Delaware Democrats Eye Crackdown on Gun Stores

Delaware gun owners are already subject to bans on so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines as well as a number of “sensitive places” where lawful carry is banned, like public transportation and many government buildings. Now the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature is eyeing up new restrictions on the state’s gun sellers.

FFLs in the state are currently required to obtain a “deadly weapons dealer” license, but under SB 300 that license would be replaced by a state license to sell or transfer firearms that would apply to anyone selling 10 or more firearms per year. The bill doesn’t say how much the license would cost, but it does indicate there would no flat fee. Instead, the licensing would operate on a sliding scale, with the price of the license increasing depending on how many firearms an FFL sold the previous year. 

In addition to the new licensing provision, which would almost certainly be more expensive than the $146 the state currently charges for a deadly weapons dealer license, gun store owners would be subject to a number of other new requirements. 

The bill also outlines stricter security requirements for gun shops, including the installation of alarm systems and digital surveillance cameras covering key areas such as entrances, exits, and sales spaces. Dealers would be required to follow state rules for the safe storage and display of guns and ammunition.

SB 300 would also expand reporting and recordkeeping requirements, requiring dealers to maintain detailed records of firearm transactions, including buyer information and firearm details. Dealers would need to report lost or stolen firearms within 24 hours, submit certain records to state police twice a year, and file annual reports to the Delaware DOJ on firearm trace requests and federal inspections. State officials would then compile and publish that data.

The proposal further expands background check requirements beyond business owners to include employees, contractors, and volunteers who handle firearms or have access to them. It also establishes mandatory training requirements covering firearm laws, identifying illegal purchases, and recognizing potential misuse or self-harm risks. That training would need to be completed every two years.

Dealers would have to keep those digital recordings for three full years, which makes the mandate even more expensive given the amount of data that would have to be stored. 

Many of the provisions for storage and security aren’t actually included in the bill. Instead, it would be left up to the Delaware State Policy to come up with requirements for FFLs. The DSP would also be allowed access to the digital surveillance recordings without a court warrant as part of any inspection of the FFL’s location, which seems like an easy way to get around the need for a warrant. The bill mandates that gun shops be inspected at least once every two  years, but allows for an unlimited number of “reasonable periodic inspections of a licensee’s place of business during the licensee’s regular posted business hours to ensure compliance” with the law. 

Of course “reasonable” isn’t defined in the bill, so if the state police wanted to conduct a fishing expedition or simply harass an FFL they could come in for an inspection as often as they could justify. I’d like to think that wouldn’t happen, but you never know. 

I haven’t seen any explanation about why this is supposedly necessary, and I hate the fact that FFLs have no way of knowing how much this might cost them because the security requirements aren’t fully fleshed out in the legislation. Requiring changes to physical security could also be difficult, if not impossible, for dealers who lease or rent their retail space, but that doesn’t appear to be a concern for the sponsor of the bill… or the gun control groups that likely played a major role in crafting this legislation. 

Everytown, for one, has hailed the “Life-Saving Promise of State Gun Dealer Licensing,” noting that states can impose restrictions far and above what the ATF and federal law require. That’s certainly the case with SB 300, and the biggest question in my mind is how many gun stores can survive the onslaught of regulations anti-gun lawmakers want to impose. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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