Why Should Delaware Care?
Whether to put restrictions on gun sales and ownership is one of the most controversial issues in the country. Proponents of Senate Bill 300 argue it is necessary to stop guns from ending up in the wrong hands, while critics argue it would put a financial strain on gun shop owners.
A new bill meant to curb illegal gun trafficking is already sparking pushback from gun rights advocates and Republican lawmakers.
And those opponents might have a shot at halting the bill’s progress in the heavily Democratic legislature because it needs a supermajority vote to pass.
Senate Bill 300 would implement an enhanced state licensing system for gun shop owners. If passed, firearm dealers would have to buy a state license to sell guns, complete bi-annual Delaware State Police training courses and install surveillance systems.
“[The bill] will lower the probability of gun violence and gun trafficking and hold our firearm dealers accountable for potentially reckless business practices,” Senate President Pro-Tempore David Sokola said during a virtual meeting Monday that was designed to rally support for the bill.
The bill would also give the Delaware State Police authority to penalize and fine gun shop owners who break the law. Sokola — a Newark Democrat and the bill’s sponsor — said the enforcement provision is necessary in the face of weakening federal enforcement.
The proposal comes less than a week after the Trump administration announced an effort to roll back a number of federal gun control regulations, including a Biden-era requirement that forced firearm dealers to run background checks on buyers at gun shows.
“This tells us why state inspections and regulations of the industry are so important,” said Josh Scharff, general counsel for gun violence prevention nonprofit Brady United, at the virtual event.
This bill follows other strict gun legislation in Delaware enacted during the past nine months, including one bill that required permits to purchase, and another that raised the age to hunt with firearms and without adult supervision from 18 to 21.
In September, a Kent County Superior Court judge struck down the hunting supervision rule on constitutional grounds.
In recent days, several gun shop owners and gun rights advocates have decried Sokola’s latest bill as an attempt to put Delaware firearm retailers out of business. They argue that it is illegal firearms sellers who supply guns to people who use them in crimes.
“They’re putting all this onus on the gun stores when we’re not the problem,” said Ron Hagan, owner of Best Shot, a gun store in Lewes. “We’ll essentially be losing money in order to operate a business to sell guns.”
Hagan said he and other licensed firearms retailers in the state recently formed an organization, so that they can jointly be a plaintiff in “any civil litigation that might arise from this [bill].”
It remains unclear exactly how much the state license would cost, but the drafted legislation says it would be proportional to how many firearms a retailer sells each year.
Sokola acknowledged that the licensing fees likely won’t cover the entire cost of enforcing his bill, noting that taxpayers would have to pay the additional costs.
He said he is not sure yet how much the enforcement of the proposed regulations would cost the state each year.
Is this bill necessary?
While opponents of the gun-control bill say it could drive them out of business, proponents say it would prevent illegal gun trafficking.
Marianna Mitchem, a senior industry advisor with Everytown for Gun Safety, argued at the virtual event Monday that the bill is necessary because too many guns in Delaware are falling into the hands of the wrong people.
She cited a 2020 case in which Dover resident Jordan Harmon bought a total of 19 semi-automatic pistols from the same gun shop within a six-month period — a sign that he was probably selling the guns to people without a permit.
Police found those guns at several crime sites and alerted the gun shop owner, she said, but the shop continued selling him weapons for an additional two months.
Harmon was later convicted and sentenced to federal prison.
Mitchem said that case is a clear example why the training requirements and fines that SB 300 would implement are necessary.
Gun shop owners say that both the federal government and the individual stores already mandate extensive training for their employees about how to recognize people trying to make illegal purchases.
They also say the majority of guns used for criminal activities are not being shoplifted or purchased from gun shops, rendering the addition of surveillance cameras and other security measures to the shops a waste of money.
“Nobody steals from a gun shop,” Jeff Hague, president of the Delaware NRA-affiliate group said. “This is killing a mosquito with a sledgehammer.”
Hagan, the owner of the Lewes-area gun shop, said the added licensing and training fees from the legislation will force stores to raise the price of guns to break even. But then, he said, nobody will purchase firearms in Delaware because they will be too expensive.
An email newsletter sent by the Republican House caucus indicated that its members also opposed the bill.
Three-fifths of both chambers would need to vote in favor of SB 300 for it to pass — a threshold that Democrats currently control. They could only afford two defections in either the House or Senate to meet the requirements though.
A hearing on the bill has not yet been scheduled.
