AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, TITLE 16, AND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEADLY WEAPONS DEALERS.
Sponsored By: David P. Sokola (Democratic)
Failed
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
12 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 9 mixed.
Dealer license loss limits future operations
State Police must revoke dealer licenses for losing a valid federal firearms license or becoming barred from firearms. Listed convictions, including felonies and firearm trafficking offenses, also require revocation. Revocation also applies to knowingly allowing specified worker violations or letting an ineligible responsible person continue when the dealer knows or should know. Dealers revoked for knowingly allowing specified worker violations must wait at least five years before applying again. Dealers revoked solely for losing their federal license can apply again as soon as that license is restored. Their state license does not return automatically.
Licensing transition protects existing dealer sales
The law took effect immediately, with implementation one year after enactment, subject to the licensing transition. Existing sellers with valid Chapter 9 special weapons licenses can continue sales while State Police review their new-license applications. They must apply on or within 455 days after enactment. This temporary permission ends when police act on the application. For covered deadly-weapons businesses, a Chapter 9B dealer license also satisfies the existing state licensing requirement.
Required training for firearm dealer workers
Individual dealer licensees and responsible persons must complete approved online training every two years. Employees, contractors, and volunteers need training when handling firearms or ammunition or processing their sale or transfer. New covered workers without current training must complete it within 30 days after starting work or covered duties. Training covers firearm laws, trafficking, illegal purchases, suicide warning signs, theft prevention, safety, and reporting. The test has at least 20 questions and requires at least 70% correct answers. Dealers must keep completion certificates and provide them during inspections.
Dealer eligibility limits include narrow exceptions
People barred from firearm possession, ineligible for concealed-carry licenses, or making specified false statements cannot qualify as dealers or responsible persons. Prior firearm- or ammunition-license denials, suspensions, or revocations generally also disqualify them. Exceptions cover incomplete or incorrect applications and license actions at least five years old. A responsible person must also be listed in that role on the federal firearms license. A person under a temporary firearm prohibition order can keep or obtain a state license by naming an eligible responsible person. That person must stop serving as a responsible person during the order, obey the order and federal rules, and keep compliance records.
Dealer fees fund oversight with limits
State Police set dealer fees proportional to average annual Delaware firearm sales and transfers. Averages cover the prior three years, or the operating period for newer businesses. Fee tiers are 11–25, 26–50, 51–250, 251–750, 751–1,000, and more than 1,000 firearms. Applicants below 11 sales receive fee guidance and may get a lower initial flat or projected fee. Fees cannot exceed administration costs, and annual adjustments cannot exceed 10%. License fees, civil penalties, and late fees enter the restricted Firearm Licensing Fund. The fund supports implementation of the named firearm laws, and unspent money carries forward.
Dealer worker screening shifts to monitoring
Workers with covered firearm duties or access to firearm storage or display areas must be at least 21. They must also be legally eligible to possess firearms under state and federal law. Dealers must arrange fingerprint background checks before those duties or access begin, with annual checks afterward. Every new covered employee, contractor, or volunteer needs a check, even after a recent check elsewhere. Applicants, licensees, responsible persons, and covered workers pay their screening costs. Once available, the state's Rap Back system replaces annual checks with ongoing criminal-history monitoring; initial checks remain required. State Police must notify dealers when annual worker checks are no longer required.
Dealers must secure stores and records
Dealers must count unsold firearms monthly and keep acquisition and sale records at their business location. Logs include firearm identifiers, dates, purchaser identity, and permit information. Dealers submit specified records not previously submitted by April 30 and October 30 each year. Paper records need monthly backups in secure containers; electronic records need backups at each business day's close. Dealers must provide records to law enforcement and firearm manufacturers on request and keep transaction and trace records at least six years. Working alarms and digital surveillance are required, with recordings kept at least three years. Security rules are scaled for sellers averaging 50 or fewer firearms yearly, with accommodations for home businesses. Recording access is limited to listed lawful uses, including investigations, inspections, court orders, insurance claims, and business or repair needs. Dealers must display licenses at business and temporary locations, report known losses, thefts, or unlawful transfers within 24 hours, and answer law-enforcement requests within 24 hours. Annual customer-trace reports are due to the Attorney General June 30, with inspection reports or letters attached.
New state licenses for firearm dealers
Firearm dealers must get a Delaware State Police license before selling or transferring firearms. Sellers transferring 10 or fewer firearms in any one-year period fall outside the dealer definition but remain subject to special-license rules. Sellers exceeding 10 must meet dealer licensing requirements within one year after crossing that limit. Applications require business and responsible-person information, photo identification, location proof, a valid federal firearms license, fees, and paid fingerprint checks. Dealers must carry at least $1 million in general liability insurance and list the business as certificate holder. State Police generally must decide initial applications within 60 calendar days, or 90 without Delaware license or identification proof. Police may request information needed to verify eligibility and adopt rules, but cannot change the law's eligibility standards.
Licensed dealers gain training exemptions
Chapter 9B firearm dealers are exempt from handgun purchaser-permit training requirements; this does not exempt other purchasers. They also count as licensed firearms dealers under Delaware's specified magazine-related firearm provisions. The Delaware Gun Shop Project must offer its online suicide-prevention course to these dealers. Its annual report must count participating dealers, but this course provision does not require every dealer to participate.
Firearm data systems get privacy protections
The law allows specified state systems concerning people barred from receiving firearms and certain dealer sales or transfers. These are exceptions to Delaware's ban on state firearm-registration systems, not a requirement that individuals register firearms. Records, data, information, and reports maintained under Chapter 9B are exempt from Delaware's public-records law. This includes identifying information about people and firearms, limiting public access to covered records.
Private firearm transfers use licensed dealers
Chapter 9B dealers are included in background-check procedures for firearm sales or transfers between unlicensed people. When facilitating covered transfers, these dealers may check the Voluntary Firearms Do-Not-Sell Registry for an unlicensed seller. Unlicensed people cannot knowingly transfer firearms to recipients enrolled on that registry. The State Bureau of Identification must retain religious-identification background-check records to the extent required for licensed dealers.
Dealer inspections enforce fines and penalties
State Police must inspect each licensed dealer's business at least once every two years. They may investigate licensing breaches and make reasonable additional business and record inspections during posted business hours. These inspections do not require an open criminal investigation or prosecution. For violations outside mandatory-revocation rules, police may first issue a warning explaining later penalties. Later violations can bring another warning, a $1,000–$3,000 civil penalty including costs, or license revocation. Dealers must receive notice and a chance to be heard before these civil penalties or revocations. Selling or transferring a firearm without a legally required license is a class C felony. State Police publish annual licensing, inspection, enforcement, and fund reports by December 1. Justice Department reports are due to legislative clerks August 1 and must be published online within 90 days; initial reporting deadlines are phased around the 455-day transition.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
David P. Sokola
Democratic • Senate
Cosponsors
Stephanie T. Bolden
Democratic • House
Mara Gorman
Democratic • House
Krista Griffith
Democratic • House
S. Elizabeth Lockman
Democratic • Senate
Eric Morrison
Democratic • House
Cyndie Romer
Democratic • House
Bryan Townsend
Democratic • Senate
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
SS 1 for SB 300 - Signed by Governor
9/3/2026GovernorSS 1 for SB 300 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 14 YES 7 NO
6/30/2026SenateSS 1 for SB 300 - Passed By House. Votes: 27 YES 11 NO 1 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Passed In House by Voice Vote
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Introduced and Placed With Bill
6/25/2026SenateSS 1 for SB 300 - - Passed In House by Voice Vote
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSS 1 for SB 300 - - Stricken in House
6/25/2026HouseSubstituted in Senate by SS 1 for SB 300
6/24/2026SenateSubstituted in Senate by SS 1 for SB 300
6/18/2026SenateSubstituted in Senate by SS 1 for SB 300
6/18/2026SenateSubstituted in Senate by SS 1 for SB 300
6/18/2026SenateSubstituted in Senate by SS 1 for SB 300
6/18/2026Senate
Bill Text
Current
4/30/2026
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