After a lengthy and contentious debate that extended into Thursday evening, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would mandate Delawareans obtain a government-issued permit to purchase a handgun.
Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 2, also known as the Permit-to-Purchase Bill, is sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth Lockman (D-Wilmington West). It would require anyone wanting to buy a handgun in The First State to first obtain a handgun purchaser permit, a process that would include fingerprinting, undergoing a criminal background check, and completing a firearms training course.
The mandated training and coursework contains 11 specific components, including firearms handling, live shooting exercises, suicide prevention, and methods for avoiding a criminal attack and managing violent confrontations. Concealed carry permit holders, law-enforcement officers, and retired officers would be exempt from the mandate. Applicants would be responsible for covering the cost of training.
During Thursday’s House consideration, 11 amendments were offered to the legislation, four of which were added. State Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle), the prime House sponsor of the gun control measure, added the most significant alteration in House Amendment 2, which extends the validity of the “handgun qualified purchaser permit” to two years.
The amendment also eliminated a program in the original bill that would have allowed modest-income Delawareans (at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline) to receive a state voucher to pay for the mandated training—an expense that could cost hundreds of dollars. Striking the voucher program seemingly creates an economic hurdle for low-income Delawareans seeking a handgun.
Applicants will not be the only ones digging deeper into their pockets. The bill comes with a price tag for taxpayers, too. One-time costs associated with the revised measure total nearly $2.7 million. Ongoing annual costs are expected to top $4.6 million. The Delaware State Police State Bureau of Identification (SBI) projects the agency’s average workload will increase by 50,000 applications each year, work that will include fingerprinting and searching criminal histories.
The bill calls for ten state police troopers to be added to the bureau to handle the increased burden. Testifying on the House floor, Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Nathaniel McQueen Jr. said the State Police are already short-staffed, currently operating 51 officers under their authorized allocation of 750 troopers.
House Republicans offered five amendments that were defeated, mainly along party lines. One of the amendments, sponsored by State House Minority Whip Lyndon Yearick (R-Camden, Wyoming), would have enabled the use of technology and existing databases to expedite the background investigation process. A second amendment offered by Rep. Yearick would have allowed permit-seekers to submit their applications and complete their training online.
An amendment authored by State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman (R-Clayton) would have exempted people in occupations who had already received firearms training and background checks, such as correctional officers, members of the military, and armored car guards.
House Amendment 7, sponsored by State Reps. Valerie Jones Giltner (R-Georgetown) and Mike Smith (R-Pike Creek Valley) would have allowed those safeguarded by a Protection from Abuse (PFA) or a No Contact Order to obtain a permit to purchase a handgun for self-protection before completion of the training, which they would have been required to finish within 180 days.
State Reps. Pete Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) and Sean Lynn (D-Dover West) said many aspects of the defeated amendments had merit and would have improved the legislation, but that the proposals required more refinement. However, none of the chamber’s 26 Democrats supported a motion to table the bill to provide the short delay needed to conduct such work.
“There is going to be a lawsuit on this,” said State Rep. Rich Collins (R-Millsboro) during the debate, citing a nearly identical Maryland law that was recently found to be unconstitutional by a split panel (2-1) of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the November 2023 decision in Maryland Shall Issue v. Moore, the prevailing opinion maintained the law was unconstitutional because it deprived citizens of the right to “keep and bear arms” by restricting their ability to acquire a handgun. It also found the law imposed a de facto waiting period while the state processed the permit.
In Delaware, the state constitution (Article I, Section 20) contains additional protections exceeding those in the federal constitution. It guarantees that Delawareans have “the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home, and state, and for hunting and recreational use.”
About a dozen states have enacted permit-to-purchase laws, with half requiring a permit to purchase any firearm and the balance applying only to handguns.
A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, may undo all permit-to-purchase statutes. While the case dealt with concealed carry permits, the ruling established a new methodology for determining if a gun law is constitutional.
As reported by The Trace, a non-profit group dedicated to reporting on gun violence: “The court’s majority specified a 77-year span of history that lower courts should look to when determining the constitutionality of gun regulations: from 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified, to 1868, when the 14th Amendment — which the Supreme Court has interpreted to apply the Bill of Rights to the states — was ratified.
“During that period, permit-to-purchase laws do appear to have a historical analogue to today, but for only one group: Black Americans. In 1828, Florida passed a law requiring formerly enslaved people to obtain a license from a justice of the peace to use and carry a gun. Delaware followed three years later. In 1865, just as the Civil War drew to a close, Mississippi enacted a law requiring free Black people to obtain a license from ‘the board of police of his or her county” to keep “firearms of any kind, or any ammunition.’ That same year in Louisiana, Black residents were required to seek approval from police and their employer if they wanted to own a gun.”
Rep. Yearick urged House Democrats who “may be on the fence” about the bill to vote against it, citing their oath of office that requires them to uphold and defend the state and federal constitutions. “These words matter,” he told his colleagues.
Supporters of the bill maintain that it will help reduce gun violence. “This bill is being done for one reason and one reason only—to save lives,” said Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings, adding that the bill “deserves to become law” and that she was convinced of its constitutionality.
“This law will cut down on gun trafficking by 70%,” Ms. Jennings said.
Rep. Yearick asked Ms. Jennings what percentage of people arrested for gun crimes in Delaware had already been legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. While she said she could not provide an answer, she noted that her agency “prosecuted person-prohibited cases all the time.”
According to a study by Delaware’s Criminal Justice Council Statistical Analysis Center (Delaware Shootings 2020 – An Analysis of Incidents, Suspects, and Victims), of the 158 people suspected of being involved with a shooting that year, more than three-quarters (77%) had at least one arrest for a violent felony, with 57% having at least three such arrests. Of the 346 shooting victims, 73% had at least one violent felony arrest, with nearly 55% having three or more.
While the report did not include data on how many of these earlier arrests resulted in convictions, people found guilty of violent felony offenses are prohibited from legally purchasing a firearm in Delaware.
The Permit-to-Purchase Bill cleared the House, 23 to 16, with two absent. All 23 votes approving the bill were Democrats. Fourteen Republicans and two Democrats – State Reps. Bill Carson (D-Smyrna) & Sean Matthews (D-Talleyville) – opposed its passage.
Because the bill was amended, it now heads back to the Senate for another vote, likely during the upcoming week. It is expected to be approved in the upper chamber and sent to the governor for his promised signature.
Source: Delaware House Republican Caucus Press Release