The Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill that would mandate individuals seeking to purchase a handgun obtain a permit from the state first, on top of undergoing fingerprinting and firearms training. Provided it gains approval from the state Senate, the bill will transition into law.
The proposed law also offers details regarding firearms resale and permit exceptions. This latter aspect pertains particularly to active and retired law enforcement officials who have previously fulfilled the firearm training requirements laid out in the bill.
Should it be endorsed by the Senate, individuals hoping to own handguns would have to complete a qualifying firearms training course before submitting a permit application. A state agency would then perform the fingerprinting and background checks to verify the applicant’s eligibility to own a firearm. Following this, the agency would issue a “qualified purchaser permit” that the hopeful gun owner would need to present at the point of purchase.
Several proposed amendments to the bill did not succeed, including a proposal to exclude permit application information from the Freedom of Information Act, and numerous alterations aimed at speeding up the background check and permitting process. Owing to budget concerns, there was the removal of a voucher program intended to offset low-income households’ firearm training costs from the final version of the bill approved by the House.
Republican members of the legislature expressed worry about the bill’s potential to withstand constitutional scrutiny, alluding to a comparable law in Maryland. This law, which has existed for a decade in Maryland, necessitated a permit-to-purchase, but was deemed unconstitutional by a three-judge panel. The law now awaits a rehearing with the full federal appeals court. Given that Maryland belongs to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Delaware is in the Third Circuit, the decision in the Maryland case could only offer persuasive, not controlling, authority if this new Delaware law is challenged.
The development underlines the increasingly divergent state approaches to gun regulations, with some states intensifying regulations, while others have made it easier for gun owners to carry and possess firearms.
Continue reading about this legislative development at Jurist.