In less than two weeks, would-be handgun owners in Delaware will be forced to apply for a “permit to purchase” before they can buy a pistol. In order to have their permits approved, applicants will have to demonstrate proof that they’ve completed a firearms safety course taught by a state-approved firearms instructor that includes a live-fire test involving no less than 100 rounds of ammunition, submit their fingerprints to the state police, and be prepared to wait up to 30 days for the state police to conduct a background check.
While those who possess a valid concealed carry license are exempt from the new requirements, the law will impact the vast majority of new pistol purchasers. There’s already a lawsuit underway challenging the permit-to-purchase scheme, and the plaintiffs are now asking a judge to grant an injunction halting the law from taking effect later this month.
“I have sued because the law is racist and stupid,” said Attorney Thomas S. Neuberger, one of seven plaintiffs, in a statement, adding that the legislation harms law-abiding citizens who want to purchase a handgun for self-defense or other lawful purposes, violating their right to bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. “When you need a gun in an emergency, you can’t get it and you will die.”
“Delaware has a long history of discriminating against Blacks in gun laws,” he said. “Its history of licensing laws for possession of firearms aligns with the ugly racist history of gun-control laws in general.”
In his statement, Neuberger points to Josephine Byrd who was denied a permit to have a gun by the Wilmington Housing Authority, “despite living in a very dangerous part of town and fears for their safety.”
On its face, the permit-to-purchase law is racially neutral, but it contains a pretty big loophole that allows law enforcement to make subjective decisions about who gets to receive a permit. There’s a list of prohibiting factors in the statute that mandate a permit “shall not” be granted to those who, for instance, have felony convictions, but the permitting process also requires the state police to “contact the local law-enforcement agencies of the county or municipality in which the person resides and inquire as to any facts and circumstances relevant to the person’s qualification for a handgun qualified purchaser permit.”
What makes a particular fact or circumstance relevant? The law is silent on any specifics, but it leaves open the possibility that the state police could deny a permit to someone who’s been arrested but never convicted, or someone local authorities believe is unsuitable to own a handgun.
The request for an injunction also notes that the Delaware State Police “encourages Delaware residents planning to buy a handgun to visit the Permit to Purchase website to learn about the training and documentation requirements associated with the new law,” but the agency’s recent announcement “notes that the registration link to apply for the required permit is ‘inactive,'” which is still the case as of Wednesday morning.
To implement any of the regulations required by the law, the temporary restraining order filing says those proposed regulations must first be published to give notice to the public, allowing for comments by the public and a hearing, followed by final regulations promulgating the regulations.
“This process takes a minimum of 90 days to complete,” the legal challenge states. “Plaintiffs are unaware of any of the requisite notices being published in the monthly Delaware Register of Regulation.”
Delaware officials have had more than a year to come up with these regulations, and its ridiculous that we’re now down to the last few days before the law takes effect and those who’ll be subject to its effects are still in the dark about its specifics. And what happens if the law takes effect and these regulations still have to go through the rule-making process? Are all applications on hold until those regulations have been finalized?
If the request for an injunction isn’t granted, I guess we’ll learn soon enough if new handgun buyers are being denied their right to keep and bear arms because of bureaucratic inaction. And as the clock ticks down, we’ll also likely see a surge in pistol purchases as Delaware residents decide to exercise their 2A rights before the new requirements kick in.
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