring persons in the federal government’s classified terrorist database, commonly referred to as "the terrorist watch list" or its no fly list from being able to purchase firearms in Delaware and across the country.
Last Action: Defeated by Senate. Votes: Defeated 10 YES 9 NO 2 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: June 30, 2016
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: Defeated by Senate. Votes: Defeated 6 YES 15 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: March 8, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 10 And Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Domestic Violence.
Description: This Act makes several changes to Title 10 and Title 11 of the Delaware Code relating to domestic violence. First, this Act amends 1045, Title 10 relating domestic violence protective orders to clarify the procedures related to the disposition of firearms in the possession of a respondent. Second, this Act amends 1448(a)(6), Title 11 to provide that any person who is prohibited from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon because the person is subject to a Family Court protection from abuse order is so prohibited immediately upon the entry of the protection from abuse order from purchasing or otherwise obtaining, and within 24 hours of personal service of the order, from owning, possessing, or controlling any deadly weapon. Third, this Act expands the definition of the term “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” in 1448(a)(7), Title 11 to include substantive dating relationships and people who have cohabited at the time of the offense or within 5 years prior to the offense. Finally, this Act amends Chapter 39, Title 11 to require that the court indicate on the record of conviction of certain, specified offenses whether the offense was a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.” This Act takes effect on January 1, 2017. Author: Senator Henry
Last Action: SS 1 for SB 83 - Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 26 YES 12 NO 0 NOT VOTING 3 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Last Action Date: June 25, 2015
Title: An Act To Amend The Delaware Code Relating To The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act
Description: AUTHOR: Senator Lawson
Last Action: Assigned to Public Safety Committee in Senate
Last Action Date: March 8, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Crimes And A Prohibition On The Sale Of Firarms To Persons Who Pose A Terrorism Threat.
Description: This Act prohibits the sale, transfer, or delivery of a firearm to any person on the Federal Government’s terrorist watch list or the Federal Government’s no-fly list, or on any other list used by the Transportation Security Administration for purposes of identifying individuals who are prohibited from boarding aircraft because they pose a threat of terrorism.
Last Action: Stricken
Last Action Date: June 25, 2016
Title: An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Crimes And A Prohibition On The Sale Of Firearms To Persons Who Pose A Terrorism Threat.
Description: This Act prohibits the sale, transfer, or delivery of a firearm to any person on the Federal Government’s terrorist watch list or the Federal Government’s no-fly list, or on any other list used by the Transportation Security Administration for purposes of identifying individuals who are prohibited from boarding aircraft because they pose a threat of terrorism.
Last Action: Laid On Table in Senate
Last Action Date: June 22, 2016
