Delaware Public Media | by Paul Kiefer
Delaware House lawmakers passed a ban on the purchase and sale of assault weapons, advancing a key pillar of state Democratic leadership’s gun safety package.
Thursday’s vote fell along party lines after a half-dozen amendments drafted by House Republicans were floated, but never introduced.
An amendment from State Rep. Mike Smith (R-Pike Creek) did reach the floor. It sought to exempt concealed carry permit-holders from the ban. Smith argued it would strike a balance between the public’s desire for tighter restrictions on gun access and leaving a door open for some Delawareans to purchase otherwise banned weapons.
“People really want a process and more background checks,” he said, “and believe in the Second Amendment under those terms. What I tried to do was put an amendment forward that says that if you already have a concealed carry, you would be exempt because you’ve gone through training, you’ve gone through a background check, you’ve gone through fingerprinting.”
Smith’s amendment failed, but another clarifying how Delawareans can transfer their guns to family members was adopted.
The bill would grandfather in any assault weapons, like AR-15 rifles, purchased before the ban. But gun owners would need to obtain a certificate from Delaware’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security proving it was obtained before law took effect.
House Republican lawmakers argued the bill would leave residents who don’t already own assault rifles at a disadvantage and urged colleagues to focus on investments in school security instead.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear), countered it will reduce the chances a weapon purchased in Delaware is used to commit another mass shooting – comparing it to an earlier ban on bump stock sales. “We don’t wait for it to happen — we fix it,” she said. “Just like the bump stock that went into Las Vegas and shot up an entire concert. We don’t want that to happen at Dover Downs, we don’t want that to happen at Firefly [music festival]. We don’t want it to happen there, so we voted it out. We don’t have bump stocks in Delaware.”
A separate bill to re-establish a state-level background check system for gun purchases was also on the agenda – but was pushed back to next week.
But not all House Democrats are satisfied with the scope of the gun safety reforms on the table during the final month of this year’s legislative session. State Rep. John Kowalko (D-Newark) rose after Thursday’s vote to admonish his colleagues to push through another bill — previously stalled in the Senate — that would require Delaware residents obtain a permit, including safety training and fingerprinting, to purchase a handgun.
“If this body has a conscience, then do it,” Kowalko pleaded.
The permit-to-purchase legislation is not a part of the gun safety package fielded by state Democratic leadership this month, but Governor John Carney has expressed his intent to sign other bills that reach his desk, including the ban on the sales of assault weapons.