Summary of DE 147th General Assemble bills dealing with firearms
In most cases the legislature is voting on changes to the legislation. In the legislation, only the words
struck out or added as indicated by the underlining are subject to the vote. The rest
of the words are the current law. If the proposal is defeated, the original words remain
in effect. I have seen at times that a bill's synopsis does not accurately reflect the
full impact of the bill's language, thus I recommend reading the bill and not only relying on the synopsis.
- SB 18
This measure pertains to those persons who falsely
report the loss or theft of a firearm. Criminals acting as straw
purchasers for prohibited persons will sometimes report a
firearm used in a crime as being either lost or stolen as a way of
disguising the straw purchase. This bill attempts to address that
issue. As currently written, this bill does not appear to negatively
affect law-abiding gun owners and appears to contain adequate
safeguards to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens. This bill
has passed the Senate and was released from the House
Committee and is now on the House Ready List. We will be
watching this bill in an effort to ensure that law-abiding gun
owners will not be negatively impacted.
(Passed Senate 6/30/13 / House Out of committee 1/29/14)
- SB 23
and HB 62 (Wilmington only)
SB 23 - This bill is a total repeal of Delaware's preemption
laws and would allow all of Delaware's towns, cities and counties
to pass their own hodge-podge of potentially conflicting and
confusing gun laws. This bill is currently pending in the Senate.
Please tell your senators and representatives to vote "No" on
this bill at every opportunity.
HB 62 - This bill is a partial repeal of preemption and would
allow Wilmington to be exempted from preemption and allow
Wilmington to pass the types of ban and confiscation laws
proposed by Councilwoman Shabazz in January of 2013. Please
tell your senators and representatives to vote "No" on this bill at
every opportunity. Also see:
DSSA Jan-Feb 2014
newsletter. (Assigned Senate Judiciary Committee 3/20/13)
- HB 58
This bill is a ban on standard capacity magazines,
claiming that these magazines are "large capacity". This bill was
released from committee and is now on the House Ready List.
Please tell your senators and representatives to vote "No" on
this bill at every opportunity.
(Out of committee 5/1/13)
- HB 67
This bill creates a new crime of "Possession of a
Firearm or Destructive Weapon in a Safe School Zone. This bill
was released from committee in 2013 and is now on the House
Ready List. Although this bill has been amended, it remains a
threat to the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms
for lawful purposes. Please ask your senators and
representatives to vote "No" on this bill at every opportunity.
(Out of committee 4/24/13, Amended HA 1 6/26/13)
- HB 72
This bill amends the current criminal law against
carrying a concealed deadly weapon without a license by the weapon is a firearm. Because this bill specifically targets
firearms and treats firearms differently and more harshly than
other deadly weapons, this bill should be defeated. Therefore,
please ask your senators and representatives to vote "No" on
this bill at every opportunity.
(Assigned to committee 6/4/13)
- HB 73
This bill would increase the penalty for Possession of
a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. This bill has passed the House
was released from the Senate committee in January and is now
on the Senate Ready List. As currently written, this bill does not
appear to negatively impact the rights of law-abiding citizens to
keep and bear arms for lawful purposes. However, we will be
monitoring this bill to ensure that the rights of law-abiding
Delawareans are protected.
(Out of Committee On 01/30/14)
- HB 82
This bill increases the penalties for Possession of a
Deadly Weapon by a Person Prohibited where that person
engages in conduct with that weapon which results in injury or
death to another. This bill is on the Ready List in the House. This
bill does not affect the rights of law-abiding citizens as written
but will be monitored to ensure that no amendments are
attached which might impinge upon the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
May 08, 2013 - Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 6 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
- HB 192
This bill pertains to the creation and use of socalled
"false compartments" within a motor vehicle. As originally
written, this bill was flawed in many respects and would have
negatively impacted law-abiding gun owners, which was never
the intent of the sponsor. The original intent of the bill was to
deal with violent criminals engaged in drug and gun smuggling
crimes and was not aimed at the law-abiding citizen who may
have a concealed carry permit or who might be attempting to
legally secure their firearms in their vehicles. The sponsor of this
bill is re-writing the bill so as to protect the rights of law-abiding
citizens. We will be monitoring this bill to ensure that the rights
of law-abiding gun owners are protected.
(Out of committee 6/19/13)
- HB 187
Although this bill is NOT a "gun bill", it does
negatively affect the First Amendment Rights of gun owners and
Second Amendment organizations such as the NRA and many of
our local gun clubs. This is one of those bills that is intended to
protect Delaware's citizens from financial scams by
unscrupulous fund raisers, but goes way too far in doing so.
Called "The Delaware Charitable Solicitations Act of 2013", HB
187 poses clear and present dangers for many of our pro-gun
organizations and should be defeated in its current form.
Therefore, please ask your senators and representatives to vote
"No" on this bill at every opportunity.
Jan 29, 2014 - Reported Out of Committee (ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/BANKING/INSURANCE/COMMERCE)
in House with 1 Favorable, 6 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable
Legislative items resolved in the 147th General Assembly are:
- HB 88
Mental Health Bill. Currently dead, but we expect it may resurface
with some changes. - Defeated
- HB 35
Background checks for firearms transfers - Signed in 2013
- SB 16 Reporting
Lost or stolen firearms- Signed in 2013
Court Cases:
Page Last Updated 3/21/2014 with extracts from DSSA Newsletter Mar-April 2014