| 6/15/2021 |
SB 172
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9, TITLE 10, TITLE 11, AND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CARRYING A CONCEALED DEADLY WEAPON. Section 20 of Article I of the Delaware Constitution guarantees that “a person has the right to keep and bear arms for defense of self, family home and state…”. Both the United States Supreme Court and the Delaware Supreme Court have recognized the right of self-defense to be fundamental and to have pre-dated the formation of our country.
As of 2020, there were over 18,600,000 Americans with concealed carry permits and 24,400,000 adults living in states where no permit is required to carry a concealed firearm, which is a 420% increase in the number of adults living in states allowing the public carrying of a firearm since 1988. As of the beginning of 2021, there were 18 states where no permits were required to carry a concealed firearm, 25 states that were considered “shall issue” permit states, and 9 states that were considered “may issue” permit states.
Th
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| 6/15/2021 |
SA 1 to SS 1 for SB 7
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This amendment requires the court, when setting bail for signal offenses listed in paragraph (c), to require the defendant to forfeit any firearms in their possession.
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| 6/15/2021 |
SB 147
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO USE OF FORCE. This Act codifies a reasonableness requirement for the use of force, both non-lethal and lethal. This is important when the state of mind is an issue in a criminal trial, such as when the judge or jury must decide as to what someone believed, knew, or intended at a given time.
The justification law as currently written uses the term “defendant believes” throughout its several sections. This Act makes it clear that the determination of one’s state of mind is an objective standard —that is, what a reasonable person would have believed, rather than what the defendant believed.
Additionally, this Act makes clear that deadly force includes the use of a chokehold.
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| 4/14/2021 |
HB 124
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE POSSESSION OR PURCHASE OF DEADLY WEAPONS BY PERSONS PROHIBITED. This Act prohibits a person who is the subject of a Protection from Abuse Order of the Family Court and who knows or has reason to know, that the Order has been issued from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm in this State. This Act also prohibits the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, active indictment or information related to a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm. The subject of the pending criminal process must know or have reason to know that the process is pending in order for the prohibition to apply. This Act also makes technical changes to the existing law to make it conform to the Legislative Drafting Manual.
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| 4/14/2021 |
HB 125
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FIREARMS. Section 1 of this bill establishes the crimes of possession of an unfinished firearm frame or receiver with no serial number, possession of and manufacturing a covert or undetectable firearm, possession of and manufacturing an untraceable firearm, and manufacturing or distributing a firearm using a three-dimensional printer. This bill also makes it a crime to possess a firearm frame or receiver with a removed, obliterated, or altered serial number. This bill makes very limited exceptions to the requirement that certain guns have serial numbers which are: (1) Firearms manufactured before 1968; (2) Muzzle loaders that only use black powder, and antique replicas. Finally, this bill makes clear that § 1463 of Title 11 concerning untraceable firearms does not apply to members of the military forces or members of a police force in this State duly authorized to carry an untraceable firearm, and does not apply to the manufact
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| 4/14/2021 |
SB 6
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEADLY WEAPONS. This Act creates the Delaware Large Capacity Magazine Prohibition Act of 2021. The Act includes clear definitions for the term “large-capacity magazine,” as an ammunition feeding device with a capacity to accept more than 17 rounds of ammunition. After enactment, possession of large-capacity magazine will be a class B misdemeanor for a first offense and a class E felony for any subsequent offense.
Those who possess a prohibited large-capacity magazine when this Act takes effect must, by June 30, 2022, relinquish the large-capacity magazine to a law-enforcement agency in this State. This Act establishes a buyback program for large-capacity magazines, to be overseen by the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
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| 4/14/2021 |
SB 3
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEADLY WEAPONS. This Act does all of the following:
(1) Creates an application process to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser card to authorize the purchase of a handgun. While an applicant will incur costs related to fingerprinting and required training, a fee will not be charged to obtain the permit.
(2) Requires licensed importers, manufacturers, or dealers, as well as unlicensed persons, to require an individual to present the individual's handgun qualified purchaser card before selling or transferring a firearm to an individual.
(3) Requires that an applicant complete a firearms training course within 5 years before the date of application, similar to what is required by Delaware’s concealed carry permit law. An individual licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon is exempt from this requirement as they must already complete a firearms training course to be licensed.
(4) Sends to law-enf
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| 1/14/2021 |
SB 16
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AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 1 OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO HUNTING, FISHING, AND TRAPPING. This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to establish the right to hunt and fish in Delaware. Twenty-one other states have preserved the rights of their citizens to hunt, fish, or trap wildlife. This Act is modeled after the constitutional provisions of Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
This Act specifically acknowledges Delaware’s valued, natural heritage of hunting, fishing, and trapping, and declares hunting, fishing, and trapping as the preferred methods of managing and controlling wildlife in this State.
This Act may not be applied to do any of the following:
1. Affect rights to divert, appropriate, or use water, or to establish a minimum amount of water in any water body.
2. Lead to a diminution or abrogation of a public or private right or of the State’s power to regulate commercial activities.
3. Prevent the suspension or revoca
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| 1/14/2021 |
HB 67
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INCHOATE CRIMES. This bill closes a loophole in existing Delaware law by making it a crime for a person who is not otherwise legally eligible to own, possess, or purchase a firearm or ammunition to attempt to obtain same through fraud, deceit, or deception.
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| 1/13/2021 |
HB 55
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE GUN SHOP PROJECT. In 2009, New Hampshire was the first state to develop a statewide "Gun Shop Project," reaching out to gun shops regarding the role they can play in suicide prevention. In the years since, at least 21 other states have implemented similar campaigns. This Act establishes the Delaware Gun Shop Project.
The Gun Shop Project's primary purpose is to develop, create, and provide suicide prevention education materials and training, to be made available for dealers and consumers of licensed deadly weapons in Delaware. The Delaware Suicide Prevention Coalition will oversee the Gun Shop Project and include the Project's annual report in the Coalition's annual report. The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, which staff the Coalition, will staff the Gun Shop Project.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
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| 1/13/2021 |
HB 52
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO IMMUNITY FOR DONATED FOOD. Subchapter III, Chapter 68, Title 16 of the Delaware Code (“Subchapter III”) was originally enacted in 1982. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1791 (“Bill Emerson Act”). The Bill Emerson Act preempts Subchapter III to the extent of any conflict, known as “partial preemption”.
This Act makes Subchapter III consistent with the Bill Emerson Act by protecting a “gleaner” from civil or criminal liability as it relates to their donation of the gleaned food.
Since the Bill Emerson Act only partially preempts state law on this subject, the State is free to provide greater protection than the Bill Emerson Act. Therefore, this Act does all of the following:
1. Extends to those who, in good faith, donate food to state agencies the same immunity from civil or criminal liability that is granted to those who, in good faith, donate food to nonprofit orga
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| 1/13/2021 |
HB 13
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AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FIREARMS. In 1994 the 137th General Assembly created the crime of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. In the intervening decades, the length of the minimum required sentence of 3 years and 5 years for defendants with 2 prior felonies has not changed. Instead, in 2019 the 150th General Assembly removed the requirement of consecutive sentences and removed the prohibition on suspending portions of the sentence and earned good time. Felony offenses committed with firearms are some of the most dangerous and violent crimes that can be committed by criminals. The trend of leniency is not commensurate with the seriousness of the offense, nor does it adequately protect victims of crime. This Act increases the minimum penalty to 5 years and to 10 years for defendants with 2 prior felonies. This Act also restores the requirements that defendants be sentenced consecutively and prohibits suspension of the senten
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