Delaware CCDW Guide

Delaware License to Carry a Concealed Deadly Weapon: Permit Basics

Delaware is a license state, and the license comes from a court rather than a police agency. Carrying a concealed deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license issued under 11 Del. C. § 1441 is the offense defined by 11 Del. C. § 1442(a). Under § 1442(b) it is a class G felony, unless the deadly weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon, in which case it is a class D felony. The § 1441 license is what removes carrying from that section's reach.

Section 1442(c) supplies a defense where the defendant holds an otherwise valid § 1441 license that expired, applied for renewal within the allotted time frame before expiration, and is alleged to have offended while that renewal application was pending before the court. Section 1442(d) adds a second defense: that the defendant complied with § 1456(b), the vehicle provision of § 1456, unsafe storage of a firearm or projectile weapon, a class A or B misdemeanor. See Vehicle Carry and Transport.

What the license actually covers

The license is worded around the phrase "concealed deadly weapon," not around handguns. Deadly weapon is defined at 11 Del. C. § 222(6)a. to include a firearm, a bomb, a projectile weapon, a knife of any sort other than an ordinary pocketknife carried in a closed position, a switchblade knife, a billy, a blackjack, a bludgeon, metal knuckles, a slingshot, a razor, a bicycle chain, an ice pick, and a dangerous instrument used or attempted to be used to cause death or serious physical injury. Section 222(6)b. defines "ordinary pocketknife" as a knife having a blade not more than 3.75 inches in length. The license therefore reaches well past the handgun, and so does the § 1442 offense.

Who issues it, and where you file

The Superior Court issues. Applications are filed with the Prothonotary of the proper county under § 1441(a)(1), and the Superior Court Procedural Rules for Application and Administration of 11 Del. C. § 1441, cited here as the CCDW Procedural Rules, identify that as the Prothonotary in the county where the applicant resides, for both the application and a renewal affidavit. Under § 1441(f) the Secretary of State prepares the blank license forms for the Prothonotaries, who affix a photographic representation of the licensee before lamination, so the Delaware license is a photo license.

Each county Prothonotary handles CCDW filings:

• New Castle County, 500 N. King Street, Suite 1500, Wilmington, DE 19801-3704, (302) 255-0557.
• Kent County, 38 The Green, Dover, DE 19901 (GPS address 414 Federal Street), (302) 735-1901.
• Sussex County, 1 The Circle, Suite 2, Georgetown, DE 19947, (302) 856-5252.

The Attorney General has a role short of issuing. CCDW Procedural Rule 6 directs the Prothonotary to send duplicates of all filed documents to the Attorney General in the county of application, who may investigate whether approval will constitute a risk to the public peace and safety and may file a response within 30 days. If no objection is filed, the application or renewal affidavit is deemed unopposed.

Who may hold one

Section 1441(a) opens the license to "a person of full age and good moral character," and attaches no number to "full age" in its own text. 1 Del. C. § 701 supplies the age of majority: a person who attains 18 is of full legal age for all purposes whatsoever unless otherwise provided. The neighboring bar fits: 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(5) prohibits any person under 21 from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon, and § 1448(a)(5)b.3. exempts from that bar a person 18 years of age or older who has a § 1441 license.

The conditions in § 1441(a) must be "strictly complied with." They are:

• A written application filed with the Prothonotary of the proper county at least 15 days before the then next term of the Superior Court, stating that the applicant is of full age and desires to be licensed for personal protection or protection of property, and stating the applicant's residence and occupation. It must include all information necessary for a criminal history background check, which the court may conduct under Chapter 85 of Title 11. CCDW Procedural Rule 3.3.1 and the court's published new-application instructions both state that an initial application may be filed at any time; the January 1 to June 1 window in Rule 3.3.2 applies only to renewal affidavits.
• A certificate of five respectable citizens of the county where the applicant resides at the time of filing. Under § 1441(a)(2) it must state that the applicant is a person of full age, sobriety and good moral character, that the applicant bears a good reputation for peace and good order in that community, and that carrying a concealed deadly weapon is necessary for the protection of the applicant or the applicant's property, or both. Each signature must be in that citizen's proper handwriting.
• Verification of the application by oath or affirmation, stating that the certificate and recommendation were read to or by the signers and that the signatures are genuine, per § 1441(a)(3).
• Before an initial license issues, a notarized certificate from an instructor or authorized representative of a qualifying sponsoring organization certifying completion of a firearms training course meeting the elements listed in § 1441(a)(3). See Training Requirements.
• A fee of $65 paid to the Prothonotary at the time of filing, under § 1441(a)(4). See Fees and Costs.

Section 1441(b) requires the Prothonotary to publish notice of every application once, at least 10 days before the next term of the Superior Court, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, then under § 1441(c) to lay the applications and accompanying certificates before the court.

The Attorney General's CCDW page describes a Delaware resident as someone who has or must have a Delaware driver's license or is registered to vote in Delaware.

The court's discretion

Section 1441(d) is explicit: the court "may or may not, in its discretion, approve any application," and to satisfy the judges fully as to the propriety of approving it, may receive remonstrances, hear evidence and arguments for and against, and establish general rules for that purpose. Section 1441(e) requires the court to endorse an application "approved" with the date, or "not approved." The Prothonotary notifies the applicant of an approval and, on receipt of the notarized training certification, issues the license. CCDW Procedural Rule 7 allows an applicant aggrieved by any action of the court to request a hearing in writing no later than 10 days after notification of the contested action.

One provision cuts against that discretion on necessity. Under § 1441(i), an adult who, as a successful petitioner under Part D, subchapter III of Chapter 9 of Title 10, has caused a protection from abuse order with a firearms prohibition under § 1045(a)(8) of Title 10 or § 1448(a)(6) of Title 11 to be entered against a person for alleged acts of domestic violence as defined in § 1041 of Title 10, is deemed to have shown necessity. All other requirements of § 1441(a) still apply.

How long the license runs

Section 1441(a)(5)a. sets the terms directly. The license issued upon initial application is valid for 3 years. On or before the expiration date, the licensee may renew, without further application, for a further period of 5 years on payment of a $65 fee to the Prothonotary and on filing an affidavit stating that carrying is necessary for personal protection or protection of property, or both, and that the person possesses all the requirements for issuance. Like renewals may be made every 5 years thereafter. The court may inquire into a renewal request and deny it for good cause shown, and no renewal requirement beyond those in that paragraph may be imposed.

Two other provisions describe the term differently. Section 1441(e) directs issuance "for a term to expire on June 1 next succeeding the date of such approval." CCDW Procedural Rule 9 provides that on granting an initial application the Prothonotary issues the license for a term to expire on the first day of June of the second year next succeeding, and on granting a renewal affidavit for a term to expire on the first day of June of the third year next succeeding. The dating orders them. The CCDW Procedural Rules took effect on May 1, 1993 under their Rule 12, while § 1441 has been amended repeatedly since, most recently by 83 Del. Laws, c. 339, so the statutory 3-year and 5-year terms in § 1441(a)(5)a. are the later enactment. Confirm the expiration date printed on your license with the Prothonotary rather than calculating it. APPLICATION_PROCESS covers the renewal filing.

Law-enforcement paths

Three provisions apply to officers, and they do different things.

Section 1441(g) provides that § 1441 does not apply to the carrying of the usual weapon by police or other peace officers.

Section 1441(h) is a licensing path through the same Superior Court process for a person retired as a police officer, as "police officer" is defined by § 1911 of Title 11, who served at least 20 years in a law-enforcement agency within Delaware, or who remains currently eligible for a duty-connected disability pension. Applying within 90 days of retirement, § 1441(h)(1) requires a $65 fee to the Prothonotary of the county of residence, an Attorney General certification of good standing, and a letter from the officer's chief verifying good standing. Applying more than 90 days but within 20 years after retirement, § 1441(h)(2) requires the $65 fee and Attorney General certification forms addressing good standing, no conviction of any crime greater than a violation since retirement, and no psychiatric commitment since retirement.

Sections 1441A and 1441B are neither licensing nor reciprocity provisions. Each is Delaware's implementation of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004: § 1441A implements 18 U.S.C. § 926B for qualified law-enforcement officers, and § 1441B implements 18 U.S.C. § 926C for qualified retired law-enforcement officers. Each authorizes a covered individual carrying the identification described in its subsection (d) to carry a concealed firearm shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, defines the covered officer in its subsection (c), and preserves in its subsection (b) state laws restricting concealed firearms on private property and on state or local government property.

Non-residents

The Superior Court's published instructions for the new and the renewal application are captioned for Delaware residents only, and the county residency structure of § 1441(a)(2) and CCDW Procedural Rule 3 matches.

Section 1441(k) is the narrow non-resident route, and it runs through the Attorney General rather than the court. The Attorney General has discretion to issue, on a limited basis, a temporary license to carry a concealed deadly weapon to a non-resident whom the Attorney General determines has a short-term need to carry within the State in conjunction with that individual's employment, for the protection of person or property. Such a license automatically expires 30 days from issuance, is not subject to renewal, and must be carried at all times while in the State. A second or subsequent one may issue, but no individual may be issued more than three. Section 1441(l) requires the application to be in writing and to bear a notice that false statements are punishable by law.

Recognition of out-of-state licenses is a different question governed by § 1441(j). See Reciprocity.

The CCDW license and buying a handgun

The handgun qualified purchaser permit under 11 Del. C. § 1448D is issued by the State Bureau of Identification within the Division of State Police, not by the Superior Court. A federal court order in the Delaware district records that the permit-to-purchase law took effect as 11 Del. C. § 1448D on November 16, 2025.

Holding a CCDW license substitutes for it. Section 1448D(c)(2) provides that a person holding a valid license to carry concealed deadly weapons issued by the Superior Court under § 1441 need not apply for a handgun qualified purchaser permit before purchasing a handgun. The Delaware State Police Permit to Purchase page states the same, and adds that transferors, including licensed dealers, may lawfully sell or deliver a handgun to a CCDW holder who has no permit to purchase. Section 1448D(g)(4) separately exempts § 1441 licensees from that section's training requirement, but § 1448D(p) qualifies all of subsection (g): a person identified there is exempt only if the firearm training undertaken pursuant to their employment meets all the requirements of § 1448D(f)(4). Because § 1448D(c)(2) independently removes the permit requirement for a CCDW holder, that qualifier is moot for a licensee who does not apply for the permit anyway. The background-check statutes carry parallel exemptions in their non-application lists: § 1448A(e)(5), which puts a buyer or transferee holding a valid concealed deadly weapons license under §§ 1441, 1441A, and 1441B outside the dealer background-check requirement entirely, and § 1448B(c)(6) for a prospective buyer holding a current and valid concealed carry permit issued under § 1441.

The two permits do not otherwise line up. Under § 1448D(f)(1) the Director may not issue a handgun qualified purchaser permit to a person under the age of 21, and § 1448D(j)(1) makes that permit valid for 2 years from issuance.

Who cannot possess at all

Section 1441(m) provides that any license issued under § 1441 is void, and automatically repealed by operation of law, if the licensee is or becomes prohibited from owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon as specified in 11 Del. C. § 1448. CCDW Procedural Rule 11 lets the court revoke a license at any time for good cause shown, and states that good cause includes but is not limited to the provisions of § 1448.

Section 1448(a) bars a listed set of persons from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm in Delaware. The categories include felony and crime-of-violence convictions, certain mental-health commitments and findings, specified drug convictions, juvenile felony-equivalent adjudications until age 25, persons under 21 subject to the § 1448(a)(5) exceptions, misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, and fugitives from justice. Under § 1448(c), possession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited is a class F felony, unless the weapon is a firearm or ammunition for a firearm and the violation falls under paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(8), in which case it is a class D felony, or unless the person is eligible for sentencing under § 1448(e), in which case it is a class C felony. Restrictions carries the full list and the relief provisions.

For current forms and filing instructions, use the Superior Court CCDW page at courts.delaware.gov and the Prothonotary in your county of residence.

Constitutional Carry in Delaware

Delaware is not a permitless carry state. Carrying a concealed deadly weapon without a license is a crime under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a), and a felony in every case under § 1442(b).

Under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a), a person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon when the person carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title. Section 1442(b) grades it: a class G felony, unless the deadly weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon, in which case it is a class D felony. There is no infraction-level version, no first-offense grace, and no residency carve-out inside § 1442.

The reach of that offense comes from 11 Del. C. § 222. A deadly weapon under § 222(6)a. includes a firearm, a bomb, a knife of any sort other than an ordinary pocketknife carried in a closed position, a switchblade knife, metal knuckles, a razor, an ice pick, a projectile weapon, and a dangerous instrument used or attempted to be used to cause death or serious physical injury. An ordinary pocketknife is one with a blade not more than 3.75 inches, per § 222(6)b. A firearm under § 222(13)a. covers a weapon designed or readily convertible to discharge a shot or projectile by force of an explosive, whether operable or inoperable, loaded or unloaded. Your § 1442 exposure is not limited to handguns. Carrying a concealed dangerous instrument is handled separately as a class A misdemeanor under § 1443(d).

The two defenses written into the statute

Section 1442(c) is a narrow lapsed-license defense. It requires an otherwise valid § 1441 license that has expired, a renewal application filed within the allotted time frame prior to expiration, and an offense alleged to have occurred while that renewal was pending before the court. It does nothing for someone who never held a license.

Section 1442(d) makes it a defense that the defendant complied with § 1456(b) of this title. Section 1456(b) covers a firearm knowingly left unattended in a vehicle, and compliance means the firearm is in a locked box or container, in a locked firearms rack on the motor vehicle, or locked in the trunk. Read those together: the defense turns on locked storage, not on whether the gun was visible. See Vehicle Carry and Transport.

The lawful route is the CCDW license

The license under 11 Del. C. § 1441 is what takes carrying outside § 1442. Superior Court issues it through the county Prothonotary, on a $65 fee under § 1441(a)(4) and a training course under § 1441(a)(3). It runs 3 years initially and renews for 5 years at a time under § 1441(a)(5)a., and § 1441(m) voids it by operation of law if the licensee becomes prohibited under § 1448. Section 1441A implements the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (18 U.S.C. § 926B) as a separate route for qualified officers.

That route is not shall-issue. Section 1441(a) is permissive: a person of full age and good moral character "may be licensed" when the listed conditions "have been strictly complied with." Section 1441(d) then provides that "The Court may or may not, in its discretion, approve any application, and in order to satisfy the Judges thereof fully in regard to the propriety of approving the same, may receive remonstrances and hear evidence and arguments for and against the same, and establish general rules for that purpose." Beyond the fee and the course, § 1441(a)(2) requires a certificate of 5 respectable citizens of the county in which the applicant resides, clearly stating that the applicant is of full age, sobriety and good moral character and that "the carrying of a concealed deadly weapon by the applicant is necessary for the protection of the applicant or the applicant's property, or both." The alternative to carrying without a license is a discretionary court decision, not a formality. Details are in Permit Basics and Application Process.

Two provisions in the same section let a nonresident carry concealed without a Delaware license. Under § 1441(j), Delaware "shall give full faith and credit" to licenses issued to citizens of other states that also honor Delaware licenses and that afford "a reasonably similar degree of protection," and the Attorney General "shall publish on January 15 of each year a list of all States which have qualified for reciprocity under this subsection," valid for one year. Under § 1441(k), the Attorney General has discretion to issue, on a limited basis, a temporary license to a nonresident with a short-term need to carry in conjunction with that individual's employment for the protection of person or property. That license "shall automatically expire 30 days from the date of issuance and shall not be subject to renewal, and must be carried at all times while within the State," and "No individual shall be issued more than 3 temporary licenses." See Reciprocity and Permit Basics.

What you can do without a license

Concealment is an element of § 1442, so carrying openly is not within that section's terms. Under 7 DE Admin. Code 9201, adopted after a December 2017 ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court, visitors may legally possess firearms as allowed by Delaware law in state parks, including trails, unguarded beaches, parking lots, and vehicles, unless prohibited because of a past conviction for a violent crime, an active Protection from Abuse Order, or a mental health commitment. Those regulations still bar firearms in signed facilities such as park offices, visitor centers, bathhouses, playgrounds, and guarded beaches. Holders of valid Delaware concealed-carry permits may carry within parks, including those designated areas, provided only that the permit be produced upon request, and the regulations would also allow active-duty law enforcement officers and qualified retired law enforcement officers to carry anywhere within the parks.

Carrying without a license still runs into statutes that bar possession outright, concealed or not:

• Safe School Zone. Knowingly possessing a firearm or projectile weapon in a Safe School Zone is a class E felony under 11 Del. C. § 1457A(b) and (e). The zone reaches buildings, structures, athletic fields, sports stadiums, real property, and motor vehicles of any public or private school under § 1457A(a)(5). The § 1441 licensee exception at § 1457A(c)(4) applies only if the firearm is in a motor vehicle, and § 1457A(d)(2) separately excepts a firearm in a locked container or locked rack in or on a vehicle.
• College or university safe zone. Knowing possession of a firearm there is a class A misdemeanor under § 1457C(b) and (e). The § 1441 licensee exception at § 1457C(c)(5) again applies only if the firearm is in a vehicle.
• Polling places. Knowing possession of a firearm or projectile weapon at a polling place on election day is a class A misdemeanor under § 1457B(b) and (f), and § 1457B(e) provides that it is not a defense if the person was unaware that the person possessed a firearm or projectile weapon at a polling place on election day.
• Safe Recreation Zone. Section 1457 creates no standalone adult possession offense. It attaches to an enumerated underlying offense listed in § 1457(b), which includes § 1442, and escalates under § 1457(j): a class E, F, or G underlying felony becomes one grade higher, and a class D felony stays class D. Section 1457(d) permits conviction for both.

Persons prohibited under 11 Del. C. § 1448 may not possess at all, openly or otherwise. Section 1448(c) grades that offense three ways: a class F felony; a class D felony where the deadly weapon is a firearm or ammunition for a firearm and the violation is one of paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(8) of that section; and a class C felony where the person is eligible for sentencing pursuant to § 1448(e).

Local governments cannot fill the gap

Under 22 Del. C. § 111(a), municipal governments shall enact no law, ordinance, or regulation prohibiting, restricting, or licensing the ownership, transfer, possession, or transportation of firearms, firearm components, or ammunition, except that discharge may be regulated. Title 9 states the same bar for counties at 9 Del. C. § 330(c). Ordinances enacted after July 4, 1985 are repealed by § 111(a), ordinances existing before that date are preserved, and Wilmington keeps a narrow paintball carve-out.

Section 111(b) lets municipalities regulate possession in police stations and municipal buildings, subject to conspicuous entrance signage and an exit-without-penalty provision. The licensee protection inside that scheme, at § 111(b)(6), covers holders of a valid § 1441 or § 1441A license so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others. Section 330(d)(6) is the county analogue. That protection is written for licensed concealed carry, so it does nothing for someone carrying without a license.

Article I, Section 20

The Delaware Constitution's arms provision is Article I, § 20. Both 10 Del. C. § 7703(d)(1) and § 7704(d)(3) and (d)(5) provide that nothing in those lethal violence protective order sections may be construed to impair the rights, under the Second Amendment or Article I, § 20 of the Delaware Constitution, of an individual not subject to the court's order. Those savings clauses protect non-parties to an order. They have not displaced the license requirement, and § 1442 remains in force as written.

If you are under 21

Under 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(5), any person under the age of 21 is a prohibited person for purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition. Because (a)(5) sits inside the § 1448(a)(1) through (a)(8) band, possession of a firearm or ammunition by an under-21 person is a class D felony under § 1448(c). For a person 15 or older but under 18, § 1448(f)(1) adds a mandatory minimum of 6 months of Level V incarceration or institutional confinement for a first offense and 1 year for each subsequent offense, not subject to suspension.

The bar does not reach everything. Section 1448(a)(5)a. excludes shotguns as defined in § 1444(c) and their ammunition, muzzle-loading rifles as defined in § 704(f) of Title 7, and, for a person 18 or older, deadly weapons including projectile weapons other than firearms. Section 1448(a)(5)b. exempts persons 18 or older who are active members of the Armed Forces or National Guard, qualified law-enforcement officers under § 1441A, or holders of a § 1441 license. Section 1448(a)(5)c.1. covers lawful hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity under the direct supervision of a person 21 years of age or older, and c.3. covers transport to the location of an activity authorized under c.1. Supervision is not universal: c.2. stands on its own and exempts a person under 21 who "possesses or controls a firearm for the purpose of engaging in lawful hunting and is in compliance with § 704(g) of Title 7." Section 1448(a)(5)d. preserves justified use of force under §§ 464, 465, 466, and 469.

Section 1441(a) opens the license to a person of full age, and 1 Del. C. § 701 fixes full legal age at 18 for all purposes unless otherwise provided, so an 18 to 20 year old who obtains a § 1441 license is exempted from the possession bar by § 1448(a)(5)b.3. Going the other direction is an offense: selling, giving, or otherwise transferring a firearm or ammunition to a person under 21, unless permitted by § 1448, is a class G felony under 11 Del. C. § 1445(a)(4) and (c).

The purchase permit is not a carry permit

Delaware's handgun qualified purchaser permit at 11 Del. C. § 1448D took effect on November 16, 2025, as recited in the District of Delaware's March 27, 2026 memorandum order in Neuberger v. Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, C.A. No. 24-590 (MN). It gates acquisition, not carry. Under § 1448D(b) the State Bureau of Identification issues the permit to an applicant not disqualified under § 1448D(f), and the transfer-side provisions it enforces bar a dealer or an unlicensed seller from delivering a handgun to a buyer who lacks one. Disqualifiers under § 1448D(f) include being under 21, being prohibited under § 1448, posing a danger of causing physical injury to self or others if supported by probable cause, and not having completed the listed training course within the prior 5 years. Under § 1448D(h), SBI shall investigate the application and, unless grounds exist for the denial thereof, grant the permit within 30 days from the date of receipt. The permit is valid 2 years under § 1448D(j)(1).

The bridge runs one way. Under § 1448D(c)(2), a person holding a valid § 1441 concealed carry license is not required to apply for a handgun qualified purchaser permit before purchasing a handgun, and § 1448D(g)(4) exempts § 1441 licensees from the § 1448D training requirement. The Delaware State Police permit-to-purchase page states the same. No reciprocal provision makes a purchaser permit stand in for a § 1441 license, so a purchaser permit holder who carries concealed is still exposed under § 1442.

In the 24-590 order the court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss in part: the Second Amendment claim (Count I) and the Fourth Amendment claim (Count II) were dismissed without prejudice for lack of standing, the Count III vagueness challenge with prejudice, and plaintiffs were given 60 days to file a third amended complaint that would be their last. Counts I and II were resolved on standing, not on the merits. Section 1448D is in effect.

Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon in Delaware

The headline

Delaware makes concealed carry a criminal offense unless the carrier holds a license. Under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a), "A person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon when the person carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title."

That sentence sets the structure of Delaware law. The offense is defined by the absence of a § 1441 license, so the license is what removes the conduct from the reach of § 1442. The Attorney General's office states the same: a Delaware resident who wishes to carry a concealed deadly weapon must have a current CCDW license, applied for through the Superior Court. For how that license is obtained and renewed, see PERMIT_BASICS, APPLICATION_PROCESS, and TRAINING_REQUIREMENTS.

What counts as a deadly weapon

The reach of § 1442 depends on the § 222(6) definition of "deadly weapon," which applies throughout the Criminal Code. That definition is a list, and it is broader than firearms:

• A firearm.
• A bomb.
• A knife of any sort, other than an ordinary pocketknife carried in a closed position.
• A switchblade knife.
• A billy.
• A blackjack.
• A bludgeon.
• Metal knuckles.
• A slingshot.
• A razor.
• A bicycle chain.
• An ice pick.
• A dangerous instrument, which is used, or attempted to be used, to cause death or serious physical injury.
• A projectile weapon.

Section 222(6)b. supplies the boundary on the knife entry: "ordinary pocketknife" means a knife with a blade not more than 3.75 inches long. A knife with a longer blade, or carried open rather than closed, is not carved out.

Two feeder definitions matter for the grading. Under § 222(13), "firearm" means a weapon from which a shot or other object is designed or may readily be converted to be discharged by force of an explosive, operable or inoperable, loaded or unloaded, and also a firearm frame or receiver. Under § 222(28), "projectile weapon" means a bow, crossbow, or airbow, a weapon designed to project an arrow, crossbow bolt, or spear, or an airgun that discharges a pellet, slug, or bullet larger than .177 caliber.

Delaware's Criminal Code does not define "concealed." Section 222 carries no entry for it and § 1442 does not supply one, so concealment is left to be applied case by case.

How § 1442 is graded

The grading is set out in 11 Del. C. § 1442(b): "Carrying a concealed deadly weapon is a class G felony, unless the deadly weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon, in which case it is a class D felony."

Both tiers are felonies. Section 1442 has no misdemeanor tier and no repeat-offense tier; the only fact that moves the grade is the character of the weapon. Amended by 84 Del. Laws, c. 371, § 1 and 84 Del. Laws, c. 525, § 4.

Sentencing exposure comes from 11 Del. C. § 4205(b): up to 8 years to be served at Level V for a class D felony under § 4205(b)(4), and up to 2 years at Level V for a class G felony under § 4205(b)(7).

The defenses written into § 1442

Section 1442 supplies two affirmative defenses in its own text.

The first is the lapsed-renewal defense in § 1442(c). It is a defense that the defendant has been issued an otherwise valid license to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to the terms of § 1441, where all three of the following are true:

1. The license has expired.
2. The person had applied for renewal of the license within the allotted time frame prior to expiration of the license.
3. The offense is alleged to have occurred while the application for renewal of the license was pending before the court.

All three are conjunctive. A holder whose license expired without a timely renewal application filed before expiration does not come within the text.

The second of those conditions turns on a window § 1442 does not define. The Superior Court's Rules for Issuance and Renewal of Licenses to Carry Concealed Deadly Weapons supply it: renewal affidavits may be filed after January 1 but no later than June 1 of the year of license expiration. APPLICATION_PROCESS covers the renewal filing.

The second defense is in § 1442(d): it is a defense that the defendant complied with § 1456(b). That is the vehicle limb of the unsafe-storage offense, reaching a person who knowingly leaves a firearm unattended in a vehicle. It is satisfied when the firearm is stored in a locked box or container, a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle, or locked in the trunk. Section 1456(d) grades that offense as a class B misdemeanor, or a class A misdemeanor if an unauthorized person obtains the firearm and commits or attempts a crime with it, uses it to inflict serious physical injury or death, or transfers or attempts to transfer it to an unauthorized person. See STORAGE and VEHICLE_CARRY for the storage rules themselves.

The traffic runs one way. Section 1456(g) provides that an otherwise valid § 1441 license is not a defense to § 1456(b). A license answers § 1442; it does not answer the vehicle storage offense.

The adjacent offense: concealed dangerous instrument

Where a concealed article is not a deadly weapon, 11 Del. C. § 1443 may still apply: a person is guilty of carrying a concealed dangerous instrument when the person carries concealed a dangerous instrument upon or about the person. Section 1443(d) grades it a class A misdemeanor.

"Dangerous instrument" is defined at § 222(5) as any instrument, article, or substance which, under the circumstances in which it is used, attempted to be used, or threatened to be used, is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury, plus any disabling chemical spray and any electronic control device.

Two provisions narrow § 1443. Section 1443(b) makes it a defense that the defendant was carrying the concealed dangerous instrument for a specific lawful purpose and had no intention of causing any physical injury or threatening the same. Section 1443(c) provides that disabling chemical spray, as defined in § 222, shall not be considered a dangerous instrument for purposes of that section. Section 222(8) defines that term to include mace, tear gas, and pepper spray, with the devices designed to carry, store, or disperse them.

Note the overlap. A dangerous instrument that is used, or attempted to be used, to cause death or serious physical injury is itself a deadly weapon under § 222(6)a.13., so the same concealed article can satisfy both definitions and be charged under § 1442. No text in either section makes the two offenses exclusive of each other, and § 1443's only carve-out is the disabling chemical spray rule in § 1443(c).

Carrying during a felony

A concealed deadly weapon carried during a felony adds a separate charge. Under 11 Del. C. § 1447(a), possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony is a class B felony, and § 4205(b)(2) sets the class B range at not less than 2 years up to 25 years at Level V. When the weapon is a firearm or projectile weapon, the firearm-specific charge is § 1447A: the same class B felony, but § 1447A(b) imposes a minimum sentence of 3 years at Level V notwithstanding § 4205(b)(2), and § 1447A(c) raises that minimum to 5 years at Level V for a person at least twice previously convicted of a felony in Delaware or elsewhere. Both sections preserve the conviction even where the felony of conviction is a lesser included felony of the one originally charged, under § 1447(e) and § 1447A(g).

What the § 1441 license does and does not do

Section 1441(a) licenses a person "to carry a concealed deadly weapon for personal protection or the protection of the person's property." That authorization is not weapon-specific. Section 1441(a)(5)a. sets the initial license at 3 years, with renewal for further periods of 5 years. The same statute carries a second term rule that does not read the same way: under § 1441(e), the Court issues the license for a term to expire on June 1 next succeeding the date of approval. The Superior Court's renewal window runs to that same June 1 date in the year of expiration.

Several limits sit in the statutes rather than on the license itself:

• Under § 1441(m), a license is void and automatically repealed by operation of law if the licensee is or becomes prohibited from owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon as specified in 11 Del. C. § 1448. See RESTRICTIONS.
• Four location statutes give a § 1441 license two treatments: no exception at all under § 1457 and § 1457B, and a vehicle-only carve-out under § 1457A and § 1457C. A § 1442 violation in a Safe Recreation Zone becomes the separate crime under § 1457, whose only exceptions, at § 1457(h), are a police officer and a constable employed by a recreation zone acting in that capacity, so a licensee is not exempt. Section 1457(d) allows conviction for both that crime and the underlying offense, and § 1457(e) removes lack of awareness of the zone as a defense. Under § 1457(j), a class G § 1442 predicate makes the zone crime one grade higher and a class D predicate makes it a class D felony. Section 1457A, possession of a firearm or projectile weapon in a Safe School Zone, is a class E felony, and its licensee carve-out at § 1457A(c)(4) applies "but only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle." Section 1457B, possession of a firearm or projectile weapon at a polling place, is a class A misdemeanor, and its exceptions at § 1457B(c) include no § 1441 licensee. Section 1457C, possession of a firearm in a college or university safe zone, is a class A misdemeanor, and its licensee carve-out at § 1457C(c)(5) applies "but only if the firearm is in a vehicle." See PROHIBITED_PLACES.
• A license is not a defense to the vehicle storage offense, as § 1456(g) states directly.

The license also does work outside § 1442. Under § 1448(a)(5)b.3., the under-21 prohibition does not apply to a person 18 or older who holds a § 1441 license. Under § 1469(c)(5), a holder of a valid Superior Court § 1441 permit is exempt from the large-capacity magazine prohibition.

Section 1441(k) creates a separate nonresident route. The Attorney General has discretion to issue, on a limited basis, a temporary license to a non-resident whom the Attorney General determines has a short-term need to carry within the state in conjunction with that individual's employment for the protection of person or property. It automatically expires 30 days from issuance, is not subject to renewal, and must be carried at all times while in the state. Non-renewability is not a bar on getting another one: the statute adds that nothing in it prohibits a second or subsequent temporary license, subject to the cap of 3 per individual. Licenses issued by other states run through § 1441(j) instead; see RECIPROCITY.

Police and retired police

Section 1441(g) states that the provisions of that section do not apply to the carrying of the usual weapon by the police or other peace officers. On its face the subsection disapplies § 1441 alone, and only as to the usual weapon of those officers.

Section 1441(h) is a licensing route rather than an exemption. Anyone retired as a police officer, as defined by 11 Del. C. § 1911, who served at least 20 years in a Delaware law-enforcement agency or remains eligible for a duty-connected disability pension, may be licensed on conditions turning on how soon after retirement the application is filed and on certifications of good standing.

LEOSA in Delaware: § 1441A and § 1441B

Delaware wrote the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act into its own code. Section 1441A implements 18 U.S.C. § 926B for qualified law-enforcement officers, and § 1441B implements § 926C for qualified retired officers. Both track the federal text closely.

Each begins the same way: notwithstanding any other provision of state or local law, a qualified officer or qualified retired officer carrying the identification required by subsection (d) may carry a concealed firearm shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, subject to subsection (b).

Subsection (b) of each section states what the provision does not do. It shall not be construed to supersede or limit the laws of any state that permit private persons or entities to prohibit or restrict the possession of concealed firearms on their property, or that prohibit or restrict the possession of firearms on state or local government property, installations, buildings, bases, or parks. The federal baselines carry the identical two carve-outs, 18 U.S.C. § 926B(b) for active officers and § 926C(b) for retired officers, so those limits survive both the state and the federal provision.

Section 1441A(c) defines "qualified law-enforcement officer" as a government agency employee authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for, any violation of law, with statutory arrest or apprehension powers, who is authorized by the agency to carry a firearm, is not subject to disciplinary action that could suspend or remove police powers, meets agency firearm qualification standards, is not under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating drug, and is not federally prohibited from receiving a firearm. Subsection (d) requires agency-issued photographic identification, and subsection (f) extends coverage to Amtrak Police, the Federal Reserve, and the federal executive branch.

Section 1441B(c) sets seven conditions for a qualified retired officer, including separation in good standing as a law-enforcement officer, prior arrest authority, an aggregate of 10 years or more of service or separation due to a service-connected disability, and firearms qualification within the most recent 12-month period at the officer's own expense. Subsection (d) sets out two identification routes: an agency photographic identification carrying the qualification notation, or one paired with a state or certified-instructor certification. Under § 1441B(e)(3), "a firearm of the same type" means a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol.

Both sections define "firearm" by reference to 18 U.S.C. § 921, include ammunition not expressly prohibited by federal law or subject to the National Firearms Act, and exclude machineguns, silencers, and destructive devices as federally defined.

Where the statutes are silent

No provision in § 1441 or § 1442 exempts unlicensed concealed carry in a person's own dwelling, place of business, or on property the person owns, and no definitional carve-out to that effect appears in § 222. This guide does not claim one exists. Anyone relying on a home or business rule should confirm it first with the Superior Court's weapons page or the Department of Justice CCDW inquiry line.

Delaware Firearms Training Requirements

Delaware runs two separate firearms training requirements, and they answer two different questions. One is about carrying. One is about buying.

The carry requirement lives in 11 Del. C. § 1441 and governs the license to carry a concealed deadly weapon (CCDW), which is granted by the Superior Court. The purchase requirement lives in 11 Del. C. § 1448D and governs the handgun qualified purchaser permit, which is issued by the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) within the Division of State Police. The two courses cover nearly the same ground, but they are certified on different forms, one filed with the Prothonotary of the Superior Court and one submitted to SBI, they are timed differently, and the Attorney General and the Delaware State Police each run a separate instructor list and portal. Treating one course as automatically satisfying the other is the mistake to avoid.

There is one bridge between them. Under § 1448D(c)(2), "A person who holds a valid license to carry concealed deadly weapons issued by the Superior Court under § 1441 of this title is not required to apply for a handgun qualified purchaser permit under this section before purchasing a handgun." The bridge runs one direction only. A purchaser permit does not substitute for a CCDW license, and the § 1448D course is not a path to carry.

CCDW training under 11 Del. C. § 1441

Training attaches to the initial license only. Paragraph (a)(3) requires that "Prior to the issuance of an initial license the person shall also file with the Prothonotary a notarized certificate signed by an instructor or authorized representative of a sponsoring agency, school, organization or institution" certifying that the applicant "has completed a firearms training course which contains at least the below-described minimum elements."

The ten required course elements

Paragraph (a)(3) lists the elements the course "shall include," lettered a through j:

• a. Instruction regarding knowledge and safe handling of firearms
• b. Instruction regarding safe storage of firearms and child safety
• c. Instruction regarding knowledge and safe handling of ammunition
• d. Instruction regarding safe storage of ammunition and child safety
• e. Instruction regarding safe firearms shooting fundamentals
• f. Live fire shooting exercises conducted on a range, including the expenditure of a minimum of 100 rounds of ammunition
• g. Identification of ways to develop and maintain firearm shooting skills
• h. Instruction regarding federal and state laws pertaining to the lawful purchase, ownership, transportation, use and possession of firearms
• i. Instruction regarding the laws of this State pertaining to the use of deadly force for self-defense
• j. Instruction regarding techniques for avoiding a criminal attack and how to manage a violent confrontation, including conflict resolution

The 100 round figure in element f is a floor on the live fire block, not a course total, and the statute sets no passing score, no distance, and no target standard. It also sets no minimum number of classroom hours. Section 1441 states elements, not a clock.

Who may sponsor the course

Paragraph (a)(3)(ii) requires sponsorship by "a federal, state, county or municipal law enforcement agency, a college, a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training, or a firearms training school with instructors certified by a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training."

Note the drafting. As written, clause (ii) attaches "is sponsored by" to the applicant rather than to the course. The parallel list in § 1448D(f)(4) is unambiguous on the same point, requiring "a firearms training course that is sponsored by" those same entities, and the Delaware State Police guidelines read sponsorship as attaching to the course, though those guidelines govern the § 1448D purchase permit and carry no authority over § 1441. Read it that way, but treat the § 1441 wording as a known ambiguity in the text.

Section 1441 itself does not create a state instructor licensing scheme. Separately, the Department of Justice maintains a list of firearms instructors it recognizes to teach CCDW courses, and states that the list is used by the Courts to verify instructors. Instructors seeking or renewing that authorization go through the CCDW Instructor Portal on the Attorney General's site.

When the certificate is due

The certificate is due before the license issues, not before the application is filed. Under § 1441(e), once the Court approves an application the Prothonotary notifies the applicant, and "following receipt of the notarized certification of satisfactory completion of the firearms training course requirement as set forth in paragraph (a)(3) of this section above shall issue a proper license."

The Superior Court's instructions for new applications set the practical deadline. If the application is approved and the applicant has not already submitted a gun course certificate, the applicant must then complete an approved gun course and submit an original notarized certification of satisfactory completion. Per those instructions, if a certification or proof of enrollment is not filed with the Court within 90 calendar days of the approval, the Court will assume the applicant no longer wants the permit, and the applicant has to start the process over.

So there are two workable sequences: train first and file the certificate with the application, or wait for approval and then train inside the 90 day window. Confirm the current deadline and forms against the Superior Court weapons page before relying on either.

Renewal requires no new training

Renewals are governed by § 1441(a)(5)a., which closes with a flat bar: "No requirements in addition to those specified in this paragraph may be imposed for the renewal of a license." The requirements specified there are the renewal affidavit, the $65 fee, and continued possession of all the requirements for issuance of a license. A refresher course is not among them. The Superior Court's renewal instructions likewise call for photographs, the fee, and the notarized renewal application, with no training certificate.

Retired Delaware police officers

Subsection (h) creates a separate CCDW path for a person retired as a police officer as defined by § 1911 of Title 11, after at least 20 years of service in a Delaware law-enforcement agency or while remaining eligible for a duty-connected disability pension. It sets two alternative condition sets, both keyed to how long after retirement the officer applies. Apply within 90 days of retirement and the officer pays the $65 fee and presents both an Attorney General certification of good standing and a letter from the chief of the retiring agency. Apply more than 90 days but within 20 years after retirement and the officer pays the $65 fee and presents Attorney General certification forms covering good standing, a criminal record review showing no conviction greater than a violation since retirement, and no psychiatric commitment since retirement. Neither path repeats the paragraph (a)(3) training certificate.

Subsection (k) temporary nonresident licenses issued at the discretion of the Attorney General expire 30 days from issuance and are not renewable. The statute states no training requirement for them and leaves administration to Attorney General regulations.

Purchaser permit training under 11 Del. C. § 1448D

Section 1448D created the handgun qualified purchaser permit. The United States District Court for the District of Delaware, addressing a challenge to the law in Neuberger v. Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, C.A. No. 24-590 (MN), recorded that the law "went into effect on November 16. 2025 as 11 Del. C. § 1448D." The code text carries the note "[For application of this section, see 84 Del. Laws, c. 259, § 5]."

Training enters through the disqualifier in § 1448D(f)(4). The Director may not issue a permit to a person who, "in the 5 years before the date of application, has not completed a firearms training course" sponsored by one of the same four categories of entities listed in § 1441. That is a recency rule with real consequences for scheduling: a course taken more than five years before the application date does not count.

The course "must consist of at least all of the following," lettered a through k. Elements a through j track § 1441 almost word for word, with one wording change in element i, which reads "Instruction regarding the laws of this State pertaining to the use of deadly force" and drops the § 1441 phrase "for self-defense." The live fire element is again "a minimum of 100 rounds of ammunition." Element k is new and has no counterpart in § 1441: "Instruction regarding suicide prevention."

That single added element is why a § 1441 CCDW course is not automatically a § 1448D course. A course built to the § 1441 outline is one topic short unless suicide prevention was taught.

Exemptions

Subsection (g) exempts twelve categories from the training requirement of the section: qualified law-enforcement officers; qualified retired law-enforcement officers; sheriffs and deputy sheriffs if otherwise qualified; persons licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon under § 1441; federal firearms licensees and Delaware deadly weapons dealers licensed under Chapter 9 of Title 24; armored car guards and security personnel licensed under Chapter 13 of Title 24; constables commissioned under Chapter 56 of Title 24; Delaware correctional officers; members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard and their reserve elements, including the Delaware National Guard; instructors certified by the National Rifle Association of America; persons holding a valid Delaware hunter safety certification card; and competitive shooters holding competitor classification cards issued by the National Rifle Association of America, the International Defensive Pistol Association, the International Practical Shooting Confederation, or the United States Practical Shooting Association.

Subsection (p) narrows all of it: "An individual identified under subsection (g) of this section is exempt from the training requirement only if the firearm training undertaken pursuant to their employment meets all the requirements of paragraph (f)(4) of this section." Read (g) and (p) together before telling a student they are covered.

Separately from subsection (g), § 1448D(c)(1) removes qualified law-enforcement officers, law-enforcement agencies buying duty handguns, and qualified retired law-enforcement officers from paragraph (f)(4) altogether, along with (f)(1) and subsection (h). Because subsection (p) conditions only persons identified under subsection (g), the (c)(1) route is not subject to the employment-training limiter. The qualified retired law-enforcement route rests on the § 1441B definition, which the Delaware State Police restate as having met an active-officer firearms qualification standard within the most recent 12-month period, so that status carries its own recurring shooting requirement.

Delaware State Police guidance adds the paperwork side: exempt applicants must submit proof of the exemption with the application.

DSP implementation and the approved trainer system

The Delaware State Police Permit to Purchase Section publishes Firearms Training Course Guidelines whose stated purpose is "To establish and maintain firearms training course guidelines compliant with 11 Del. C. § 1448D." The guidelines restate the four sponsoring entity categories and all eleven curriculum topics, and confirm the five year window: an applicant "must complete a firearms training course within the 5 years prior to application or meet one of the exemptions listed in 11 Del. C. § 1448D (g)."

Those guidelines define "Firearms Training Course" as "a course of instruction conducted by an approved firearms instructor certified to teach course material in accordance with the requirements in the Rules and Regulations established by SBI." Section 1448D(q) is the authority for those rules: "The SBI may adopt regulations to administer, implement, and enforce this section." The SBI rules themselves are not published on the Permit to Purchase page, and the published guidelines do not state a minimum course length or a live fire passing standard.

For the applicant, DSP describes the sequence as completing a firearms training course with a certified instructor, fingerprinting through IdentoGO, and the background check, with the training certificate or proof of exemption uploaded with the application. Section 1448D(h) gives SBI 30 days from receipt to grant the permit absent grounds for denial, § 1448D(j)(1) makes the permit valid for two years from issuance, and § 1448D(o)(1) bars SBI from keeping any records of the application once a permit issues or a denial becomes final, other than the applicant's name and date of birth, the date of issuance or final denial, and the date of the firearms training course the applicant completed.

For instructors

The Permit to Purchase instructor track is separate from the Attorney General's CCDW instructor list. DSP states that the Permit to Purchase Office is responsible for confirming that training courses submitted with applications meet the statutory requirements, that instructors who satisfy the process are included on the public list of approved providers, and, importantly, that "Pre-approval is not required." Courses meeting the statute taught by instructors not on the pre-approved list may still satisfy the requirements, and where a submitted certificate does not clearly satisfy them, the office contacts the applicant or the course provider for more information.

To get on the list, DSP directs instructors to review the Training Course Guidelines, complete the instructor application in the Firearms Instructor Portal, and submit the required documents. Delaware State Police also publish a Firearms Training Course Certification form for instructor use only, to be completed and signed by the instructor on the student's successful completion and then submitted by the student with the permit application.

Instructors who want to serve both audiences need both authorizations, a curriculum that carries the § 1448D suicide prevention block on top of the § 1441 outline, and the right certification document for each filing. Verify current forms, portals, and lists against the Superior Court weapons page and the Delaware State Police permit to purchase page before enrolling students.

How to Apply for a Delaware Concealed Deadly Weapon License

Delaware does not run its carry licensing through a police agency. You file a court case. Under 11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(1) the applicant "shall make application therefor in writing and file the same with the Prothonotary of the proper county," and the Prothonotary lays the applications before the Superior Court. The Superior Court weapons page states the division of labor: "Superior Court is responsible for granting Concealed Deadly Weapon Permits in Delaware after the Attorney General's Office investigates and recommends the application."

The filing is public, it is advertised in a newspaper, five citizens of your county vouch for you in writing, and a judge decides. Section 1441(d) keeps the decision discretionary: "The Court may or may not, in its discretion, approve any application."

The weapons page also posts the Superior Court procedural rules for § 1441, the application form, and instruction sheets for new and renewal applications. Confirm current forms, addresses, and instructions there and with the Prothonotary of your county before you file.

Where you file

Superior Court Rule 3(1) requires the application to be "filed with the Prothonotary in the county in which the applicant resides." The new-application instructions list the CCDW filing addresses for the three counties:

You may hand deliver the application or mail it. The court warns: "Applications filed by mail shall NOT include cash. Applications filed by mail must include either money order or personal check made payable to 'PROTHONOTARY'." Cash is taken only in person. For a printed receipt, include a self addressed stamped envelope.

Newspaper publication comes first

The new-application instructions make publication step 1, before filing. The paper must be one of general circulation in your county, and the instructions add a threshold: "Newspaper selection must have a circulation of at least 35% of the population in your zip code."

Qualifying papers by county. New Castle: Hockessin Community News (19707), Middletown Transcript (19709, 19730, 19734), Newark Post (19711, 19713, 19701, 19702, 19716), New Castle Weekly (19720, 19701, 19702, 19706 Delaware City only), and "All other Zip Codes in NCC must use the News Journal." Kent County: Delaware State News, Dover Post, Smyrna/Clayton Sun-Times, The Guide, News Journal. Sussex County: The Guide, Morning Star Publications, Inc., Cape Gazette, Coastal Point, Independent Newspapers, Delaware Wave, Sussex Countian, Milford Beacon, News Journal.

Three mechanics. Have the application published once "at least (10) business days before the filing of your application." Obtain an affidavit from the newspaper stating the requirement has been met, and attach it. Use your whole name, no initials, and your home address.

The statute and the instruction sheet diverge here. Section 1441(b) assigns publication to the court, not to you: the Prothonotary "shall cause notice of every such application to be published once, at least 10 days before the next term of the Superior Court," in "a newspaper of general circulation published in the county," and may do it as an alphabetical list of names and residences. Rule 5 says only that "Publication shall be made pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 1441(b)." The instruction sheet nonetheless puts the arranging and the proof on the applicant, and keys the deadline to your filing date rather than the court term. Follow the instruction sheet, and ask the Prothonotary if your paper or timing is in doubt.

Fingerprints at the State Bureau of Identification

The weapons page and the instructions agree: "Fingerprints must be taken by State Bureau of Identification within 45 days prior to filing the application." Appointments are scheduled at uenroll.identogo.com using a county service code: New Castle County 27S7Q4, Kent County 27RV9F, and Sussex County 27S7RK. Submit proof of payment for the fingerprinting when you file.

If you have been a Delaware resident for less than five years, the instructions ask for a certified driving record from your previous state or states of residence.

This feeds the records check § 1441(a)(1) contemplates: you must "submit together with such application all information necessary to conduct a criminal history background check," and the Superior Court may run that check "pursuant to the procedures set forth in Chapter 85 of Title 11."

Five references

Section 1441(a)(2) requires you to file, at the same time as the application, "a certificate of 5 respectable citizens of the county in which the applicant resides." The certificate has to state that you are "a person of full age, sobriety and good moral character," that you bear "a good reputation for peace and good order in the community" where you live, and that carrying a concealed deadly weapon "is necessary for the protection of the applicant or the applicant's property, or both." It "shall be signed with the proper signatures and in the proper handwriting of each such respectable citizen."

The court supplies a Reference Questionnaire form for this. Step 3 of the instructions has five citizens from your county complete it, and adds two limits on who qualifies: the citizen "cannot be related or reside at the same address as the applicant," and "must know the applicant for a period of no less than one (1) year."

Section 1441(a)(3) then puts you under oath about those signatures. The application is filed "verified by oath or affirmation in writing taken before an officer authorized" to administer it, and under that verification you state that the certificate and recommendation were read to or by the signers and that the signatures are "in the proper and genuine handwriting of each."

The form, photographs, and fee

The court posts one combined Application for NEW / RENEWAL License to Carry a Concealed Deadly Weapon, and Rule 3(1) requires applications "filed under oath in duplicate upon the form attached as Form 1." The instructions are direct: "Complete the application and have it notarized." A notary is available at each Prothonotary's Office at no fee.

Section 1441(a)(1) fixes what the application must say: that you are of full age, that you are "desirous of being licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon for personal protection or protection of the person's property, or both," and your residence and occupation.

Photographs come with the filing, and the rule and the instructions size them differently. Rule 3(1) calls for two 1.5 by 1.5 inch passport-style photographs of the applicant, taken "within the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the renewal application," wording carried over from the renewal paragraph that follows it. The instructions call for two color 2 by 2 inch official passport photographs on photo stock paper, taken "within the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the application," and warn that out of focus, grainy, or wrongly sized photos will be rejected. Use the instruction sheet's specification and confirm with the Prothonotary.

The fee is statutory, under § 1441(a)(4): "At the time the application is filed, the applicant shall pay a fee of $65 to the Prothonotary issuing the same." FEES_COSTS has the full cost picture.

File the application with all attachments, plus the duplicate copy. That duplicate is what reaches the prosecutor. Under Rule 4, if the application is incomplete "the Prothonotary shall return same to the applicant, together with an explanation for rejection."

Attorney General referral and investigation

Rule 6 routes the duplicate: "The Prothonotary shall send the duplicate of all documents filed with the Court to the office of the Attorney General in the county of application." Consistent with 29 Del. C. § 2504(4), the Attorney General "may investigate whether the approval of the application will constitute a risk to the public peace and safety," and "may file a response with the Court within 30 days of the referral." A copy of any response goes to the applicant by regular mail, with proof of mailing filed with the Prothonotary. If no objection is filed, the application "shall be deemed unopposed by the Attorney General, and the Court will decide the matter on the information presented."

Both instruction sheets add: "You may be contacted by a representative of the Attorney General's Office for a personal interview." The Department of Justice runs a CCDW Inquiry Line at (302) 577-5039 and an inquiry address at DOJConcealedCarry@delaware.gov.

The court's decision

Under § 1441(d) the Court may "receive remonstrances and hear evidence and arguments for and against" an application, and may "establish general rules for that purpose." The procedural rules are those rules.

Section 1441(e) fixes the mechanics. On approval, "the Court shall endorse the word 'approved' thereon and sign the same with the date of approval." If not approved, it endorses "not approved" and signs. The Prothonotary must notify the applicant "immediately after any such application has been so approved."

On timing, the statute and the rules do not line up. Section 1441(a)(1) requires filing "at least 15 days before the then next term of the Superior Court," and § 1441(c) has the Prothonotary lay applications before the Court "at its then next term." Rule 3(3)(a) says instead that "Applications for an initial license may be filed at any time," and the instruction sheet carries the same heading. Neither the statute nor the Superior Court rules set a deadline by which the Court must rule.

Training certificate and issuance

Section 1441(a)(3) makes the training certificate a precondition to issuance rather than to filing: "Prior to the issuance of an initial license the person shall also file with the Prothonotary a notarized certificate signed by an instructor or authorized representative of a sponsoring agency, school, organization or institution." Section 1441(e) matches, having the Prothonotary issue the license "following receipt of the notarized certification of satisfactory completion of the firearms training course requirement." Nothing requires you to train before you file.

The instructions sequence it after approval. If your application is approved "and you have not already submitted a gun course certificate, you must now complete an Approved Gun Course," then "Submit an original notarized certification of satisfactory completion of the firearm training course." There is a hard clock on this one: "If a certification or proof of enrollment is not filed with the Court within 90 calendar days of the approval of your gun permit, the Court will assume you no longer want to obtain a gun permit," and you start the process over. Course content and sponsorship rules live in TRAINING_REQUIREMENTS.

Section 1441(f) has the Secretary of State prepare the blank license forms for the Prothonotaries, and requires the Prothonotary to affix a photographic representation of the licensee "before lamination."

If the application is denied

The instructions state the notice practice: "If your CCDW Application is DENIED, you will ONLY receive written notification."

Rule 7 supplies the remedy: "Any applicant aggrieved by any action of the Court may file a written request for a hearing no later than 10 days after notification of the contested action." The Court then notifies the applicant and the Attorney General of the hearing date. Under Rule 8 the Court may appoint the Attorney General to represent opposing interests at that hearing, and under Rule 10 the Delaware Uniform Rules of Evidence apply. Rule 11 lets the Court revoke a license "at any time" for good cause shown, which "shall include but is not limited to the provisions of 11 Del. C. § 1448." Section 1441(m) voids a license by operation of law if the licensee is or becomes prohibited under § 1448.

Neither § 1441 nor the Superior Court procedural rules set a waiting period before reapplying after a denial, or an appeal route beyond the Rule 7 hearing.

Special tracks and renewal

Retired Delaware police officers have a separate path under § 1441(h) and a separate court form, with different certification requirements inside 90 days of retirement than after, out to 20 years.

The court's new-application instructions cover Delaware residents only, and both the § 1441(a)(2) certificate and Rule 3(1) turn on the county in which the applicant resides. Nonresidents use the § 1441(k) temporary license instead. That subsection gives the Attorney General discretion to issue a temporary license to a nonresident with "a short-term need to carry such a weapon within this State in conjunction with that individual's employment." It expires automatically 30 days after issuance, cannot be renewed, and no individual may receive more than three. Under § 1441(l) these applications "shall be in writing and shall bear a notice stating that false statements therein are punishable by law."

Section 1441(i) is a narrow finding of necessity: a successful petitioner who obtained a protection from abuse order carrying a firearms prohibition "shall be deemed to have shown the necessity" for a license, though "all other requirements of subsection (a) of this section must still be satisfied."

Renewal is a shorter filing, not a new application. Section 1441(a)(5)a. lets a licensee renew "without further application" on payment of $65 and an affidavit, and bars extra conditions: "No requirements in addition to those specified in this paragraph may be imposed for the renewal of a license." Rule 3(3)(b) sets the window, after January 1 but no later than June 1 of the expiration year. The Superior Court's renewal instruction sheet covers the rest.

The stakes are set by 11 Del. C. § 1442, which makes carrying a concealed deadly weapon without a § 1441 license a class G felony, or a class D felony where the weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon. Section 1442(c) supplies a defense for a licensee whose license expired while a timely renewal was pending before the court.

A note on the court's posted statute

The weapons page reproduces § 1441 alongside its rules, but that copy is not current. It omits paragraph (a)(5)b., the one time renewal window for licenses that expired in 2020 or 2021, and its amendment history stops at 77 Del. Laws, c. 230, short of the current Code version. Rule 9 also describes license terms that do not match the durations in the current § 1441(a)(5). Where they differ, the statute at delcode.delaware.gov controls. PERMIT_BASICS covers eligibility and license term.

Delaware CCDW Fees and Costs

The Code sets one price, and it is $65

Delaware puts a single dollar figure in the carry-license statute. 11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(4): "At the time the application is filed, the applicant shall pay a fee of $65 to the Prothonotary issuing the same." Renewal costs the same. Section 1441(a)(5)a. lets a licensee renew "upon payment to the Prothonotary of a fee of $65."

The Superior Court's posted instruction sheets carry the same number. The sheet for new applications states, "Filing fee of $65.00 must be paid at the time of filing," and the renewal sheet states the same at item 2. The sheets restate the statutory amount. The fee itself is set by 11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(4), and Superior Court Rule 3 calls it the statutory filing fee, so it changes only when the Code changes. Other line items on the sheets, such as photo specifications and fingerprint service codes, can be revised by the court, so pull the current sheet before you file.

Both instruction sheets describe payment the same way, and the weapons page repeats the mail rule. Hand-delivered applications may be paid by cash, money order, or personal check made payable to "PROTHONOTARY." Applications filed by mail must not include cash and must include a money order or personal check.

Superior Court Rule 3 requires applications and renewal affidavits to be filed "along with the statutory filing fee." That is the court's entire share. Every other cost below is charged by someone else, and none of those prices appears in the statute or the court's materials.

Newspaper publication

Section 1441(b) puts publication on the clerk: the Prothonotary "shall cause notice of every such application to be published once, at least 10 days before the next term of the Superior Court," in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county. Rule 5 adds only that "Publication shall be made pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 1441(b)."

The court's instruction sheet for new applications puts the work, and the bill, on the applicant. Step 1 tells you to arrange with a newspaper of general circulation in your county, publish your application once at least 10 business days before you file, obtain an affidavit from the newspaper company stating the requirement has been met, and attach it to your application. The sheet lists the acceptable papers by county, keyed to zip codes in New Castle County, and states that the paper must have a circulation of at least 35% of the population in your zip code.

Flag the mismatch before you budget. The statute assigns publication to the Prothonotary on a clock tied to the next term of court; the sheet assigns arranging and proving it to the applicant on a 10 business day clock before filing. Follow the sheet and ask the Prothonotary how your county handles it.

Newspapers set their own legal-notice rates, and neither the statute nor the sheet names an amount or says who pays. Since you contract with the paper and return with its affidavit, plan on paying that paper's rate directly. The renewal sheet contains no publication step.

Fingerprinting

The weapons page and the new-application sheet both state that fingerprints "must be taken by State Bureau of Identification within 45 days prior to filing the application," scheduled through IdentoGO using the service code for your filing county: New Castle County 27S7Q4, Kent County 27RV9F, Sussex County 27S7RK. The sheet adds, "You are required to submit proof of payment for your fingerprinting at the time of filing."

Proof of payment is required, but neither the weapons page nor the instruction sheets posts the amount. Get the current price from IdentoGO when you book. The sheet also notes that an applicant who has been a Delaware resident for less than five years should submit a certified driving record from each previous state of residence, which you obtain from each of those states directly. The renewal sheet has no fingerprint step.

Notarization at the Prothonotary is free

Both instruction sheets say the same thing: "A notary is available at each Prothonotary's Office. (There is no fee for this service)." The new-application sheet requires the completed application to be notarized, and the renewal sheet states that "Applications must be notarized."

That free notary does not necessarily reach every notarized document in the file. Section 1441(a)(3) requires, before an initial license issues, a separate "notarized certificate signed by an instructor or authorized representative of a sponsoring agency, school, organization or institution," and that certificate is notarized wherever the instructor signs it.

Photographs

The new-application sheet calls for two color 2" x 2" official passport photographs on photo stock paper, taken within the six-month period immediately preceding filing, and warns that out-of-focus, grainy, wrongly sized, or non-photo-paper submissions are rejected. The renewal sheet calls for two color passport-style photographs on the same six-month clock. Rule 3 describes the photographs as 1.5" x 1.5" for both filings, so the rule and the sheet do not match. Use the size on the current sheet.

The price is set by the vendor, and the six-month recency rule brings this cost back at every renewal.

Training

Section 1441(a)(3) requires the instructor certificate before an initial license issues, names the acceptable sponsor categories, and lists ten required course elements, including "Live fire shooting exercises conducted on a range, including the expenditure of a minimum of 100 rounds of ammunition."

Course price is set by the instructor or school. Section 1441 does not set, cap, or estimate it, and neither do the court's materials. The 100-round floor is a second private cost, depending on whether the course includes ammunition. The Attorney General publishes the list of approved firearm instructors that the court's sheet points applicants to.

Sequence decides when you spend. Item 8 of the new-application sheet says that if your application is approved and you have not already submitted a gun course certificate, you must then complete an approved gun course and submit an original notarized certification of satisfactory completion. If no certification or proof of enrollment reaches the court within 90 calendar days of approval, the sheet says the court "will assume you no longer want to obtain a gun permit" and you start over. Training money can wait until after approval, inside that window.

Renewal costs less than the first time

The fee is the same $65, but the surrounding costs fall away. Section 1441(a)(5)a. closes the door on additions: "No requirements in addition to those specified in this paragraph may be imposed for the renewal of a license." The renewal sheet has three steps, which are photographs, the $65.00 filing fee, and a notarized application filed with a duplicate copy. No publication, no reference questionnaire, no fingerprints, no new training.

How often the fee recurs is less settled than it looks. Section 1441(a)(5)a. says the initial license is valid for 3 years and may then be renewed "for the further period of 5 years," with like renewal every 5 years after that. Rule 9 says the Prothonotary issues an initial license expiring June 1 of the second year next succeeding and a renewed license expiring June 1 of the third year next succeeding. Section 1441(e) describes a term expiring June 1 next succeeding approval. Those do not line up, so read the expiration date off the license rather than counting years from the statute. On timing, Rule 3 allows renewal affidavits after January 1 but no later than June 1 of the expiration year, while the renewal sheet says renewals may be filed as early as January 2 of the renewal year.

Retired police officers

Section 1441(h) charges the same money on both tracks. An officer applying within 90 days of retirement "shall pay a fee of $65 to the Prothonotary in the county where that retired police officer resides" and presents an Attorney General certification plus a letter from the chief of the officer's agency. An officer applying more than 90 days but within 20 years after retirement also pays a fee of $65 and presents Attorney General certification forms covering good standing, criminal record review, and psychiatric commitment. The statute attaches no charge to those certifications.

Section 1441(a)(5)b. let a person whose license expired in 2020 or 2021 renew by satisfying conditions with the Prothonotary no later than December 31, 2022, including "Payment of the $65 fee required by paragraph (a)(5)a. of this section." That deadline has passed, though the text remains in the Code.

The temporary nonresident license

Section 1441(k) gives the Attorney General discretion to issue a temporary license to a nonresident with a short-term employment-related need to carry in Delaware. It expires 30 days from issuance, is not subject to renewal, may be followed by a second or subsequent temporary license, and no individual may receive more than 3. Neither that subsection nor § 1441(l) sets a fee, and the Superior Court materials do not price it, since the Attorney General rather than the Prothonotary handles it. Section 1441(k) gives that office authority to promulgate regulations for administering temporary licenses, so ask it what it charges.

The handgun qualified purchaser permit is a different permit

This is the purchase permit, not the carry license. The federal court order in the challenge to the law, entered March 27, 2026, states that Senate Bill No. 2 and Senate Substitute No. 1 introduced a permit-to-purchase requirement and that the law went into effect on November 16, 2025 as 11 Del. C. § 1448D.

Section 1448D sets no fee. Subsection (b) directs the SBI to issue the permit on application to qualifying persons, subsection (d) prescribes the application contents, subsection (e) requires applications to be made available by the SBI and licensed dealers, and subsection (h) requires the SBI to investigate and grant or deny. None of those subsections mentions payment. The one place the section does mention money is § 1448D(m)(1)d., which provides that "A filing fee is not required to obtain a hearing" on a denial or revocation.

The Delaware State Police Permit to Purchase page describes the requirements as completing a firearms training course with a certified instructor, obtaining fingerprints by appointment with IdentoGO, and passing a background check. It posts no price for the permit itself. The costs it does put on the applicant are the private training course and the IdentoGO appointment, for which the required service code is 27S8N2. The page warns that any other code "will not be accepted, and you will have to pay to be fingerprinted again using the correct code."

The permit is valid for 2 years from issuance under § 1448D(j)(1), a shorter cycle than the carry license. A carry license takes you out of that cycle. Section 1448D(c)(2) provides that a person holding a valid license under § 1441 "is not required to apply for a handgun qualified purchaser permit under this section before purchasing a handgun," and the State Police page says the same in its CCDW tab.

One adjacent charge is capped by statute. Under 24 Del. C. § 904A(b)(5), a dealer asked to facilitate a transfer between unlicensed persons "may charge a reasonable fee for the service, which may not exceed $30 per background check performed under this section," and may not charge for returning a firearm to its owner where the transaction cannot be immediately and legally completed. Both versions of § 904A in the Code, the one effective until fulfillment of the contingency in 85 Del. Laws, c. 371, § 3 and the one effective on its fulfillment, carry the same $30 cap.

Before you write any checks

On the carry license itself, only the $65 is fixed by statute. The newspaper, IdentoGO, your photo vendor, and your instructor each set their own prices. Pull the current instruction sheet for new or renewal applications from the Superior Court weapons page, and call the Prothonotary's office in your county to confirm the filing fee and what proof of payment it wants at the counter.

Prohibited Places for Concealed Carry in Delaware

Delaware has no consolidated "sensitive places" list. Title 11, Chapter 5, Subchapter VII, Part E creates separate place-based offenses, each with its own ground, exemptions, and grading. A § 1441 concealed-carry license answers the general offense in § 1442, not those. Weapon scope differs: §§ 1457A(b) and 1457B(b) reach a "firearm or projectile weapon," § 1457C(b) reaches a firearm only, and § 1457(a) reaches the weapons named in its predicates plus a juvenile's firearm or projectile weapon. Sections 1457, 1457A, and 1457C define "firearm" by § 222, including destructive weapons (§ 1457 and § 1457A cite § 1444(a) and (c); § 1457C cites § 1444) and BB guns; § 1457B carries no definition of its own.

Schools: Safe School Zone (11 Del. C. § 1457A)

Section 1457A(b) makes it a crime to knowingly possess a firearm or projectile weapon while in a Safe School Zone, a class E felony under § 1457A(e). The zone under § 1457A(a)(5) is any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium, real property, or motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, or rented by any public or private school, kindergarten through vocational-technical. The test is property, not a radius.

Section 1457A(c) exempts a police officer outright, and a § 1441 licensee "but only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle." It also exempts, each acting officially in the zone, a constable a school or district employs; an active-duty member of the Armed Forces or Delaware National Guard; an authorized Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families employee; a probation and parole officer; and a qualified retired law-enforcement officer a school or district employs or contracts for security or investigations.

Section 1457A(d) exempts private property not part of school grounds; a firearm in a locked container or rack in or on a motor vehicle; and lawful hunting, weapon instruction, weapon-related sports on public lands other than school lands, or school-authorized projectile weapon sports on school lands.

The carve-out is vehicle-only, so a licensee on foot in a school building or on school property is outside § 1457A(c)(4). Under § 1457A(f) an elementary or secondary school student who possesses a firearm or projectile weapon in the zone, outside the authorized school projectile-sports provision, shall be expelled by the local school board or charter school board of directors for at least 180 days unless federal or state law provides otherwise, subject to case-by-case modification. Enacted by 84 Del. Laws, c. 175; amended by c. 249 and c. 525.

Colleges and universities (11 Del. C. § 1457C)

Section 1457C(b) makes knowingly possessing a firearm in or on a "college or university safe zone" a class A misdemeanor under § 1457C(e), with Superior Court jurisdiction under § 1457C(f). The zone under § 1457C(a)(1)a. covers any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium, real property, or motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, or rented by any public or private college or university. Subparagraph b. excludes state or locally owned roads, streets, and their pedestrian and bike paths through or adjacent to campus that are open full time to public vehicular traffic.

Section 1457C(c) exempts a police officer and a qualified retired law-enforcement officer outright; a § 1441 licensee "but only if the firearm is in a vehicle"; a person with written authorization from the administration or its designee; and, each acting officially, a qualified law-enforcement officer, a constable or commissioned security guard the institution employs, an active-duty service member, an authorized employee of that Department, and a probation and parole officer. Section 1457C(d) also exempts a firearm in a locked container or rack in or on a motor vehicle, and lawful hunting, firearm instruction, or firearm-related sports at a time, place, and manner the institution authorizes.

Recreation centers, athletic fields, and sports stadiums (11 Del. C. § 1457)

Section 1457 is derivative rather than a flat ban: under § 1457(a) the offense is committed by anyone who commits a subsection (b) offense, or by any juvenile possessing a firearm or projectile weapon, while in or on a Safe Recreation Zone. The predicates are §§ 1442, 1444, 1446, 1448, 1452, 1453, and 1466, but § 1446 (switchblade knives) has since been repealed, so it can no longer be committed.

A "Safe Recreation Zone" under § 1457(c)(4) is any county, municipal, state, or private building or structure "utilized as a recreation center, athletic field or sports stadium." The licensee difference runs through the predicate: § 1442(a) reaches carrying concealed "without a license to do so as provided by § 1441," so a licensee does not commit it, while a § 1448 prohibited person commits it anywhere.

Section 1457(j) bumps the predicate's grade: class B misdemeanor to class A, unclassified to class B, class E, F, or G felony up one grade, class D felony unchanged. Section 1457(d) permits conviction for both the zone offense and predicate, § 1457(e) makes ignorance of the zone no defense, and § 1457(h) exempts only a police officer and a constable employed by a recreation zone acting as such.

Polling places on election day (11 Del. C. § 1457B)

Section 1457B(b) makes knowingly possessing a firearm or projectile weapon at a polling place on election day a class A misdemeanor under § 1457B(f), with exclusive Superior Court jurisdiction under § 1457B(g).

"Election day" under § 1457B(a)(1) covers any day in-person voting is offered at a polling place, including early voting under Chapter 54 of Title 15, for a primary, general, special, school, or municipal election, plus 2 hours before the polls open and 2 hours after they close. A "polling place" under § 1457B(a)(3) is a designated in-person voting or vote-counting location, or a Department of Elections office taking returned sealed absentee ballots, but not parking areas or adjoining structures outside it.

Section 1457B(c) exempts a person legally in possession within a private residence at a polling place; one engaged in lawful hunting, weapon instruction, or related sports on public lands designated for that activity, other than lands used as a polling place that day; and a law-enforcement officer. A commissioned security guard under § 1302 of Title 24, a constable licensed under Chapter 56 of Title 24, and an active-duty member of the Armed Forces or Delaware National Guard are exempt only while acting officially at a polling place that day.

There is no § 1441 licensee exception in § 1457B. Section 1457B(d) gives an affirmative defense to a person legally in possession only traveling through the polling place to reach or leave private property there, lost to anyone who committed or conspired to commit voter intimidation or election interference, or who traveled through armed for any other purpose. Section 1457B(e) removes any lack-of-awareness defense, and § 1457B(h) requires signs at each polling place entrance. Enacted by 84 Del. Laws, c. 176; amended by c. 525.

State parks (DNREC regulations)

The Delaware State Parks policies page describes DNREC rules adopted after a December 2017 Delaware Supreme Court ruling, part of 7 DE Admin. Code 9201. Visitors may possess firearms as Delaware law allows, including on trails, unguarded beaches, parking lots, and in vehicles, unless prohibited by law for a past violent-crime conviction, an active Protection from Abuse Order, or a mental health commitment.

They prohibit firearms only in public facilities and designated areas marked with signs: park offices, visitor centers, nature centers, bathhouses, restaurants and snack bars, stadiums and facilities while used for events, concerts, and festivals, museums, zoos, stables, educational facilities, dormitories, playgrounds, youth camping areas, swimming pools, guarded beaches, and water parks. They let valid Delaware concealed-carry permit holders carry within parks, including designated areas, provided only that the permit be produced upon request, and let active-duty and qualified retired law enforcement officers carry anywhere within the parks and other areas the rules reach.

A park building used as a recreation center, athletic field, or sports stadium is also a Safe Recreation Zone under § 1457(c)(4), so § 1457 still reaches a juvenile, a § 1448 prohibited person, or anyone carrying concealed there without a § 1441 license, whatever the agency page allows.

County and municipal buildings and police stations

Under 22 Del. C. § 111(a) municipalities may enact no law, ordinance, or regulation prohibiting, restricting, or licensing firearm ownership, transfer, possession, or transportation, except that discharge may be regulated, and any such measure must incorporate the Title 11 justification defenses. Ordinances predating July 4, 1985 survive; later ones the statute repeals, and Wilmington may also regulate paintball guns. Title 9 Del. C. § 330(c) bars county laws and regulations on the same subjects under the same proviso, but has no pre-1985 grandfather clause, no repealer, and no paintball provision.

Section 111(b) and § 330(d) allow ordinances regulating possession in police stations and municipal or county buildings, but only if the ordinance carries every listed provision: each restricted area identified by a conspicuous sign at its entrance, and a statement that a person who immediately foregoes entry or exits because of possession is not guilty. It may not prevent possession by law-enforcement officers, agency shipments, training, or amnesty and donation programs, compliance with protection from abuse orders, federal officers authorized to carry concealed, or common carrier, bank, and business messengers protecting valuables, nor a § 1441 or § 1441A licensee carrying "so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others." The covered building is one where the entity meets officially or one housing offices of elected officials and public employees performing governmental business, excluding any parking facility; one the government neither owns nor leases counts only while the entity occupies it.

Federal overlay

Gun-Free School Zones Act. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)(A) it is unlawful knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or affects interstate commerce at a place the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone, defined by § 921(a)(26) as in or on the grounds of a public, parochial, or private school or within 1,000 feet of them. Section 921(a)(27) limits "school" to one providing elementary or secondary education as determined under state law, so the federal zone reaches ground around a K-12 school that § 1457A does not, and does not attach to a college campus, where only § 1457C applies. Under § 924(a)(4) a violation carries a fine, up to 5 years, or both, and counts as a misdemeanor for any other law.

The license exception, § 922(q)(2)(B)(ii), applies only "if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State, and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license." So the license must issue from the state the school zone sits in, and that state's law must require law-enforcement verification of the applicant before issuance. Delaware routes a § 1441 application through the Prothonotary and Superior Court, and § 1441(a)(1) says the court "may conduct a criminal history background check," not that it must. Whether that meets the federal condition is unsettled, so a licensee should not treat the 1,000-foot zone as cleared. Other § 922(q)(2)(B) exceptions cover private property off school grounds; an unloaded firearm in a locked container or rack on a motor vehicle; school-approved programs and contracts; officers acting officially; and crossing school premises unloaded to reach hunting lands with school permission.

Airports. Under 49 CFR 1540.111(a) an individual may not have a weapon on or about the person or accessible property once inspection has begun before entering a sterile area or boarding a screened aircraft, while entering or in a sterile area, or when attempting to board one. The bar attaches at the checkpoint, not the terminal door. Paragraph (b) excepts law enforcement personnel required to carry on duty at the airport, individuals authorized under §§ 1544.219 through 1544.223, 1546.211, or part 1562 subpart B, and individuals a security program authorizes to carry in a sterile area.

Federal facilities. 18 U.S.C. § 930(a) punishes knowingly possessing a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a federal facility other than a federal court facility by a fine or up to one year, § 930(b) raises that to five years if the person intends it be used in a crime, and § 930(e)(1) covers a federal court facility: a fine, up to two years, or both. A "Federal facility" under § 930(g)(1) is a building or part of one the federal government owns or leases where federal employees regularly perform official duties. A "Federal court facility" under § 930(g)(3) is the courtroom and adjoining corridors, chambers, witness and jury rooms, attorney conference rooms, holding cells, and the offices of the court clerks, United States attorney, marshal, and probation and parole. Section 930(d) exempts official law enforcement duties, an authorized federal official or service member, and lawful carrying incident to hunting or other lawful purposes, which does not reach court facilities. Under § 930(h) notice must be posted conspicuously at each public entrance, and no one may be convicted under (a) or (e) where it is not posted unless that person had actual notice.

National Park System land. Under 36 CFR 2.4(a) that chapter may not be enforced to prohibit possessing a firearm in a National Park System unit if the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law and possession complies with state law. Possession on federal park land in Delaware therefore tracks Delaware law, while a federal facility inside the unit stays under 18 U.S.C. § 930.

Postal property. Under 39 CFR 232.1(l) no person on postal property may carry or store firearms, other dangerous or deadly weapons, or explosives, openly or concealed, except officially. Section 232.1(p)(2) sets the penalty at a fine under 18 U.S.C. § 3571, up to 30 days, or both.

Where the rules run out

Detention facilities carry their own offense. Under 11 Del. C. § 1256, knowingly and unlawfully introducing contraband into a detention facility, possessing contraband with intent to deliver it to a person confined there, or making, obtaining, or possessing it while confined is promoting prison contraband, a class A misdemeanor that becomes a class F felony when the contraband is a deadly weapon. Beyond that, the four zone statutes above are Title 11's place-based possession offenses; places they do not name, such as courthouses, casinos, bars, hospitals, houses of worship, and child care facilities, are governed, where they are governed at all, by laws outside the carry statutes, court orders, agency policy, or the property owner's rules. State buildings work the same way: 22 Del. C. § 111 binds only municipalities and 9 Del. C. § 330 only counties, so a state agency's own policy governs its offices. Delaware's under-the-influence law, 11 Del. C. § 1460, is conduct-based, not place-based, but its "public place" definition includes schools, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, bars, and taverns; under § 1460(d) it is a class A misdemeanor, or a class G felony after a previous conviction for the same offense. Section 1460A separately makes discharging a firearm towards a dwelling, place of worship, vehicle, place of business, school, or institution of higher education a class E felony. Check with the Delaware Courts, the operating agency, or the owner before carrying into any place this guide does not squarely cover.

Carrying in Vehicles in Delaware

Your car is not a separate legal space in Delaware. The statute that governs concealed carry on the street governs it behind the wheel. Hold a valid Delaware license to carry concealed deadly weapons under 11 Del. C. § 1441 and you may carry a concealed handgun in the vehicle you occupy. Without one, and without a recognized out-of-state permit, a concealed firearm in your car is a class D felony.

The offense you are avoiding

Under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a), a person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon when the person "carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title." Section 1442(b) grades it a class G felony generally, and a class D felony when the weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon.

A valid § 1441 license is a complete answer to that charge. Nothing in § 1441 or § 1442 conditions a licensee's carry on the firearm being unloaded, cased, or out of reach, and no separate loaded-in-a-vehicle offense appears in Delaware's weapons statutes at §§ 1441 through 1461. You may carry loaded and on the body in the passenger compartment.

Section 1442(c) adds a defense where your license expired, you applied for renewal within the allotted time frame, and the offense occurred while that renewal was pending before the court. Section 1441 imposes no duty to notify an officer, with no notification requirement anywhere in subsections (a) through (m). The one carry-the-document rule is § 1441(k), under which a temporary nonresident license "must be carried at all times while within the State."

Glove compartment, console, under the seat

Section 1442 turns on carrying a weapon "concealed" and "upon or about the person." Delaware's weapons statutes define neither phrase, and none of §§ 1441 through 1461 says whether a firearm in a glove compartment, a center console, or under a seat is carried about the person. The one glove-compartment rule in the chapter cuts the other way: § 1456(a)(2)a. says a "locked container" does not include the glove compartment of a motor vehicle unless it can be manually locked to render the firearm inaccessible to anyone but the owner or an authorized person. Assume a firearm within reach in the passenger compartment, wherever it sits, is concealed carry under § 1442.

If you have no license

Section 1442(d) is the route the statute supplies, and the caveat below travels with it. It is a defense to the concealed carry charge that the defendant complied with § 1456(b), which means the firearm is stored in one of exactly three ways:

1. A locked box or container.
2. A locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle.
3. Locked in the trunk of the vehicle.

Note the wording problem before relying on this. Section 1456(b) is drafted around a person who "knowingly leaves a firearm unattended in a vehicle," so the statute does not spell out how the § 1442(d) defense operates for a driver sitting in the car with the gun locked in the trunk. The three storage methods are clear. Their fit with an occupied vehicle is not.

Leaving the gun in the car

A license buys you nothing here. Section 1456(b) makes it an offense to knowingly leave a firearm unattended in a vehicle unless it is in a locked box or container, in a locked firearms rack on the motor vehicle, or locked in the trunk, and § 1456(g) states that it is not a defense to subsection (b) that the defendant holds an otherwise valid § 1441 license. Lawful carry on the drive over becomes an offense the moment you walk away leaving the handgun loose on the seat.

Grading follows § 1456(d): a class B misdemeanor at baseline, rising to a class A misdemeanor if an unauthorized person obtains the firearm and then commits or attempts a crime with it, uses it to inflict serious physical injury or death, or transfers or attempts to transfer it to another unauthorized person. An "unauthorized person" is a child or a person prohibited by state or federal law from owning or possessing a firearm, per § 1456(a)(2)d.

School grounds: a vehicle-only carve-out

A Safe School Zone under § 1457A(a)(5) covers the buildings, structures, athletic fields, sports stadiums, and real property owned, operated, leased, or rented by any public or private school, and separately any motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, or rented by such a school. Knowing possession of a firearm or projectile weapon there is a class E felony under § 1457A(b) and (e).

The licensee carve-out at § 1457A(c)(4) is narrow, and its last clause is the whole rule: a holder of a valid § 1441 license is exempt "but only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle." That covers the pickup line with your handgun in the car. It does not let you step out onto school property while carrying. The moment the firearm leaves the vehicle with you, the exemption is gone and the class E felony is back on the table.

Section 1457A(d)(2) adds a license-independent path: the prohibition does not apply to a firearm in a locked container or locked firearms rack in or on a motor vehicle. Section 1457A(d)(1) excludes private property that is not part of school grounds, and § 1457A(f) adds expulsion of not less than 180 days for students, subject to case-by-case modification by the school board.

Colleges and universities

Section 1457C works the same way at a lower grade. The college or university safe zone under § 1457C(a)(1)a. includes campus buildings, structures, athletic fields, sports stadiums, and real property, plus any motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, or rented by the school. Knowing possession is a class A misdemeanor under § 1457C(b) and (e). The licensee exemption at § 1457C(c)(5) again reads "but only if the firearm is in a vehicle." A locked container or locked firearms rack in or on a motor vehicle is separately excepted by § 1457C(d)(1), and § 1457C(c)(9) exempts anyone with written authorization from the college administration or its designated representative.

The driving-through question has a clean answer. Section 1457C(a)(1)b. excludes state or locally owned or maintained roads and streets, and the pedestrian routes and bike paths pertaining to them, running through or adjacent to campus property and open full time to public vehicular traffic. A public through-road is not the safe zone. A campus lot is.

Safe Recreation Zones: no vehicle carve-out at all

Section 1457(c)(4) says a Safe Recreation Zone "means any building or structure owned, operated, leased or rented by any county or municipality, or by the State, or by any board, agency, commission, department, corporation or other entity thereof, or by any private organization, which is utilized as a recreation center, athletic field or sports stadium." The reach is a building or structure. There is no real property clause, unlike § 1457A(a)(5)a. and § 1457C(a)(1)a.1., and no parking area provision, unlike § 1457B(a)(3)b. A car in a lot outside the rec center is not something § 1457(c)(4) addresses either way.

Set § 1457 beside § 1457A and § 1457C and the difference in exemptions is the point: § 1457 contains no exemption for licensees and no exception for a firearm in or locked inside a motor vehicle. Its only exemptions, in § 1457(h), are a police officer and a constable employed by the recreation zone acting in that capacity.

The offense is derivative. Under § 1457(a) and (b), the crime is committing one of the listed underlying offenses while in or on the zone, including § 1442 and § 1448 possession by a person prohibited, and any juvenile possessing a firearm there is covered on bare possession. A licensee carrying lawfully does not commit § 1442, so there is no predicate. An unlicensed person who carries a concealed firearm inside a building or structure that meets § 1457(c)(4) does commit it, and § 1457(j) escalates: a class E, F, or G felony predicate becomes one grade higher, while a class D felony predicate stays class D. Under § 1457(e), not knowing you were in a Safe Recreation Zone is no defense.

One related place rule. Knowing possession of a firearm at a polling place on election day is a class A misdemeanor under § 1457B(b) and (f), with no licensee exemption in § 1457B(c), but § 1457B(a)(3)b. states that "Polling place" does not mean an area outside the actual polling place, such as parking areas or adjoining structures that are not part of the polling place. Section 1457B(d) adds an affirmative defense that a person "was legally in possession of a firearm or projectile weapon and was only traveling through the polling place to reach private property located therein or to leave private property therein to reach a location outside the polling place." Under § 1457B(d)(1) through (3) that defense is not available to anyone who committed or conspired to commit voter intimidation, interference with the election, or traveling through with a firearm or projectile weapon for any purpose other than reaching a permitted destination.

Under 21 in a vehicle

Section 1448(a)(5) bars any person under 21 from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or firearm ammunition in Delaware, and a handgun in a car is squarely inside that bar. Section 1448(a)(5)a. lists three carve-outs and attaches an age condition to only the last of them: "1. A shotgun as defined in § 1444(c) of this title or ammunition for a shotgun. 2. A muzzle-loading rifle as defined in § 704(f) of Title 7. 3. Deadly weapons, including projectile weapons other than firearms if the person is 18 years of age or older." The 18 or older condition governs subitem 3 alone, so paragraph (a)(5) does not bar a person under 18 from possessing a shotgun, shotgun ammunition, or a muzzle-loading rifle. Separately, § 1448(a)(5)b. exempts three categories aged 18 or older: active members of the armed forces or National Guard, qualified law-enforcement officers as defined in § 1441A, and a person licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to § 1441. Section 1448(a)(5)c. adds carve-outs for supervised hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity, and for transporting a firearm to such an activity.

Delaware 18-year-olds can use the § 1448(a)(5)b.3. licensee exemption, because 1 Del. C. § 701 sets full legal age at 18 and § 1441(a) licenses a person "of full age." The trap is for visitors. The exemption names a license issued pursuant to § 1441, while recognition of an out-of-state permit runs through the separate mechanism in § 1441(j), and the text does not resolve whether an 18-to-20-year-old carrying on a recognized out-of-state permit falls inside § 1448(a)(5)b.3. Settle that before driving into Delaware. Under § 1448(c), possession by a prohibited person is a class F felony, and a class D felony where the weapon is a firearm or firearm ammunition and the violation falls within paragraphs (a)(1) through (8), which includes (a)(5).

Long guns

A rifle or shotgun is a firearm under 11 Del. C. § 222(13)a. and therefore a deadly weapon under § 222(6)a.1., but § 1442(a) reaches only a deadly weapon carried "concealed" and "upon or about the person," so concealment decides whether a long gun falls inside that offense. The other rules here do not turn on concealment: § 1456(b) speaks of "a firearm" left unattended in a vehicle, and § 1457A(b), § 1457B(b), and § 1457C(b) reach possession of a firearm in their zones whether or not it is concealed.

City and town ordinances

Crossing a municipal line does not change the vehicle answer. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(a), municipal governments "shall enact no law, ordinance or regulation prohibiting, restricting or licensing the ownership, transfer, possession or transportation of firearms or components of firearms or ammunition except that the discharge of a firearm may be regulated." Section 111(b) is the narrow exception. A municipality may regulate possession in police stations and municipal buildings on the conditions stated there, and § 111(b)(6) provides that such an ordinance shall not prevent "Carrying firearms and ammunition by persons who hold a valid license pursuant to either § 1441 or § 1441A of Title 11 so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others."

Quick reference

Interstate transport through Delaware, and the rules for moving a firearm you are not carrying, are covered in the transportation section of this guide.

Transporting a Firearm in a Vehicle in Delaware

Two sections of Title 11 set the rules for a firearm in a vehicle in Delaware. Under 11 Del. C. § 1442, carrying a concealed deadly weapon upon or about your person without a license issued under 11 Del. C. § 1441 is a class D felony when the weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon, and a class G felony for any other deadly weapon. Under 11 Del. C. § 1456(b), knowingly leaving a firearm unattended in a vehicle is an offense unless the firearm is in a locked box or container, in a locked firearms rack on the motor vehicle, or locked in the trunk.

Those two sections connect. Section 1442(d) makes it a defense to the concealed carry charge that the defendant complied with § 1456(b), which means the firearm is in a locked box or container, a locked vehicle firearms rack, or the locked trunk.

What "concealed deadly weapon" reaches in a vehicle

Section 1442(a) turns on two things: the weapon is concealed, and it is carried upon or about the person. It does not turn on whether the firearm is loaded. "Firearm" under 11 Del. C. § 222(13) means a weapon from which a shot, projectile, or other object is designed or may readily be converted to be discharged by force of an explosive, "whether operable or inoperable, loaded or unloaded," and it also covers a bare firearm frame or receiver. "Deadly weapon" under § 222(6) includes a firearm, a projectile weapon, a bomb, a switchblade, metal knuckles, a razor, and any knife other than an ordinary pocketknife carried closed, which § 222(6)b. defines as a blade not more than 3.75 inches.

Two consequences follow for drivers:

• An empty handgun tucked under a seat is still a concealed firearm for § 1442 purposes. Unloading it changes nothing about the elements.
• The statute makes no long gun exception. A rifle or shotgun is a firearm under § 222(13) and a deadly weapon under § 222(6)a.1., so concealing one about your person in a car is the same offense as concealing a pistol. Section 1442(a) reaches a deadly weapon carried "upon or about the person," and the cited provisions do not define that phrase.

Delaware's companion offense, 11 Del. C. § 1443, covers carrying a concealed dangerous instrument and is a class A misdemeanor, with disabling chemical spray excluded by § 1443(c).

Step by step: moving a firearm without a CCDW license

1. Unload the firearm before it goes in the vehicle if you can do so safely. This is not what § 1442 turns on, but it is what 18 U.S.C. § 926A requires on an interstate leg.
2. Place the firearm in a locked box or container, a locked firearms rack mounted on the vehicle, or the locked trunk. These are the three storage forms § 1456(b) accepts.
3. Do not treat the glove compartment as a container. Section 1456(a)(2)a. defines "locked container" as a fully enclosed secure container locked by a padlock, keylock, combination lock, or similar device, and it expressly excludes a motor vehicle glove compartment unless that compartment can be manually locked so the firearm is inaccessible to anyone but the owner or an authorized person.

The three storage forms named in step 2 are the whole of what § 1456(b) accepts. Locking the passenger cabin of the car is not among them, so it does not by itself answer subsection (b).

If you hold a Delaware CCDW license

A license issued by the Superior Court under § 1441 answers § 1442. You may carry the firearm concealed on your person in the vehicle. Section 1441(a) is available to a person of full age, which under 1 Del. C. § 701 is 18, and of good moral character, and the initial license runs 3 years with 5 year renewals under § 1441(a)(5)a.

The license has limits that matter on the road:

• It is not a defense to unsafe storage in a vehicle. Section 1456(g) says so in terms: a valid § 1441 license is not a defense to subsection (b), so a licensee who leaves a firearm unattended in a vehicle is exposed to the same charge as anyone else.
• An expired license is a partial defense, not a shield. Section 1442(c) gives a defense where the license expired, renewal was applied for within the allotted window before expiration, and the alleged offense happened while that renewal was pending before the court.
• A void license is no license. Under § 1441(m), a license is void and automatically repealed by operation of law if the licensee becomes prohibited under § 1448.
• A temporary nonresident license must be on you. The Attorney General's short term license under § 1441(k) expires 30 days after issuance, is not renewable, is capped at 3 per individual, and must be carried at all times while within the State.

Grading for unsafe storage in a vehicle: § 1456(d)(1) makes it a class B misdemeanor, rising to a class A misdemeanor under § 1456(d)(2) if an unauthorized person obtains the firearm and commits or attempts a crime with it, inflicts serious physical injury or death with it, or transfers or attempts to transfer it to another unauthorized person. Section 1456(a)(2)d. defines "unauthorized person" as a child or a person prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm.

Drivers under 21

Under 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(5), a person under 21 is a prohibited person for purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or firearm ammunition. That reaches a handgun in a car. Possession of a firearm by a person prohibited under (a)(5) is a class D felony under § 1448(c), which grades the offense as a class D felony when the deadly weapon is a firearm or ammunition and the violation falls in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(8).

The bar has carve outs that matter for an 18 to 20 year old moving a gun:

• Section 1448(a)(5)a. removes a shotgun as defined in § 1444(c) and shotgun ammunition, and a muzzle-loading rifle as defined in § 704(f) of Title 7. Neither of those two carries an age condition. The third item, deadly weapons including projectile weapons other than firearms, applies only "if the person is 18 years of age or older."
• Section 1448(a)(5)b. removes active members of the Armed Forces or National Guard, qualified law-enforcement officers under § 1441A, and holders of a § 1441 CCDW license who are 18 or older.
• Section 1448(a)(5)c.3. removes possession or control of a firearm or projectile weapon for the purpose of transporting it to the location of a lawful hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity that the person is authorized to attend under § 1448(a)(5)c.1., which requires direct supervision by a person 21 or older.

Paragraph c.3. is written as transport to the location of the c.1. supervised activity, and reaches no further on its own terms.

Place-based rules that bite while you are driving

• Safe School Zone, 11 Del. C. § 1457A. The zone includes any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium, or real property owned, operated, leased, or rented by a public or private school, and any motor vehicle owned, operated, leased, or rented by such a school. Violation is a class E felony under § 1457A(e). There are two vehicle outs: § 1457A(c)(4) exempts a holder of a valid § 1441 license, but only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle, and § 1457A(d)(2) removes a firearm in a locked container or locked firearms rack in or on a motor vehicle for anyone.
• Federal school zones, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q). The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act applies on top of § 1457A and its vehicle exception is narrower. Section 922(q)(2)(A) makes it unlawful "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." Under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(26) a school zone is in or on the grounds of a public, parochial or private school, or "within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds" of one, so it reaches public roads. The vehicle exception at § 922(q)(2)(B)(iii) covers possession of a firearm "that is (I) not loaded; and (II) in a locked container, or a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle." Delaware's § 1457A(d)(2) asks only for "a firearm in a locked container or locked firearms rack that is in or on a motor vehicle" and says nothing about load state. A loaded firearm in a locked container within 1,000 feet of school grounds can therefore satisfy § 1457A(d)(2) and still fall inside § 922(q)(2)(A). Section 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) is a separate exception for an individual "licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located," where that state's law requires law enforcement to verify the applicant's qualification before the license issues.
• College or university safe zone, 11 Del. C. § 1457C. Same shape, class A misdemeanor under § 1457C(e). Section 1457C(c)(5) exempts a § 1441 licensee only if the firearm is in a vehicle, and § 1457C(d)(1) removes a firearm in a locked container or locked firearms rack in or on a motor vehicle. Section 1457C(a)(1)b. carves state or locally owned roads, streets, pedestrian routes, and bike paths that run through or adjacent to campus and are open full time to public vehicular traffic out of the zone entirely.
• Safe Recreation Zone, 11 Del. C. § 1457. This one has no licensee carve out. Section 1457(h) exempts only a police officer and a constable employed by a recreation zone acting in that capacity. Under § 1457(c)(4) the zone is any building or structure owned, operated, leased, or rented by a county or municipality, by the State or any of its entities, or by a private organization, which is utilized as a recreation center, athletic field, or sports stadium. The offense works by elevation: it requires one of the underlying offenses listed in § 1457(b), including § 1442, § 1444, § 1448, and § 1466, or a juvenile possessing a firearm or projectile weapon there. Under § 1457(j)(3) a class E, F, or G underlying felony moves up one grade, and under § 1457(j)(4) a class D underlying felony stays class D. Section 1457(e) forecloses the argument that you did not know you were in the zone.
• Polling place, 11 Del. C. § 1457B. Knowing possession of a firearm or projectile weapon at a polling place on election day is a class A misdemeanor under § 1457B(f), and there is no CCDW exemption in § 1457B(c). Section 1457B(a)(3)b. excludes parking areas and adjoining structures that are not part of the polling place, so the vehicle in the lot is outside the offense. Under § 1457B(a)(1)b., "election day" includes 2 hours before the polls open until 2 hours after the polls close, which extends the day rather than bounding it.
• State parks. Delaware's park regulations permit lawful firearm possession in state parks, including parking lots and vehicles, and permit § 1441 licensees to carry within parks and designated areas provided the permit is produced on request.

Assault weapons and magazines in transit

Section 1466(a)(1) makes it unlawful to transport an assault weapon into Delaware, and § 1466(d) grades a violation as a class D felony. A person who lawfully possessed or completed the purchase of one before June 30, 2022 may transport it under § 1466(c)(3)d. between a residence, place of business, other property the person owns or has express permission to be on, a shooting range, and a qualifying firearms exhibition or educational event, or to a licensed dealer for service or repair, but only in secure storage. Section 1465(12) defines that as a locked container or a properly engaged tamper-resistant lock or other safety device rendering the firearm inoperable by anyone but the owner or an authorized user.

Magazines are the opposite story for licensees. A large-capacity magazine under 11 Del. C. § 1468(2)a. is any ammunition feeding device that accepts, or can readily be converted to hold, more than 17 rounds. Section 1469(a) bans possession and transfer, graded by § 1469(b) as a $100 civil penalty for a first possession-only offense, a class B misdemeanor for a second, and a class E felony for everything else. Section 1469(c)(5) exempts an individual who holds a valid concealed carry permit issued by the Superior Court under § 1441.

Driving through Delaware from another state

Two paths exist. First, 11 Del. C. § 1441(j) directs the Attorney General to recognize permits from states that reciprocate and afford a reasonably similar degree of protection, and to publish the list each January 15 for a one year term. Check the Attorney General's CCDW page before the trip, because some states are recognized only for enhanced or class-specific permits.

Second, if your permit is not recognized, 18 U.S.C. § 926A protects the trip itself, and its preconditions are strict. You must be a person "not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm," a precondition keyed to the federal chapter rather than to state law; you must be traveling from a place where you may lawfully possess and carry it to another place where you may lawfully possess and carry it; the firearm must be unloaded during the transportation; and neither the firearm nor any ammunition may be readily accessible or directly accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle with no compartment separate from the driver's compartment, § 926A requires the firearm or ammunition to be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console. Section 926A protects transportation between lawful endpoints. It is not authority to stop and stay.

Local firearm ordinances, and what survives preemption

Municipal governments may enact no law, ordinance, or regulation prohibiting, restricting, or licensing the ownership, transfer, possession, or transportation of firearms, firearm components, or ammunition under 22 Del. C. § 111(a). County governments are barred in nearly the same words by 9 Del. C. § 330(c), which says they "shall enact no law or regulation" doing those things, where § 111(a) says "no law, ordinance or regulation."

Section 111(a) is not absolute, and its qualifiers sit in the same paragraph. It provides that "Nothing contained herein shall be construed to invalidate municipal ordinances existing before July 4, 1985, and any ordinance enacted after July 4, 1985, is hereby repealed." A municipal firearm ordinance predating July 4, 1985 therefore survives; one enacted after that date is repealed. Section 111(a) also lets "the City of Wilmington ... enact any law or ordinance governing the possession or concealment of a paintball gun within its corporate limits as it deems necessary to protect the public safety," notwithstanding the rest of the section. Section 330(c) has no counterpart to either qualifier.

Both statutes leave discharge regulable, and both allow narrow ordinances covering police stations and municipal or county buildings. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b)(6), such an ordinance may not prevent carry by a person holding a valid § 1441 or § 1441A license so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or defense of self or others.

Carrying the license document

The one document-carry command in the licensing statute is § 1441(k), which says of the Attorney General's temporary nonresident license that it "must be carried at all times while within the State." Delaware's park regulations separately condition licensee carry within parks on the permit being produced upon request.

Storage Requirements

The core criminal storage rule is 11 Del. C. § 1456, and it does two jobs. Subsection (a) punishes leaving a loaded gun where an unauthorized person can reach it and actually gets it. Subsection (b) punishes leaving any firearm unattended in a vehicle without locking it up, whether or not anyone touches it. The vehicle rule is the one that catches permit holders.

Do not read § 1456 as the whole subject. Under 24 Del. C. § 907(a)(7), the Firearm Responsibilities Notice must cover "the importance of safe storage of firearms as well as a summary of Delaware's child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms, including §§ 603 and 1456 of Title 11." The Code names two Title 11 sections there, not one. Section 907 is effective upon fulfillment of the contingency in 85 Del. Laws, c. 371, § 3.

Neither subsection governs a gun you are holding. Section 1456(a)(2)c. defines "stores or leaves" to exclude a firearm or projectile weapon "carried by or under the control of the owner or other lawfully-authorized user."

Storage outside a vehicle

Section 1456(a)(1) makes a person guilty of unsafe storage when the person intentionally or recklessly stores or leaves a loaded firearm or projectile weapon in a place other than a vehicle, within the reach or easy access of an unauthorized person, the unauthorized person obtains it, and all four of the following are true:

• It was not stored in a locked box or container. Section 1456(a)(1)a. does not apply to a projectile weapon stored so as to render it not readily operable.
• It was not disabled with a tamper-resistant trigger lock properly engaged to render it inoperable by anyone other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user. Section 1456(a)(1)b. does not apply to a projectile weapon that cannot be fitted with a trigger lock.
• It was not stored in a location a reasonable person would have believed to be secure from access by an unauthorized person.
• The unauthorized person did not obtain it as the result of an unlawful entry by any person.

Because the statute requires all four, any single one defeats the charge. A locked container, an engaged trigger lock, a reasonably secure location, or a break-in each takes the case out of § 1456(a).

The line between the two subsections is the word "vehicle," which the Criminal Code defines broadly. Under 11 Del. C. § 222(41), "Vehicle" includes "any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed or a means of conveyance or transport, whether or not propelled by its own power." Nothing in § 1456 narrows that, so conveyances well past a car fall on the § 1456(b) side of the line. Subsection (b) is not symmetrical about it: the offense reaches a vehicle, while the locked-rack safe harbor at § 1456(b)(2) covers only "a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle."

Section 1456(a)(2)a. defines "locked container" as a secure container that is fully enclosed and locked by a padlock, keylock, combination lock, or similar device rendering the firearm inaccessible to anyone other than the owner or an authorized person, and it excludes a glove compartment unless the compartment can be manually locked to that standard. Under § 1456(a)(2)b., "not readily operable" means the projectile weapon is disassembled, broken down, or stored to prevent immediate use. Projectile weapons are defined at 11 Del. C. § 222(28) as bows, crossbows, airbows, weapons designed to discharge an arrow, bolt, or spear, and airguns that discharge a pellet, slug, or bullet larger than .177 caliber.

An "unauthorized person" under § 1456(a)(2)d. is "a child or person prohibited by state or federal law from owning or possessing a firearm or projectile weapon." That pulls in the persons prohibited listed in 11 Del. C. § 1448(a).

Handle the age entry carefully. Section 1448(a)(5) reaches "Any person under the age of 21," but four lettered paragraphs pull people back out of it. Paragraph (a)(5)a. lifts the bar for the purchase, owning, possession, or control of a shotgun as defined in 11 Del. C. § 1444(c) or shotgun ammunition, a muzzle-loading rifle as defined in § 704(f) of Title 7, and deadly weapons including projectile weapons other than firearms if the person is 18 or older. Paragraph (a)(5)b. says the paragraph "shall not apply to any of the following persons 18 years of age or older," then lists an active member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard, a qualified law-enforcement officer as defined in 11 Del. C. § 1441A, and a person "who has license to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to § 1441 of this title." Paragraph (a)(5)c. lifts it for a person under 21 who possesses or controls a firearm or projectile weapon for lawful hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity under the direct supervision of a person 21 or older, who possesses or controls a firearm for lawful hunting in compliance with § 704(g) of Title 7, or who is transporting one to such an activity. Paragraph (a)(5)d. covers a use of force justifiable under 11 Del. C. § 464, § 465, § 466, or § 469, and paragraph (a)(5)e. is repealed. So a 19-year-old Delaware licensee in the household is not an unauthorized person on age alone. Read the license exemption literally, though: paragraph (a)(5)b.3. names a license issued "pursuant to § 1441 of this title," which is a Delaware license, so an 18-to-20-year-old carrying on a recognized out-of-state permit does not fall inside that carve-out.

The word "child" is where the statute goes soft. Section 1456 does not define it, and the Criminal Code's general definitions at 11 Del. C. § 222 do not define it either. Neighboring weapons provisions use an express age instead. Under 11 Del. C. § 1445(a)(2) and (a)(3) the line is a child "under 16 years of age," barring transfer of a BB gun, BB shot, or projectile weapon to one unless you are that child's parent or guardian or first have the parent's or guardian's permission, and barring a parent from letting one possess a BB gun or projectile weapon except under the direct supervision of a person 21 years of age or older. Treat "child" in § 1456 as unresolved rather than betting on a favorable reading.

Leaving a firearm in an unattended vehicle

Section 1456(b) is a separate offense. A person is guilty of unsafe storage of a firearm in a vehicle when the person knowingly leaves a firearm unattended in a vehicle and the firearm is not stored in one of three places:

1. A locked box or container.
2. A locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle.
3. Locked in the trunk of the vehicle.

Three differences from subsection (a) matter. Subsection (b) does not require the firearm to be loaded, it does not require anyone to obtain the gun for the base offense, and it reaches only firearms, not projectile weapons. The sole mental state is knowingly leaving the firearm unattended.

Section 1456(g) is the trap for licensees: "It is not a defense to subsection (b) of this section that the defendant has been issued an otherwise valid license to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to terms of § 1441 of this title." An unlocked center console does not qualify, and neither does locking the car: § 1456(b) credits only the three storages it lists, and a locked passenger compartment is not one of them. Section 1456(a)(2) says its definitions apply "for the purposes of this section," so the locked-container definition and its glove-compartment carve-out govern subsection (b) as well, though the wording is not aligned: § 1456(a)(2)a. defines the term "Locked container" while § 1456(b)(1) says "A locked box or container."

Grading and sentence

The two aggravator lists are not identical. Section 1456(c)(2)b. reads "Uses the firearm or projectile weapon to inflict serious physical injury or death upon any person, including the unauthorized person." Section 1456(d)(2)b. reads "Uses the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death upon any person" and drops the including clause. Section 1456(c)(2)c. reads "Transfers or attempts to transfer the firearm or projectile weapon to another unauthorized person," while § 1456(d)(2)c. reads "Transfers or attempts to transfer the firearm to an unauthorized person," without the word "another." Subsection (d)(2) also carries an element (c)(2) does not state, that "an unauthorized person obtains the firearm."

Section 1456(e) gives the Superior Court jurisdiction over an offense under the section. It does not say "exclusive," unlike 11 Del. C. § 1445(d), which gives that court "exclusive jurisdiction over a violation of paragraphs (a)(3) and (a)(6) [repealed]" of § 1445. Section 1456(f) exempts a firearm manufactured in or before 1899, and a replica of one if the replica is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition. Do not carry the more familiar 1898 date into it: 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(10)a. defines "antique firearm" using a firearm "manufactured in or before 1898," a year earlier than § 1456(f). The section as it now reads carries amendments by 82 Del. Laws, c. 35; 84 Del. Laws, c. 371; and 84 Del. Laws, c. 525.

If the gun goes missing

Reporting is mandatory and independent of § 1456. Under 11 Del. C. § 1461(a), any owner of a firearm or projectile weapon must report the loss or theft within 7 days after discovering it, either to the law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction where it happened or to any state police troop. Section 1461(b) makes a first offense a violation carrying a civil penalty of not less than $75 nor more than $100, a second offense a violation carrying not less than $100 nor more than $250, and a third or subsequent offense a class G felony. The counts do not stack automatically: § 1461(b)(2) and (b)(3) reach a second or third offense only if it was "committed at any time after the sentencing or adjudication" of the prior one.

The person who takes the gun faces 11 Del. C. § 1451, theft of a firearm, a class F felony, and anyone who receives, retains, or disposes of it knowing or believing it was stolen faces § 1450, also a class F felony. Neither section singles out theft from a vehicle.

When someone in the household becomes prohibited

Delaware handles this through relinquishment orders rather than a household storage duty. A person subject to a lethal violence protective order issued under 10 Del. C. § 7704 is a person prohibited for as long as the order stands, 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(11), and the subject of a relinquishment order under 11 Del. C. § 1448C is prohibited under § 1448(a)(2)d. Under 10 Del. C. § 7704(d), the Superior Court must require the respondent to relinquish firearms, projectile weapons, and ammunition to a receiving law-enforcement agency. It may instead allow relinquishment to a designee, but § 7704(d)(2) requires that the designee not reside with the respondent, not be prohibited under § 1448, and affirm to the court that the designee will keep the property out of the respondent's possession. The court may also bar the respondent from residing with anyone who owns, possesses, or controls firearms or ammunition, and may direct a search and seizure. Read the whole subsection, because paragraphs (3) and (5) state the same residing-with prohibition and paragraphs (4) and (6) state the same search authority. Section 1448C is the parallel track for individuals reported as dangerous to others or self under §§ 5402 and 5403 of Title 16, and its designee provision is close but not identical. Under 11 Del. C. § 1448C(d)(2)c., the designee "must not reside with the individual and must not be a person prohibited under § 1448 of this title," and "The Court must find that the designee of the individual will keep the firearm, projectile weapon, or ammunition ... out of the possession of the individual." Section 1448C carries no designee affirmation. That requirement appears only in 10 Del. C. § 7704(d)(2).

The practical answer is the same on both tracks. Moving the guns to a non-resident designee or to law enforcement complies. A shared safe inside the residence does not.

Assault weapons and secure storage

Under 11 Del. C. § 1465(12), "secure storage" means a firearm stored in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device properly engaged so as to render the firearm inoperable by a person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user. A person who lawfully possessed an assault weapon before June 30, 2022 must place it in secure storage when transporting it among the places listed in § 1466(c)(3) or to a licensed dealer for service or repair, § 1466(c)(3)d., and § 1466(c)(4) imposes the same condition on transport to or from an accredited ballistics testing laboratory or a protective equipment testing facility. A violation of § 1466 is a class D felony under § 1466(d). Section 1466(c)(3)a., which allows possession at the person's residence, attaches no storage condition of its own.

Federal overlay

Federal law adds a dealer-side rule, not a possession-side storage duty. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(z)(1), a licensed dealer, importer, or manufacturer may not transfer a handgun to a non-licensee unless the transferee is provided with a secure gun storage or safety device, defined at 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(34) as a device that blocks operation until deactivated, a device built into the firearm, or a safe, gun case, or lock box unlocked by key or combination. Section 922(z)(3)(A) grants immunity from a qualified civil liability action to "a person who has lawful possession and control of a handgun, and who uses a secure gun storage or safety device with the handgun," but only where the handgun was accessed without permission and had been made inoperable by the device at that time, § 922(z)(3)(C)(i), and § 922(z)(3)(C)(ii) carves negligent entrustment and negligence per se claims out of the shield.

Local ordinances and training

Delaware's preemption statutes bar counties and municipalities from enacting laws prohibiting, restricting, or licensing "the ownership, transfer, possession or transportation of firearms or components of firearms or ammunition," with an exception for regulating discharge. See 22 Del. C. § 111(a) and 9 Del. C. § 330(c). Storage is not among the enumerated verbs in either statute, and neither one resolves whether that omission leaves room for a local storage ordinance, so check the rules where you live.

Storage is also a required training topic. The CCDW course under 11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(3) must include instruction regarding safe storage of firearms and child safety under subparagraph b. and instruction regarding safe storage of ammunition and child safety under subparagraph d. The Delaware State Police list the same two elements for the handgun qualified purchaser permit course. An instructor signing the certification is attesting that both were taught.

Delaware Castle Doctrine and Use of Force

Delaware imposes a duty to retreat before deadly force outside your dwelling and your place of work. If you know you can avoid the need for deadly force with complete safety by retreating, the deadly force is not justified. That is the plain command of 11 Del. C. § 464(e)(2). Delaware is not a stand your ground state in the way that phrase is used elsewhere. Section 464(e)(2) writes exactly three exceptions into that duty, lettered a. through c.: your dwelling, your place of work, and force used by a public officer or by a person assisting an officer, making an arrest, or preventing an escape. None of the three runs to any place you happen to have a right to be.

The rules live in Title 11, Chapter 4. Section 461 is the gateway: justification "is a defense" in "any prosecution for an offense," and the sections that follow in Chapter 4 supply the definitions.

When deadly force is justified at all

Ordinary force is justifiable when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against the use of unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion (§ 464(a)).

Deadly force is narrower. Under § 464(c), it is justifiable only if you reasonably believe it is necessary to protect yourself against one of four things:

• Death
• Serious physical injury
• Kidnapping
• Sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat

Property loss is not on that list, and neither is fear alone.

Non-deadly force carries no retreat duty. Section 464(b) reads: "Except as otherwise provided in subsections (d) and (e) of this section, a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity thereof under the circumstances as the person reasonably believes them to be when the force is used, without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act which the person has no legal duty to do or abstaining from any lawful action." Subsections (d) and (e) are the only carve-outs from that permission. Subsection (e), the one that carries the retreat limit, opens "The use of deadly force is not justifiable under this section if," so it reaches deadly force only (§ 464(e)). The split follows: the retreat duty described below applies to deadly force, while § 464(b) states the opposite rule for non-deadly protective force.

For anyone who is not a law enforcement officer acting officially, "reasonably believes" means "holds a belief that is reasonable from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances" (§ 471(e)(1)).

The retreat rule, stated exactly

Everything in this part is about deadly force. Section 464(e)(2) removes the deadly force justification when you know the necessity of using deadly force can be avoided with complete safety by any of three things: retreating, surrendering possession of a thing to a person asserting a claim of right to it, or complying with a demand that you abstain from an act you are not legally obligated to perform.

The subsection lists three exceptions, and they are written narrowly. Here they are in full:

• Dwelling. "The defendant is not obliged to retreat in or from the defendant's dwelling" (§ 464(e)(2)a.). Subparagraph a. carries no initial aggressor limit of its own. Do not read that as a blanket permission at home, because § 464(e)(1) is a separate bar that is tied to no place at all: deadly force is not justifiable if "The defendant, with the purpose of causing death or serious physical injury, provoked the use of force against the defendant in the same encounter." Being freed from the duty to retreat in your dwelling under § 464(e)(2)a. does not free you from § 464(e)(1).
• Place of work. "The defendant is not obliged to retreat in or from the defendant's place of work, unless the defendant was the initial aggressor" (§ 464(e)(2)b.). That initial aggressor carve-out is attached to the workplace exception and does not appear in the dwelling exception.
• Officers, arrests, and escapes. "A public officer justified in using force in the performance of the officer's duties, or a person justified in using force in assisting an officer or a person justified in using force in making an arrest or preventing an escape, need not desist from efforts to perform the duty or make the arrest or prevent the escape because of resistance or threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person against whom the action is directed" (§ 464(e)(2)c.). By its terms it reaches officers, those assisting them, and arrests or escapes. It says nothing about force used in self-protection.

Read the trigger carefully. The duty attaches when you know retreat can be made with complete safety. Both words are doing work. Do not treat that as a loophole to plan around. If a safe exit is available and you know it, the deadly force justification is gone outside the three § 464(e)(2) exceptions above.

Section 471(b) defines "dwelling" as "any building or structure, though movable or temporary, or a portion thereof, which is for the time being the defendant's home or place of lodging." The operative nouns in that definition are "building or structure." Whether a camper, a motorhome, or a hotel room qualifies turns on those words and on whether the place is your home or place of lodging at the time. Chapter 4 sets out no separate vehicle exception and does not say whether an ordinary passenger vehicle is a "building or structure" under § 471(b), so do not assume your car carries dwelling status.

What counts as deadly force

Section 471(a) defines deadly force as force used with the purpose of causing, or which you know creates a substantial risk of causing, death or serious physical injury, and it expressly includes a chokehold as defined in § 607A. It adds that "purposely firing a firearm or projectile weapon in the direction of another person or at a vehicle in which another person is believed to be constitutes deadly force."

The same subsection carves out a threat: "A threat to cause death or serious bodily harm, by the production of a weapon or otherwise, so long as the defendant's purpose is limited to creating an apprehension that deadly force will be used if necessary, does not constitute deadly force." A threat that is not deadly force is not subject to the § 464(e) retreat limit, because § 464(e) reaches only "the use of deadly force."

Section 469: the occupant and intruder defense

Delaware has a separate provision aimed at the home. Section 469, captioned "Justification - Person unlawfully in dwelling," reads:

"In the prosecution of an occupant of a dwelling charged with killing or injuring an intruder who was unlawfully in said dwelling, it shall be a defense that the occupant was in the occupant's own dwelling at the time of the offense, and:

1. The encounter between the occupant and intruder was sudden and unexpected, compelling the occupant to act instantly; or
2. The occupant reasonably believed that the intruder would inflict personal injury upon the occupant or others in the dwelling; or
3. The occupant demanded that the intruder disarm or surrender, and the intruder refused to do so."

The occupant must be in the occupant's own dwelling, and at least one of the three circumstances must be present. Section 469 sits alongside § 464 rather than replacing it.

Protection of property

Section 466(a) allows force you reasonably believe is immediately necessary to prevent criminal trespass or burglary "in a building or upon real property" in your possession, to prevent entry upon real property in your possession, or to prevent theft, criminal mischief, or any trespassory taking of tangible, movable property in your possession. All three branches reach property "in the possession of another person for whose protection the defendant acts" as well as property in your own possession.

Section 466(b) adds a further requirement. You must first request the person to desist, unless you reasonably believe the request would be useless, that making it would be dangerous to you or another person, or that substantial harm would come to the property before it could effectively be made.

Deadly force for property is tightly limited by § 466(c). It is justifiable only if you reasonably believe either:

1. The person is attempting to dispossess you of your dwelling otherwise than under a claim of right to its possession; or
2. The person is attempting to commit arson, burglary, robbery, or felonious theft or property destruction, and either (a) that person had employed or threatened deadly force against or in your presence, or (b) under the circumstances existing at the time you reasonably believed that force other than deadly force would expose you, or another person in your presence, to the reasonable likelihood of serious physical injury.

Prong 2 is a felony attempt plus one of two aggravating conditions. A burglary standing alone does not satisfy it.

Civil immunity, and its limit. Section 466(d) provides that where a person has used force for the protection of property and has not been convicted of any crime or offense connected with that use of force, that person "shall not be liable for damages or be otherwise civilly liable to the one against whom such force was used." That immunity is written for force used for the protection of property. Section 464, the self protection section, contains no comparable civil immunity clause.

A defense, not immunity from prosecution. The § 466(d) bar is narrow. It covers only force used to protect property, only where the person was not convicted of a connected offense, and it bars civil liability, not prosecution. Chapter 4 creates no pretrial immunity and no immunity hearing for a person who used force in self-protection. What the chapter gives you is a defense raised in a criminal case: § 461 provides that justification "is a defense" in "any prosecution for an offense," and § 469 uses the same construction, "it shall be a defense." Section 475 is captioned "Immunity as an affirmative defense" and will surface if you scan Chapter 4 for that word, but it is about something else. It makes it an affirmative defense "that the accused was granted immunity from prosecution for that offense by the Attorney General or a Deputy Attorney General or by court order pursuant to § 3506 of this title." That is immunity conferred by a prosecutor or a court, not immunity arising from the fact that force was justified.

Defending another person

Under § 465(a), you may use force to protect a third person when all three are true: you would have been justified under § 464 in using that force to protect yourself against the injury you reasonably believe is threatened to that person; that person would have been justified in using the protective force under the circumstances as you reasonably believe them to be; and you reasonably believe intervention is necessary.

The retreat rules shift here. Under § 465(b), even where you would have been obliged under § 464 to retreat, surrender a thing, or comply with a demand, you have no obligation to do so before using force to protect another, unless you know you can thereby secure the complete safety of the other person. Under § 465(c), if the person you are protecting would have been obliged to retreat or comply, you must try to cause that person to do so first, but only if you know complete safety can be secured that way. Under § 465(d), neither of you is obliged to retreat when in the other's dwelling or place of work to any greater extent than in your own.

Limits that defeat the defense

• Provocation. Deadly force is not justifiable if you, with the purpose of causing death or serious physical injury, provoked the use of force against yourself in the same encounter (§ 464(e)(1)).
• Resisting arrest. Force is not justifiable to resist an arrest you know or should know is being made by a peace officer, whether or not the arrest is lawful (§ 464(d)).
• Reckless or negligent belief. Under § 470(a), if you are reckless or negligent in forming the belief that force was necessary, or in acquiring or failing to acquire knowledge material to justifiability, the justification is unavailable in a prosecution for an offense where recklessness or negligence suffices for culpability. Section 470(b) does the same where you recklessly or negligently injure or risk injury to innocent persons. Both subsections of § 470 are written to apply to "§§ 462-468 of this title." That range stops short of § 469, so by its terms § 470 does not reach the § 469 occupant defense.
• Excluded rationales. Under § 472(a), a defendant is not justified in using force based on the discovery of, knowledge or belief about, or the potential or actual disclosure of the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, or sex assigned at birth.

Two practical notes

Delaware's CCDW training must include "Instruction regarding the laws of this State pertaining to the use of deadly force for self-defense" (11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(3)i.).

Section 464 carries amendment history through 83 Del. Laws, c. 73, § 1, and § 471 through 84 Del. Laws, c. 525, § 2. Confirm current text on the Delaware Code before relying on any wording here. One numbering point worth fixing in your head: § 467 is captioned "Justification - Use of force in law enforcement," and defense of your home and property runs through §§ 464, 466, and 469.

One thing to be clear about

This page is general legal information, not legal advice, and it cannot tell you whether a particular use of force was justified. If you have used force, or you are facing charges or a lawsuit over it, get a Delaware criminal defense lawyer on the phone before you talk to anyone else.

Telling an Officer You Are Armed in Delaware

The headline

Delaware's concealed carry license is created by 11 Del. C. § 1441, and that section spells out every condition a person must strictly comply with to get a license and keep it. Those conditions cover the written application, the citizen certificate, the oath, the training certificate, the fee, the term, and renewal. Section 1441 does not make notifying a law enforcement officer one of them. The section attaches no disclosure condition to the license. Neither does the offense the license answers: 11 Del. C. § 1442(a) defines carrying a concealed deadly weapon as carrying one concealed "without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title," and announcing or disclosing appears nowhere in it.

That is a statement about what the license requires. It is separate from the statutes governing what an officer may demand during a stop and what a false answer costs, both of which are covered below.

What § 1441 actually requires of you

To get the license, § 1441(a) requires you to file a written application with the Prothonotary of your county at least 15 days before the next term of Superior Court, along with the information needed for a criminal history background check, under § 1441(a)(1). You file a certificate of 5 respectable citizens attesting to your character and to the necessity of the license, under § 1441(a)(2). You verify the application by oath or affirmation, and before an initial license issues you file a notarized instructor certificate covering the ten training elements listed in § 1441(a)(3). You pay $65 at filing, under § 1441(a)(4).

Keeping it:

• The initial license runs 3 years, and renews for 5 years on a $65 payment plus an affidavit that the carrying remains necessary and that you still meet the requirements, under § 1441(a)(5)a. That paragraph adds that "No requirements in addition to those specified in this paragraph may be imposed for the renewal of a license."
• Under § 1441(m), the license "shall be void, and is automatically repealed by operation of law," if you are or become prohibited from owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon under § 1448. Nothing has to be filed or served for that to happen.
• Under Rule 11 of the Superior Court Procedural Rules for Application and Administration of 11 Del. C. § 1441, the Court may revoke a license at any time for good cause shown, which includes but is not limited to the § 1448 grounds.

The license itself is a photographic document. Section 1441(f) has the Secretary of State prepare the blank forms and directs the Prothonotaries to affix a photographic representation of the licensee to the license before lamination.

Beyond remaining eligible, § 1441 imposes a continuing obligation on the temporary nonresident license issued under § 1441(k), which "must be carried at all times while within the State." It imposes no parallel obligation on the resident license issued under § 1441(a). The next part sets out that split.

Carrying the license: the one place the statute commands it

Section 1441 contains exactly one instruction to keep the license on your person, and it is not the resident license. Under § 1441(k), the Attorney General may issue a temporary license to a nonresident with a short-term employment-related need. That temporary license expires automatically 30 days from issuance, cannot be renewed, is capped at 3 per individual, and "must be carried at all times while within the State." The ordinary license issued under § 1441(a) carries no parallel command in the section.

The license still matters at an encounter because of how the offense is written. Under § 1442(a), a person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon "when the person carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title." The absence of the license is an element. Section 1442(b) grades the offense as a class G felony, or a class D felony when the weapon is a firearm or projectile weapon, which under § 4205(b)(7) and § 4205(b)(4) means up to 2 years and up to 8 years at Level V respectively.

Delaware licenses are also verifiable through law enforcement channels rather than only from the card. The Attorney General's CCDW page states that law enforcement officials from other jurisdictions "may verify Delaware CCDW permits by contacting the Delaware State Police Headquarters via NLET.AM directed to DEDSP0000 or by calling (302) 659-2341." Under § 1441(j), the Attorney General's annual reciprocity list is made readily available to all State and local law-enforcement agencies in Delaware as well as to current Delaware licensees.

Section 1442 carries two defenses worth knowing. Under § 1442(c) it is a defense that the license had expired, renewal was applied for within the allotted time before expiration, and the alleged offense occurred while that renewal was pending before the court. Under § 1442(d) it is a defense that the defendant complied with § 1456(b), the vehicle storage provision.

What the law lets an officer do

Delaware's stop-and-question statute is 11 Del. C. § 1902. Under § 1902(a), a peace officer may stop any person "abroad, or in a public place" whom the officer has reasonable ground to suspect is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime, and "may demand the person's name, address, business abroad and destination." Those four items are the enumerated demand.

Under § 1902(b), a person so questioned "who fails to give identification or explain the person's actions to the satisfaction of the officer may be detained and further questioned and investigated." Section 1902(c) caps the total detention at 2 hours, states that the detention is not an arrest and is not recorded as one, and requires that at the end the person be either released or arrested and charged.

Section 1903 is the frisk provision. A peace officer may search for a dangerous weapon any person stopped or detained under § 1902 whenever the officer has reasonable ground to believe the officer is in danger if the person possesses a dangerous weapon. If a weapon is found, the officer "may take and keep it until the completion of the questioning, when the officer shall either return it or arrest the person," and that arrest may be for illegal possession of the weapon.

Sections 1902 and 1903 are not the only provisions that reach the same encounter. Section 1910 supplies a second identification demand: where a peace officer has reasonable ground to believe a crime has been committed, the officer may stop a person the officer has reasonable ground to believe was present and "may demand the person's name and address," and a person who "fails to give identification to the satisfaction of the officer" may be taken before a magistrate, who "may require the person to furnish bond or may commit the person to jail until the person so gives identification." That demand reaches name and address only. Section 1904 governs arrest without a warrant, and under § 1904(b)(1) a warrantless felony arrest is lawful whenever the officer "has reasonable ground to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a felony," which matters because § 1442 is a felony. Section 1441 is what determines whether the possession the officer finds is lawful.

False answers carry their own exposure

No Delaware provision requires a licensee to volunteer that a weapon is being carried. A separate statute governs false answers. Under 11 Del. C. § 1245A(a), a person is guilty of providing a false statement to law enforcement when, with intent to prevent, hinder, or delay the investigation of any crime or offense, the person knowingly provides any false written or oral statement to a law-enforcement officer or agency, and the statement is material to the investigation. Section 1245A(b)(2) defines "false" to include untrue, incomplete, or misleading information. Section 1245A(b)(3) defines "material" as a statement that could have affected the course or outcome of the investigation. Grading follows the offense under investigation: a class G felony if that offense is a felony, under § 1245A(c), and a class A misdemeanor otherwise, under § 1245A(d).

Two related statutes sit near it. Section 1233 makes it a class A misdemeanor to knowingly make a false statement in a written instrument bearing a notice, authorized by law, that false statements are punishable, which is the notice § 1441(l) requires on temporary license applications. Section 1257(b) makes it a class A misdemeanor to intentionally prevent or attempt to prevent a peace officer from effecting an arrest or detention, or to intentionally flee from one, and § 1257(a) raises that to a class G felony when force or violence is used.

If the encounter happens in a restricted place

Section 1457 makes possession of a weapon in a Safe Recreation Zone a crime, but a derivative one. Section 1457(a) reaches a person who commits one of the underlying offenses listed in § 1457(b) while in or on such a zone, and § 1442 is the first entry on that list. Because § 1442 is defined by the absence of a § 1441 license, license status decides whether the underlying offense exists at all. Section 1457(h) exempts only police officers and constables employed by a recreation zone, § 1457(e) forecloses the defense that the person did not know the location was a Safe Recreation Zone, and § 1457(j)(3) raises a class E, F, or G underlying felony one grade.

The General Assembly wrote express licensee carve-outs where it wanted them, and both are narrow. Section 1457A(c)(4) exempts a valid § 1441 licensee from the Safe School Zone offense only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle, and § 1457C(c)(5) uses the same vehicle-only structure for college and university safe zones.

Concealment, and the one rule about producing the permit

Concealment appears in these statutes as a condition on one carve-out from local ordinances, and it operates where those ordinances operate. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b), municipal governments "may adopt ordinances regulating the possession of firearms... in police stations and municipal buildings," and 9 Del. C. § 330(d) does the same for counties. Such an ordinance "shall not prevent" carrying by a person holding a valid license under § 1441 or § 1441A "so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others," under 22 Del. C. § 111(b)(6) and 9 Del. C. § 330(d)(6). Section 1441A is Delaware's implementation of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act for qualified law-enforcement officers, not a second civilian licensing route. The concealment condition therefore attaches to carrying inside those buildings and police stations, and under 22 Del. C. § 111(c) a "municipal building" excludes "any parking facility."

A produce-on-request obligation does exist, and it is administrative rather than statutory. The Division of Parks and Recreation describes the Regulations Governing State Parks, 7 DE Admin. Code 9201, as allowing "holders of valid Delaware concealed-carry permits to carry within parks, including designated areas, provided only that the permit be produced upon request." The designated areas are park facilities where those regulations otherwise prohibit firearms, among them park offices, visitor centers, playgrounds, and guarded beaches. Inside a Delaware state park, producing the permit on request is the condition on which that carry authority rests.

Three obligations sit close together here, and Delaware answers each differently. Inform: no Delaware provision requires a licensee to tell an officer that a weapon is being carried, and the demand 11 Del. C. § 1902(a) authorizes reaches name, address, business abroad, and destination. Carry: 11 Del. C. § 1441(k) requires the 30-day nonresident temporary license to "be carried at all times while within the State," and no provision imposes that on the § 1441(a) resident license. Produce: 7 DE Admin. Code 9201 conditions permit-based carry in Delaware state parks on the permit being "produced upon request."

Carrying Under the Influence in Delaware

Delaware puts a number in the statute. Under 11 Del. C. § 1460, you commit a crime when you possess a firearm or projectile weapon in a public place while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The offense reaches projectile weapons alongside firearms, and 11 Del. C. § 222(28) defines "projectile weapon" for the Criminal Code as a bow, a crossbow, an airbow, a weapon designed to discharge or project an arrow, crossbow bolt, or spear, or an airgun that discharges or projects a pellet, slug, or bullet larger than .177 caliber. The statute defines "under the influence" itself, and one of the two ways to meet that definition is a blood alcohol figure of ".08 or more grams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood, or an amount of alcohol in a sample of breath equivalent to .08 or more grams per 210 liters of breath" (§ 1460(b)(4)a.).

A concealed carry license does not exempt you. Section 1460 contains no exception for a licensee under § 1441, and no exception for open carry. It reaches a licensee carrying concealed in a restaurant, a bar, or a park the same way it reaches anyone else carrying there.

The two ways the State can prove impairment

The .08 route. At .08 or above, the State does not have to show you looked or acted drunk. Section 1460(b)(4)a. also builds in a lookback: you are guilty "without regard to the person's alcohol concentration at the time of possession" if your concentration is .08 or more within 4 hours after you were found in possession, and that concentration is the result of alcohol present in or consumed by you while you had the firearm. A rising BAC measured after the stop can support the charge.

The manifest impairment route. Section 1460(b)(4)b. reaches anyone "manifestly under the influence" of alcohol, of any illicit or recreational drug as defined in § 4177(c) of Title 21, or of any other drug not administered or prescribed by a physician, "to the degree that the person may be in danger or endanger other persons or property, or annoy persons in the vicinity." There is no number attached to this prong. The "manifestly under the influence" and "to the degree that" clauses are word for word the ones Delaware uses for public intoxication in 11 Del. C. § 1315, though the drug lists are not the same: § 1315 says "alcohol or narcotics or any other drug not administered or prescribed to be taken by a physician," while § 1460(b)(4)b. substitutes any illicit or recreational drug as defined in § 4177(c) of Title 21. Two practical consequences follow. First, a BAC under .08 is not a safe harbor, because the manifest prong stands on its own. Second, for drugs there is no per se threshold at all in § 1460, so a drug case turns on manifest impairment to the degree the statute describes rather than on a cutoff. Section 1460(c) separately permits an officer to test for the presence of illicit or recreational drugs, but the section does not make a test part of what the State must prove.

Section 1460(b)(4)b. carves out one situation: you are not "under the influence" if you did not use the illicit or recreational drug before or during the alleged violation and used it only afterward, and only that later use put the substance in your blood within the 4 hour window.

Where the statute reaches

The offense element is possession "in a public place." Section 1460(b)(3) defines that as a place to which the public or a substantial group of persons has access, and lists highways, transportation facilities, schools, places of amusement, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, bars, taverns, and the hallways, lobbies, and other portions of apartment houses and hotels that are not rooms or apartments designed for actual residence. Your apartment is not a public place under that definition. The hallway outside it is.

"Possess" is defined broadly in § 1460(b)(2): the item is under your dominion and authority and is physically available and accessible to you at the relevant time. You do not have to be touching it.

The two affirmative defenses

Section 1460(a) gives you two, and it labels each of them "an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section":

• The firearm or projectile weapon was not readily operable, meaning under § 1460(b)(1) that it is disassembled, broken down, or stored in a manner to prevent its immediate use.
• You were not in possession of ammunition for it.

Both describe a gun you cannot use. Neither helps a licensee carrying for defense.

Testing and refusal

Under § 1460(c), an officer with probable cause to believe you violated the section may take reasonable steps to conduct chemical testing for alcohol concentration or the presence of illicit or recreational drugs, with or without your consent. Your refusal to submit is admissible in any trial arising from the violation.

Grading and sentence

The Superior Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction over a § 1460 violation (§ 1460(a)).

What a conviction does to your license and your gun rights

This is where the second offense turns into a permanent problem.

A class G felony conviction makes you a person prohibited under 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(1), which covers any person convicted of a felony. Once you are prohibited under § 1448, your carry license is gone automatically: § 1441(m) provides that any license issued under § 1441 "shall be void, and is automatically repealed by operation of law, if the licensee is or becomes prohibited from owning, possessing or controlling a deadly weapon as specified in § 1448 of this title." No hearing, no notice requirement in the text. Carrying concealed after that point is carrying without a license under 11 Del. C. § 1442, a class D felony when the weapon is a firearm or projectile weapon.

Possession while prohibited is itself charged under § 1448(b) and graded by § 1448(c) as a class D felony for a firearm or ammunition under paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(8). The relief valve in § 1448(d), which restores rights 5 years after conviction, applies only to a person prohibited solely because of a conviction that is not a felony. It does not reach the class G felony second offense.

A first offense under § 1460 is a class A misdemeanor and is not on the § 1448(a) list on its own. It still sits in your criminal history, and § 1441 licensing is discretionary: the Superior Court "may or may not, in its discretion, approve any application" (§ 1441(d)), the application must be supported by a certificate of 5 respectable citizens stating that you are a person "of full age, sobriety and good moral character" (§ 1441(a)(2)), and on renewal the Court "may inquire into the renewal request and deny the same for good cause shown" (§ 1441(a)(5)a.). Sobriety is written into the license standard. Section 1441 contains no separate suspension procedure keyed to intoxication, so the operative administrative consequences are the discretionary ones just described plus the automatic voiding in § 1441(m).

Drugs, marijuana, and the federal prohibition

Federal law does not ask whether you are impaired right now. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) it is unlawful for a person "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance" to "ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce," and § 922(d)(3) bars transferring one to that person. The implementing definition at 27 C.F.R. § 478.11 turns on a pattern, not a moment: regular unlawful use over an extended period continuing into the present, with "sufficient regularity and recency to indicate that the individual is actively engaged in such conduct," and it states expressly that a person may be an unlawful current user even though the substance is not being used at the precise time the firearm is possessed. Isolated or sporadic use does not qualify.

Two points follow for anyone carrying in Delaware. Alcohol is not a controlled substance for this purpose: 27 C.F.R. § 478.11 defines "controlled substance" to include marijuana, depressants, stimulants, and narcotic drugs, and to exclude distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, and tobacco. So a drinker is exposed under § 1460, not under § 922(g)(3). Marijuana is the reverse. It remains listed in Schedule I at 21 U.S.C. § 812, and the regulation names it as a controlled substance, so a regular user is an unlawful user federally regardless of what state law permits.

Delaware has its own overlap at 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(9), which makes a person prohibited if the deadly weapon is a semi-automatic or automatic firearm or a handgun and the person at the same time possesses a controlled substance in violation of § 4763 of Title 16. Section 1448(a)(3) separately prohibits any person convicted of the unlawful use, possession, or sale of a narcotic drug or controlled substance as defined in Chapter 47 of Title 16.

Related rules worth knowing

• Qualified active and retired law enforcement officers carrying under Delaware's LEOSA implementation must not be "under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating or hallucinatory drug or substance," per 11 Del. C. § 1441A(c)(5) and § 1441B(c)(6). The federal provisions carry the identical element at 18 U.S.C. § 926B and § 926C.
• There is a separate bar on selling to an intoxicated person, and it is narrower than "any firearm." Section 903 of Title 24 provides that "No person shall sell to a person under the age of 21 or any intoxicated person any of the articles referred to in the first paragraph of § 901 of this title," and the first paragraph of § 901 names "any pistol or revolver, or stiletto, steel or brass knuckles, or other deadly weapon made especially for the defense of one's person." A handgun sale to an intoxicated buyer is inside that bar. Rifles and shotguns are not among the articles that paragraph names. A violation of § 903 is punishable under 24 Del. C. § 906 by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment of not more than 6 months, or both.
• Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to any criminal charge under 11 Del. C. § 421, and evidence of it is inadmissible to prove mental illness under § 422. Involuntary intoxication is treated differently. Section 423 provides that "In any prosecution for an offense it is a defense that, as a result of intoxication which is not voluntary, the actor at the time of the conduct lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct or to perform a material element of the offense, or lacked sufficient willpower to choose whether the person would do the act or refrain from doing it." Section 424(2) draws the line: intoxication is voluntary when it is "caused by substances which the actor knowingly introduces into the actor's body, the tendency of which to cause intoxication the actor knows or should know," unless taken on medical advice or under qualifying duress.
• A first § 1460 offense is a class A misdemeanor, so it falls inside 11 Del. C. § 4213(c), which provides that "Upon arrest for any crime which is not a felony under this title or Title 16, an arrestee who believes that the arrestee is under the influence of drugs as defined in subsection (a) of this section shall have the right to request immediate admission to a drug detoxification center." Section 4213(a)(1) defines a person under the influence of drugs, for that section only, as one whose powers of self-control have been substantially impaired by a drug described in Chapter 47 of Title 16. Under § 4213(c)(1), the request itself is not admissible in evidence in any criminal prosecution against the arrestee.

Scope limits to respect

Section 1460's alcohol threshold applies to possession in a public place. Do not read it as a general statewide .08 rule covering conduct on private property, and do not read the absence of a drug number as tolerance, because the manifest impairment prong covers drugs without one. The definition of "illicit or recreational drug" is not written into § 1460 itself: § 1460(b)(4)b. takes it from § 4177(c) of Title 21.

Key statutes

Delaware Weapon Restrictions

Delaware restricts weapons on two axes. Who you are: 11 Del. C. § 1448(a) bars eleven classes of people from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm, and the last of those eleven, paragraph (a)(12), is barred from purchasing only. Subsection (a) runs to twelve numbered paragraphs, but (a)(10) is a disposal rule rather than a class of person. What the weapon is: § 1466 bans assault weapons, § 1469 bans magazines holding more than 17 rounds, and the older § 1444 bans destructive weapons.

A carry license does not cure a § 1448 problem. Under § 1441(m), a Delaware license is void and automatically repealed by operation of law if the licensee is or becomes a prohibited person under § 1448.

Persons Prohibited Under 11 Del. C. § 1448

Section 1448(a) prohibits each of these from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm:

• (a)(1) Anyone convicted in Delaware or elsewhere of a felony, or of a crime of violence involving physical injury to another person, armed or not.
• (a)(2) Anyone involuntarily committed for a mental condition under Chapter 50 of Title 16, found not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill for a crime of violence, found mentally incompetent to stand trial for a crime of violence, or subject to a relinquishment order under § 1448C. The first three lift on relief from the Relief from Disabilities Board under § 1448A(l).
• (a)(3) Anyone convicted of unlawful use, possession, or sale of a narcotic, dangerous drug, or controlled substance as defined in Chapter 47 of Title 16.
• (a)(4) Anyone adjudicated delinquent for conduct that would be a felony if committed by an adult, until that person turns 25.
• (a)(5) Any person under the age of 21. See below.
• (a)(6) Anyone who knows they are subject to a Family Court protection from abuse order, while it is in effect, except a contested order issued solely on 10 Del. C. § 1041(1)d., e., or i.
• (a)(7) Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence: a misdemeanor under 11 Del. C. § 601, 602, 603, 611, 614, 621, 625, 628A, 763, 765, 766, 767, 781, 785, or 791 (or a similar offense elsewhere) committed against a family member as defined in 10 Del. C. § 901, a former spouse, a person with a child in common, or a cohabitant or substantive dating partner under 10 Del. C. § 1041, at the time of or within 3 years before the offense.
• (a)(8) Anyone who, knowing they are a defendant or co-defendant in a felony case, fails to appear at a scheduled proceeding. It is no defense that the person did not receive notice.
• (a)(9) Anyone simultaneously possessing a controlled substance in violation of 16 Del. C. § 4763, where the deadly weapon is a semi-automatic firearm, an automatic firearm, or a handgun.
• (a)(11) Anyone subject to a lethal violence protective order under 10 Del. C. § 7704, while it is in effect.
• (a)(12) Anyone who knows they are the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, post-arrest charges, or an active indictment or information for a felony or an (a)(7) domestic violence misdemeanor. This class is barred from purchasing a firearm or projectile weapon.

Paragraph (a)(10) is not a class of person. It governs disposal of seized weapons under § 2311 and carves out antique firearms, meaning those not designed for rimfire or conventional centerfire ignition with fixed ammunition and made in or before 1898, plus firearms using fixed ammunition made in or before 1898 for which ammunition is no longer produced in the United States and which are not readily restored to firing condition. The person claiming the exemption bears the burden of proving it.

The under-21 bar

Section 1448(a)(5) reaches every person under 21, and the escapes are narrow.

By weapon type, (a)(5)a. exempts a shotgun as defined in § 1444(c) and shotgun ammunition, a muzzle-loading rifle as defined in 7 Del. C. § 704(f), and, for anyone 18 or older, deadly weapons including projectile weapons other than firearms.

By status, (a)(5)b. exempts three groups who are 18 or older: active members of the Armed Forces or National Guard, qualified law-enforcement officers as defined in § 1441A, and a person holding a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to § 1441 of this title.

By activity, (a)(5)c. lets an under-21 person possess a firearm or projectile weapon for lawful hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity under the direct supervision of someone 21 or older, for lawful hunting in compliance with 7 Del. C. § 704(g), or while transporting to such an activity. Paragraph (a)(5)d. preserves justified force under §§ 464, 465, 466, and 469.

A Delaware license is available at 18, since § 1441(a) requires only a person of full age and 1 Del. C. § 701 sets full legal age at 18. The exposure runs the other way. The § 1448(a)(5)b.3. exemption is written for a person who has a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon "pursuant to § 1441 of this title," and whether an out-of-state permit qualifies is not answered in the text. The Attorney General's reciprocity page warns that a person lawfully permitted in another state may still be prohibited from possession in Delaware. If you are 18 to 20 and carrying on another state's permit, assume § 1448(a)(5) applies to you.

Grading and mandatory minimums

Section 1448(b) makes knowing possession, purchase, ownership, or control by a prohibited person an offense. Section 1448(c) grades it:

Section 1448(e)(1) sets minimum Level V terms for a prohibited person who knowingly possesses a firearm, projectile weapon, or destructive weapon: 3 years with a prior violent felony conviction, 5 years if within 10 years of that conviction or of release from the resulting confinement (whichever is later), and 10 years with violent felony convictions on 2 or more separate occasions. Under § 1448(e)(2), a person prohibited because of a violent felony who negligently causes serious physical injury or death through the weapon commits a class B felony with minimums of 4, 6, or 10 years on the same escalation. Section 1448(e)(4) bars suspension and denies good time, parole, and probation. For an (a)(5) prohibited person aged 15 or older but not yet 18, § 1448(f)(1) sets an unsuspendable minimum of 6 months of Level V incarceration or institutional confinement for a first offense and 1 year for a second or subsequent offense.

Section 1448(d) is the only washout: a person prohibited solely because of a non-felony conviction is no longer prohibited once 5 years have elapsed from the conviction date.

Two companion offenses matter. Furnishing a firearm or projectile weapon to someone you know is a § 1448 prohibited person is a class F felony under § 1454. Transferring a firearm or firearm ammunition to a person under 21 outside what § 1448 permits is a class G felony under § 1445(a)(4).

Federal Overlay: 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)

Federal law separately bars nine categories from possessing firearms or ammunition in or affecting commerce: felons (convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year); fugitives from justice; unlawful users of or persons addicted to a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 802; anyone adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution; aliens unlawfully present or admitted on a nonimmigrant visa, except as provided in § 922(y)(2); anyone dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces; former citizens who renounced citizenship; anyone subject to a qualifying domestic restraining order issued after notice and an opportunity to participate; and anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Delaware is broader in places, notably the under-21 bar and the drug-conviction ground, so clearing one list does not clear the other.

Assault Weapons: 11 Del. C. §§ 1464 to 1467

Section 1466(a) makes it unlawful to transport an assault weapon into Delaware, or to manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, receive, or possess one. Section 1466(d) grades a violation as a class D felony. The published catchline for § 1466 reads "class E or F felony," which does not match subsection (d); subsection (d) is the text that states the grade.

Section 1465(4) defines "assault weapon" as an assault long gun, an assault pistol, or a copycat weapon. The first two are make-and-model lists in § 1465(2) and § 1465(3), each reaching copies regardless of producer or manufacturer. The copycat definition in § 1465(6) is the feature test, and it has eight branches:

• a. A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has at least 1 of five features: a folding or telescoping stock; any grip (pistol grip, thumbhole stock, or other stock) whose use would place a finger of the trigger hand other than the trigger finger directly below any portion of the action when firing; a forward pistol grip; a flash suppressor; or a grenade or flare launcher.
• b. A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle with an overall length of less than 30 inches.
• c. A semiautomatic pistol that accepts a detachable magazine and has at least 1 of four features: ability to accept a detachable magazine attaching outside the pistol grip; a threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash suppressor, forward pistol grip, or silencer; a shroud attached to or partly or completely encircling the barrel that lets the shooter fire without being burned, other than a slide enclosing the barrel; or a second hand grip. The outside-the-grip feature does not count for a rimfire pistol used solely for competitive shooting events, or practice for them, run by state or nationally recognized competitive shooting organizations.
• d. A semiautomatic shotgun with both a folding or telescoping stock and a grip of the type described above.
• e. A semiautomatic shotgun able to accept a detachable magazine.
• f. A shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
• g. A semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 17 rounds.
• h. A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 17 rounds.

Section 1465(7) defines a detachable magazine as a feeding device removable readily without disassembling the action or using a tool, including a bullet or cartridge.

Grandfathering

Under § 1466(c)(3), someone who lawfully possessed or completed a purchase of an assault weapon before June 30, 2022 may possess and transport it only:

1. At that person's residence, place of business, or other property that person owns, or on another's property with express permission.
2. On the premises of a shooting range.
3. While attending a firearms exhibition, display, or educational project sponsored by, conducted under the auspices of, or approved by a law-enforcement agency or a nationally or state-recognized entity that fosters firearms proficiency or education.
4. While transporting between those places, or to a licensed dealer for service or repair, with the weapon in secure storage. Section 1465(12) defines that as a locked container, or a properly engaged tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device rendering the firearm inoperable by anyone other than the owner or another authorized user.

Ownership may pass to a family member as defined in 10 Del. C. § 901 under § 1466(c)(5), if the transferor lawfully possessed the weapon and the recipient may otherwise lawfully possess it; the recipient then holds it under the same (c)(3) limits.

Separately, § 1466(b) says the section "does not apply" to nine categories:

1. (b)(1) Personnel of the United States government or a unit of that government, members of the armed forces of the United States or of the National Guard, and law-enforcement officers, in each case if acting within the scope of official business.
2. (b)(2) An assault weapon modified to render it permanently inoperative.
3. (b)(3) Possession, importation, manufacture, receipt or shipment for manufacture, storage, purchases, sales, and transport to or by a licensed firearms dealer or manufacturer who provides or services a weapon for a Delaware law-enforcement agency or for (b)(1) personnel, acts to sell or transfer one to a licensed dealer in another state or to an individual purchaser in another state through a licensed dealer, or acts to return one to a customer in another state under a warranty or for repair.
4. (b)(4) Organizations required or authorized by federal law governing their specific business or activity to maintain assault weapons.
5. (b)(5) Receipt of an assault weapon by inheritance, and possession of the inherited weapon, if the decedent lawfully possessed it and the person inheriting it is not otherwise prohibited under § 1448.
6. (b)(6) Receipt by a personal representative of an estate, for exercising the powers and duties of that office, including transferring the weapon according to will or probate proceedings.
7. (b)(7) Possession by a qualified retired law-enforcement officer not otherwise prohibited from receiving an assault weapon, if the agency sold or transferred it to the officer on retirement, or the officer purchased or obtained it for official use with that agency before retirement.
8. (b)(8) Possession or transport by an "armored car guard" as defined in 24 Del. C. § 1302, acting within the scope of employment with an armored car agency licensed under Chapter 13 of Title 24.
9. (b)(9) Possession, receipt, and testing by, or shipping to or from, an ISO 17025 accredited, National Institute of Justice-approved ballistics testing laboratory, or a facility that manufactures or provides research and development testing, analysis, or engineering for personal protective equipment or vehicle protection systems.

11 Del. C. § 1467 provides a voluntary certificate of possession on two application routes, and only one of them ran on a calendar deadline. Under § 1467(a), a person exempt under § 1466(c)(3) could apply to the Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security no later than June 30, 2023, and that window has closed. Section 1467(d) supplies a second route, keyed to a transfer rather than to a date: a person who inherits or receives a weapon from a family member that is lawfully possessed under § 1466(c)(3) and lawfully transferred may apply for a certificate within 60 days of taking possession of the weapon, on a showing that the transferor was lawfully in possession and that the applicant is the lawful recipient of the transfer. Nothing in § 1467 closes that second route on June 30, 2023.

A certificate is not what makes possession lawful. Under § 1467(b), lawful possession or a completed purchase of the assault weapon before June 30, 2022 is an affirmative defense to a § 1466 prosecution either way, and a certificate of possession is conclusive evidence of it.

In Delaware State Sportsmen's Association v. Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Nos. 23-1633, 23-1634, and 23-1641 (3d Cir. July 15, 2024), the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court's denial of a preliminary injunction against the assault weapon and large-magazine bans. The panel decided the case on the equitable standard for injunctive relief and stated expressly that it expressed no view of the merits. Both bans remain in force.

Large-Capacity Magazines: 11 Del. C. §§ 1468, 1469, 1469A

Section 1468(2)a. defines a large-capacity magazine as any ammunition feeding device capable of accepting, or that can readily be converted to hold, more than 17 rounds of ammunition. Subparagraph b. excludes an attached tubular device designed to accept, and only capable of operating with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition. Subparagraph c. provides that a removable floor plate on a device not capable of accepting more than 17 rounds is not by itself sufficient evidence of ready convertibility.

Section 1469(a) makes it unlawful to manufacture, sell, offer for sale, purchase, receive, transfer, or possess one, "[e]xcept as otherwise provided in subsections (c) through (e) of this section." Section 1469(b) grades it:

The magazine is subject to forfeiture, and Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the misdemeanor and felony grades.

No grandfather clause for magazines

Section 1466 grandfathers an assault weapon that a person lawfully possessed, or completed a purchase of, before June 30, 2022, on the terms in § 1466(c)(3). Section 1469 does nothing of the kind for magazines. Nothing in 11 Del. C. § 1468 or § 1469 turns on when a magazine was acquired: no pre-ban possession allowance, no affirmative defense for lawful prior possession, and no certificate of possession of the sort § 1467 supplies for assault weapons, since § 1467 reaches only § 1466. The Third Circuit described the two Delaware laws the same way in Delaware State Sportsmen's Association: "The assault-weapon ban (though not the large-magazine ban) grandfathers in guns already owned but limits carrying them publicly." So if you lawfully owned a magazine holding more than 17 rounds before the ban, that history is not a defense, and continued possession is an offense under § 1469(a) unless you fall inside an exemption in § 1469(c) or § 1469(e).

For permit holders the decisive provision is § 1469(c)(5): the section does not apply to an individual holding a valid concealed carry permit issued by the Superior Court under § 1441. The rest of § 1469(c) covers federal government and military or National Guard personnel who are acting within the scope of official business, law-enforcement officers and qualified retired law-enforcement officers with no such scope limit attached, licensed dealers selling to other dealers or to individuals exempt under (c)(1) through (c)(5), and magazines rendered permanently inoperable or permanently modified to accept 17 rounds of ammunition or less. Section 1469(e) separately exempts a person who manufactures a large-capacity magazine intending to sell it, or offer it for sale, to a person outside Delaware, and a person who ships or transports one for that manufacturer.

Section 1469A stands apart: possessing a large-capacity magazine during the commission of a felony is a class B felony, and conviction stands even if the felony of conviction is a lesser included offense of the one originally charged.

Destructive Weapons: 11 Del. C. § 1444

Section 1444(a) makes it an offense to make, sell, transfer, buy, receive, or possess a bomb, a bombshell, a firearm silencer, a sawed-off shotgun, a machine gun or any other firearm or weapon adaptable for use as a machine gun, or a bump stock, trigger crank, or rapid fire device.

Grading splits. Under § 1444(b)(1), possessing any of the first five categories is a class E felony. Under § 1444(b)(2), possession of only a bump stock, trigger crank, or rapid fire device is a class B misdemeanor for a first offense and a class E felony for a second or subsequent offense. Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction, and § 1444(e) requires relinquishment of an (a)(6) device to a Delaware law-enforcement agency.

The § 1444(b)(1) exemptions are narrow: military members, members of a police force in this State duly authorized to carry the described weapon, accredited wildlife biologists possessing silencers for wildlife disease or population control, and persons holding machine guns registered under the National Firearms Act for scientific or experimental research and development. Section 1444(c) reaches machine gun frames, receivers, and conversion parts, and defines a sawed-off shotgun as one with a barrel under 18 inches or an overall length under 26 inches. Federal NFA registration is covered in the NFA Items section.

What Counts as a Deadly Weapon

The definition in 11 Del. C. § 222(6)a. drives both § 1442 and § 1448. "Deadly weapon" includes a firearm, a bomb, a knife of any sort other than an ordinary pocketknife carried in a closed position, a switchblade knife, a billy, a blackjack, a bludgeon, metal knuckles, a slingshot, a razor, a bicycle chain, an ice pick, a projectile weapon, and a dangerous instrument used or attempted to be used to cause death or serious physical injury. Section 222(6)b. sets an ordinary pocketknife at a blade not more than 3.75 inches.

That is why the knife rule matters as much as the firearm rule. The concealed carry offense that runs on this definition, 11 Del. C. § 1442, is covered in the Concealed Carry section, along with the separate § 1443 offense of carrying a concealed dangerous instrument, which turns on a different term.

Three weapon-status offenses sit outside the person-based bar. Under 11 Del. C. § 1462, knowing possession of a covert or undetectable firearm is a class E felony, and manufacturing, causing the manufacture of, transporting, or selling one is a class D felony. Under § 1463, knowing possession of an untraceable firearm is a class E felony, and knowingly manufacturing, assembling, causing one to be manufactured or assembled, selling, or transferring one is a class D felony. Section 1463 has no transporting verb. Possessing a firearm with a removed, obliterated, or altered serial number is a class D felony under § 1459(c).

Secure storage duties, including § 1456, are covered in the Storage section.

NFA Items in Delaware

Delaware does not ban every item the National Firearms Act regulates; it bans a short, specific list. The controlling statute is 11 Del. C. § 1444, and it names six things: a bomb, a bombshell, a firearm silencer, a sawed-off shotgun, a machine gun or any other firearm or weapon adaptable for use as a machine gun, and a bump stock, trigger crank, or rapid fire device. Anything outside that list is not prohibited by § 1444. Do not assume the state bans an item because federal law taxes and registers it.

Read the verb list. Under § 1444(a) you commit the offense if you make, sell, transfer, buy, receive, or possess a listed item, so mere possession is enough. A CCDW license under § 1441 covers the concealed carrying of a deadly weapon and changes nothing here, because § 1444 writes no license exception.

Item by item

Machine guns. Banned in Delaware. Section 1444(a)(5) covers a machine gun and any other firearm or weapon adaptable for use as a machine gun. Delaware's definition at § 1444(c)(1) tracks the federal one at 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b): any weapon that shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot automatically more than one shot without manual reloading by a single function of the trigger, plus the frame or receiver, conversion parts, and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled while in your possession or control. Federally, 18 U.S.C. § 922(o)(1) makes it unlawful to transfer or possess a machinegun, excepting at § 922(o)(2)(B) one lawfully possessed before that subsection took effect on May 19, 1986 (Pub. L. 99-308, § 102(9)). A knowing violation of § 922(o) carries a fine and imprisonment of not more than 10 years under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2). A post-1986 machine gun also cannot be registered to a private person: under 27 C.F.R. § 479.105(a), "notwithstanding any other provision of this part, no application to make, transfer, or import a machine gun will be approved except as provided by this section," and the routes it provides are government and dealer sales sample channels, not private ones. Possessing an unregistered one therefore also violates 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), punishable under § 5871 by a fine of not more than $10,000, imprisonment of not more than ten years, or both. A pre-1986 transferable machine gun with a valid federal registration is still a class E felony in Delaware under § 1444(b)(1). A federal tax stamp is not a defense.

Suppressors. Banned in Delaware. Section 1444(a)(3) names a firearm silencer flatly, with no hunting exception and no permit that authorizes one. Federally a silencer is an NFA firearm under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(7), defined by reference to 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(25), which reaches not just the finished can but any combination of parts designed or intended for assembling one and any part intended only for that use. Delaware defines no term in § 1444(c) other than machine gun, shotgun, and sawed-off shotgun, so the reach of the state ban over silencer parts is not settled by the text.

Short-barreled shotguns. Banned in Delaware. Section 1444(a)(4) prohibits a sawed-off shotgun, and § 1444(c)(3) defines it as a shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length, or any weapon made from a shotgun if the weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches. That is close to the federal definition at 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(1) and (a)(2) and 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(6). One wrinkle: the predicate definition of "shotgun" at § 1444(c)(2) requires a weapon designed or redesigned and intended to be fired from the shoulder. Whether a factory pistol-grip smoothbore that never had a shoulder stock falls inside § 1444(c)(2) is unanswered.

Short-barreled rifles. Not named in § 1444. Check the assault weapon ban instead. Section 1444(a) lists six items and an SBR is not among them. Do not read the destructive weapon statute to cover one. The live restriction is 11 Del. C. § 1466(a): unlawful to transport an assault weapon into Delaware, or to manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, receive, or possess one. The workhorse test is 11 Del. C. § 1465(6)a., which defines a "copycat weapon" to include "[a] semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that can accept a detachable magazine and has at least 1 of the following": a folding or telescoping stock; a grip, such as a pistol grip or thumbhole stock, that puts a non-trigger finger of the trigger hand below the action when firing; a forward pistol grip; a flash suppressor; or a grenade or flare launcher. Section 1465(6)b. adds a second test, "[a] semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches," which turns on measured overall length, not barrel length. An AR-pattern SBR whose overall length with the stock extended exceeds 30 inches falls outside the (6)b. prong, and the (6)a. feature test is what reaches it. A rimfire or bolt-action short-barreled rifle is outside both definitions on the face of the statute, because each prong requires a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle. Under § 1466(d) a violation is a class D felony. The catchline reads "class E or F felony," which conflicts with the penalty subsection; treat § 1466(d) as controlling and confirm the grading before relying on either. Federally an SBR is an NFA firearm under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(3) and (a)(4) and must be registered under 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d).

Destructive devices. Delaware bans two of them by name, not the federal category. Section 1444(a)(1) and (a)(2) reach a bomb and a bombshell. The federal category at 26 U.S.C. § 5845(f) and 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(4) is far wider, covering grenades, rockets with a propellant charge over four ounces, missiles with an explosive or incendiary charge over one quarter ounce, mines, and any weapon with a bore greater than one half inch other than a sporting shotgun. Section 1444 does not name those. A separate statute, 11 Del. C. § 1338(b), makes it a class D felony to manufacture, transfer, use, possess, or transport any bomb, incendiary device, Molotov cocktail, or device designed to explode or produce uncontained combustion with intent to cause bodily harm or property damage, and § 1338(d) treats possession as prima facie evidence of that intent. Federal-category items Delaware does not name remain subject to registration under 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and the $200 making and transfer tax.

Any other weapons. Not named in Delaware law. No subsection of § 1444(a) uses the term, and the definitions at § 1444(c) do not reach the federal concept at 26 U.S.C. § 5845(e), which covers concealable weapons firing a shot by explosive energy, smoothbore pistols firing a fixed shotgun shell, and certain combination guns. An AOW is therefore governed by federal registration under 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), not by a Delaware ban. Watch a separate state trap: a disguised AOW such as a pen or cane gun can be a "covert firearm" under 11 Del. C. § 222(4), a firearm constructed in a shape or configuration such that it does not resemble a firearm. Possession is a class E felony under 11 Del. C. § 1462(c) and manufacturing is a class D felony under § 1462(d).

Bump stocks, trigger cranks, and rapid fire devices. These are a Delaware addition rather than an NFA category, covered by § 1444(a)(6) and defined at § 1444(a)(6)a. through c. Grading is separate: under § 1444(b)(2) a first offense of possession only is a class B misdemeanor, and a second or subsequent offense is a class E felony. Section 1444(e)(1) directs that such a device be relinquished to a Delaware law-enforcement agency, which may destroy it 30 days later, and § 1444(e)(2) says relinquishment is neither a transfer nor evidence of possession.

Exceptions Delaware actually writes

Section 1444(b)(1) holds both the grading rule and all of the section's carve-outs, and its two sentences are written to different scopes. The first: "Possessing a destructive weapon listed in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5) of this section is a class E felony." The second: "This section does not apply to members of the military forces or to members of a police force in this State duly authorized to carry a weapon of the type described." The grading sentence is limited to paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5). The exception sentence is written against "[t]his section," which on its face would also reach the (a)(6) bump stock, trigger crank, and rapid fire device offenses that § 1444(b)(2) grades separately. Placement inside (b)(1) points the other way. The text does not resolve it, so treat the reach of these carve-outs as genuinely unsettled.

Beyond the military and police carve-out quoted above, the section exempts:

• State and federal wildlife biologists who are authorized and certified by an accredited state enforcement agency, possessing firearm silencers for wildlife disease or wildlife population control.
• Persons possessing machine guns for scientific or experimental research and development purposes, where those machine guns are duly registered under what the statute calls the National Firearms Act of 1968 (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.).

There is no licensed-dealer exception in § 1444. The Attorney General's CCDW page states that Delaware prohibits possession of silencers, sawed-off shotguns, and machine guns "under all circumstances," which reads more absolutely than § 1444(b)(1). The statute controls. Delaware's LEOSA statutes are not a workaround either: 11 Del. C. § 1441A(e)(3) and § 1441B(e)(1)c. both define "firearm" to exclude machineguns, firearm silencers, and destructive devices, so neither an active nor a retired qualified officer carries NFA items under them.

Section 1466 is the statute with real dealer and institutional exceptions. Its applicability list at § 1466(b) runs nine paragraphs:

1. Government personnel, armed forces and National Guard members, and law-enforcement officers on official business.
2. An assault weapon modified to render it permanently inoperative.
3. Licensed dealers and manufacturers servicing an assault weapon for a Delaware law-enforcement agency or exempt personnel, selling or transferring one out of state through a licensed dealer, or returning an out-of-state customer's weapon after warranty work or repair.
4. Organizations required or authorized by federal law governing their business to maintain assault weapons.
5. Receipt and possession by inheritance, if the decedent lawfully possessed the weapon and the heir is not prohibited under § 1448 of Title 11.
6. Receipt by a personal representative of an estate, including transfer by will or probate.
7. Possession by a qualified retired law-enforcement officer who received the weapon from the agency on retirement or obtained it for official use before retiring.
8. Possession or transport by an armored car guard as defined in § 1302 of Title 24, within the scope of employment with a licensed armored car agency.
9. Possession, receipt, testing, and shipping by an ISO 17025 accredited, National Institute of Justice-approved ballistics testing laboratory, or a facility testing personal protective equipment or vehicle protection systems.

Section 1466(c) adds five more exceptions, including the § 1466(c)(3) grandfather for possession or a completed purchase predating June 30, 2022, confined to the owner's residence, place of business, or other owned property (or another person's with express permission), a shooting range, and qualifying firearms exhibitions, plus secure-storage transport between those places or to a licensed dealer under § 1466(c)(3)d. Section 1467(b) makes it usable: in a prosecution under § 1466, "it is an affirmative defense that the defendant was lawfully in possession or had completed a purchase of the assault weapon prior to June 30, 2022." A certificate of possession is conclusive evidence of that fact. The § 1467(a) window to apply for one closed June 30, 2023, but the defense itself carries no certificate requirement.

None of that reaches a § 1444 item.

What a conviction carries

A class E felony under § 1444(b)(1) is punishable by up to 5 years at Level V under 11 Del. C. § 4205(b)(5). A class D felony under § 1466(d) or § 1338(b) carries up to 8 years under § 4205(b)(4). A class B misdemeanor first offense under § 1444(b)(2) carries up to 6 months and a fine up to $1,150 under 11 Del. C. § 4206(b). Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction over § 1444 offenses under § 1444(d).

Section 1444 is a designated violent felony under 11 Del. C. § 4201(c), which feeds the 3-year to 10-year Level V minimums that § 1448(e)(1) imposes on a prohibited person possessing a destructive weapon. And under 11 Del. C. § 1457(b)(2) and (j)(3), a § 1444 offense inside a Safe Recreation Zone rises one grade, from class E felony to class D.

The federal layer for items Delaware leaves alone

For an item Delaware does not prohibit, federal law still governs, and it must be registered to you in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record: 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) makes receipt or possession of an unregistered NFA firearm unlawful, and § 5861(b), (c), and (f) reach receiving one transferred or made in violation of the chapter and making one without approval. Penalties run through 26 U.S.C. § 5871.

Tax amounts changed recently. Under 26 U.S.C. § 5811(a), as amended by Pub. L. 119-21, § 70436(a) (July 4, 2025), the transfer tax is $200 only for a machinegun or a destructive device and $0 for any other NFA firearm. Section 5821(a), as amended by § 70436(b), sets the making tax the same way, and both apply to calendar quarters beginning more than 90 days after July 4, 2025. The paperwork did not go away with the tax: under 27 C.F.R. § 479.85(a) an individual transferee still attaches to the Form 4 a 2 x 2 inch photograph taken within the prior year and two completed FBI Forms FD-258.

Moving certain items across state lines takes separate permission. Under 27 C.F.R. § 478.28(a) and (b), a non-licensee needs specific ATF authorization before transporting a destructive device, machine gun, short-barreled shotgun, or short-barreled rifle in interstate commerce, and the request must show that possession is not inconsistent with the law at the destination. For a Delaware destination, § 1444 and § 1466 are where that showing fails.

Consider someone moving to Delaware who lawfully owns a silencer, machine gun, or sawed-off shotgun elsewhere. Section 1444 offers no grandfather. Its subsections run: (a) prohibitions, (b) grading and carve-outs, (c) definitions, (d) Superior Court jurisdiction, (e) relinquishment expressly limited to paragraph (a)(6) devices, and (f) repealed. Nothing there preserves prior lawful possession or gives a new resident a transition period, and the § 1466(c)(3) grandfather is written for assault weapons, not for a § 1444 item. Resolve the item before the move.

One interpretive risk runs through all of this. Section 1444(a)(5) extends to any firearm or weapon "adaptable for use as a machine gun," a phrase the statute never defines. Read broadly it could reach parts and semiautomatic receivers well outside the § 1444(c)(1) definition.

Red Flag Law (Lethal Violence Protective Orders) in Delaware

Delaware has a red flag law. It is called the lethal violence protective order, or LVPO, and it lives at 10 Del. C. ch. 77, sections 7701 through 7709. Note the title: this is Title 10 (Courts and Judicial Procedure), not Title 11.

An LVPO is a court order "prohibiting and enjoining a person from controlling, owning, purchasing, possessing, having access to, or receiving a firearm or projectile weapon" (10 Del. C. § 7701(3)). It reaches more than guns. "Projectile weapon" is defined at 11 Del. C. § 222(28) to include a bow, a crossbow, an airbow, a weapon designed to discharge an arrow, crossbow bolt, or spear, and an airgun discharging a pellet, slug, or bullet larger than .177 caliber. "Firearm" takes the § 222(13) definition, which includes a frame or receiver and covers weapons "whether operable or inoperable, loaded or unloaded." "Physical injury" means "impairment of physical condition or substantial pain" (§ 222(27)).

Two tracks, and who can start each one

Chapter 77 runs two tracks with different filers, different standards of proof, and different courts (10 Del. C. § 7702; § 7703; § 7704).

Section 7701(4) defines "petitioner" as either of two categories:

• A family member of the respondent as defined in 10 Del. C. § 901, or a member of the class defined in 10 Del. C. § 1041(2)b. Those two cross-referenced provisions set the qualifying relationships; the LVPO chapter does not spell them out.
• A law-enforcement officer who files a petition alleging the respondent poses a danger of causing physical injury to self or others through a firearm or projectile weapon. That term takes the 11 Del. C. § 222(18) definition.

Standing then splits by track under 10 Del. C. § 7702:

• Emergency orders (§ 7703) are for law-enforcement filers. Section 7702(a) provides for a law-enforcement officer to request § 7703 relief by filing an affidavit or verified petition, and § 7703(a) again names a law-enforcement officer as the person who may request an emergency order. Chapter 77 supplies no other route into the emergency track.
• Nonemergency orders (§ 7704) are open to any petitioner. Section 7702(b) lets any petitioner request § 7704 relief, so family members and officers both qualify.

Either way the filing is an affidavit or verified petition, and it must be filed in the county where the respondent resides (§ 7702(c)). Forms and instructions must be available from the Justice of the Peace Court's office and the Superior Court Prothonotary's office and must use "simple, understandable language" (§ 7702(d), (e)).

What the petition must show. Both tracks require the same two allegations: the danger, and the location of a firearm or projectile weapon the respondent is believed to currently own, possess, have access to, or control (§ 7703(a)(1)-(2); § 7704(a)(1)-(2)). The danger wording differs. Section 7703 requires an "immediate and present danger." Section 7704(a)(1) requires only a "danger."

Emergency LVPO: Justice of the Peace Court

On the required finding, the court shall order the respondent to relinquish firearms, projectile weapons, and ammunition to the law-enforcement agency receiving the order (§ 7703(d)). Beyond that mandatory term the court may prohibit the respondent from residing with another person who owns, possesses, or controls such items (§ 7703(d)(1)), and may direct a law-enforcement agency to "immediately search for and seize" them (§ 7703(d)(2)). Paragraph (d)(1) carries an express proviso that nothing in the section impairs the Second Amendment or Article I, § 20 rights of a person not subject to the order.

Service is immediate, by personal service, any form of mail, or any manner the court directs, including publication where other methods failed or were inadequate (§ 7703(e)). The court gives a certified copy to the officer before the petitioner leaves the courthouse.

An emergency order is a bridge, not an endpoint. Once one issues, the Superior Court must hold a full § 7704 hearing within 15 days (§ 7703(f)). Either court may extend the emergency order as needed to effectuate service or to protect the respondent or others, but its duration may not exceed 45 days.

Nonemergency LVPO: Superior Court

On the required finding the court shall order relinquishment to the law-enforcement agency receiving the order. Section 7704(d) then lists six optional terms. Two of them matter to a respondent trying to avoid a police seizure:

1. Allow the respondent to voluntarily relinquish to the law-enforcement agency (§ 7704(d)(1)).
2. Allow relinquishment to a designee (§ 7704(d)(2)). The designee must not reside with the respondent and must not be prohibited under 11 Del. C. § 1448. The designee must affirm to the court, and the court must find, that the designee will keep the items out of the respondent's possession.
3. Prohibit residing with another person who owns, possesses, or controls such items (§ 7704(d)(3)).
4. Direct immediate search and seizure (§ 7704(d)(4)).
5. and 6. Paragraphs (d)(5) and (d)(6) restate (d)(3) and (d)(4) in nearly identical language, an apparent artifact of amendment.

If the court finds the clear and convincing standard is not met, it shall not issue an order and shall vacate any emergency order then in effect (§ 7704(e)). When it does issue one, it must tell the respondent he is entitled to 1 hearing to request termination under § 7705 and hand him the request form (§ 7704(f)). A respondent absent from the hearing is served by the same methods available on the emergency track (§ 7704(g)); otherwise both parties get certified copies before leaving the courthouse (§ 7704(h)).

An ambiguity worth flagging. Section 7704(b)(4) sets the petitioner's burden as proving the respondent "poses a danger," but the issuance provision at § 7704(d) directs the court to issue on a finding of "immediate and present danger." The two subsections state different findings for the same order.

Relinquishment timing and mechanics

The mandatory term on both tracks is relinquishment "to a law-enforcement agency receiving the Court's order." Chapter 77 sets no number of hours or days for the handover and requires no proof-of-surrender filing. What it supplies instead is the optional immediate search-and-seizure directive (§ 7703(d)(2); § 7704(d)(4), (6)) and, on the nonemergency track only, the voluntary and designee options. Court rules adopted under § 7703(c), § 7704(c), or § 7709 may add procedure the statute leaves open.

Termination and renewal

Termination (§ 7705(a)). A respondent under a § 7704 order, or under an order renewed under § 7705(b), may submit 1 written request per year during the effective period for a termination hearing. The Superior Court must give notice to all parties and hold a hearing before terminating. The respondent must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he does not pose a danger of causing physical injury to self or others through a firearm or projectile weapon (§ 7705(a)(2)). If he meets that burden the court shall terminate (§ 7705(a)(3)).

Renewal (§ 7705(b)). A petitioner may request renewal at any time within 3 months before the expiration of a § 7704 order or a previously renewed order. Notice to all parties and a hearing are required. The petitioner must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent continues to pose a danger of causing physical injury to self or others in the near future (§ 7705(b)(2)). The court sets the renewed order's duration, up to 1 year (§ 7705(b)(4)). So an original order can run as long as 5 years, but each renewal is capped at 1 year.

Section 7705(b)(3) contains a drafting inconsistency: it directs renewal if the court finds "the respondent has met the burden imposed by paragraph (b)(2)," although (b)(2) places that burden on the petitioner.

Getting property back (§ 7706). If an order is vacated under § 7704(e), terminated under § 7705(a), or expires without renewal, the law-enforcement agency shall return the firearm, projectile weapon, or ammunition taken from the respondent, "unless otherwise prohibited under § 1448 of Title 11." Return is mandatory unless the person is independently prohibited for some other reason.

Effect on possession and on your carry license

Under 11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(11), a person subject to an LVPO issued under § 7704 of Title 10 is a prohibited person, "but only for so long as that order remains in effect or is not vacated or otherwise terminated under Chapter 77 of Title 10." Read that paragraph closely: it names § 7704 only. The § 7703 emergency order is not listed there, though it independently bars possession by its own terms under § 7701(3) and § 7703(d).

Two consequences follow from prohibited-person status:

• Your concealed carry license is gone by operation of law. Under 11 Del. C. § 1441(m), any license to carry a concealed deadly weapon "shall be void, and is automatically repealed by operation of law, if the licensee is or becomes prohibited from owning, possessing or controlling a deadly weapon as specified in § 1448 of this title." No revocation hearing is needed for that to happen.
• Possession while prohibited is a separate crime. Section 1448(b) makes knowing possession, purchase, ownership, or control of a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm by a prohibited person its own offense. Section 1448(c) grades that offense three ways. It is a class F felony by default. It is a class D felony where the deadly weapon is a firearm or ammunition for a firearm and the violation is one of paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(8); the LVPO paragraph, (a)(11), is outside that range. It is a class C felony where the person is eligible for sentencing under § 1448(e). Section 1448(e)(1) covers a prohibited person who knowingly possesses, purchases, owns, or controls a firearm, projectile weapon, or destructive weapon and who has a prior violent felony conviction, and it sets minimum sentences of 3 years at Level V for a prior violent felony conviction, 5 years where the conduct occurs within 10 years of that conviction or of the termination of all incarceration or confinement imposed for it, whichever is later, and 10 years for a person convicted of any violent felony on 2 or more separate occasions. So § 1448(e) does more than lengthen the sentence. It moves the offense from class F to class C, which means an LVPO respondent with a prior violent felony conviction faces a class C felony.

Penalties tied to the order itself

A person convicted of criminal contempt of an LVPO must receive a minimum of 15 days incarceration if the contempt caused physical injury, involved the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon or firearm, or the defendant has 2 or more prior § 1271A convictions (§ 1271A(d)). That minimum cannot be suspended, and no probation, parole, furlough, or suspended custody is available during it (§ 1271A(e)). The Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction over LVPO contempt (§ 1271A(f)).

The false-petition exposure under § 7708(b) reaches petitions filed under § 7702, § 7703, or § 7704, written termination or renewal requests under § 7705, and testimony in any hearing under § 7703, § 7704, or § 7705. "Swears falsely" is defined at 11 Del. C. § 1224 as intentionally making a false statement, or affirming the truth of one previously made, knowing it to be false or not believing it to be true.

Immunity and rulemaking

Section 7707 does three things. Nothing in the chapter stops a petitioner or officer from removing a weapon under other authority or filing criminal charges where probable cause exists (§ 7707(a)). An officer who in good faith does not seek an LVPO is immune from civil liability (§ 7707(b)). A law-enforcement agency is immune from civil or criminal liability for damage or deterioration of items stored or transported, except where it resulted from recklessness, gross negligence, or intentional misconduct by the agency or a federally licensed firearms dealer (§ 7707(c)).

Section 7709 lets the Supreme Court, Superior Court, Justice of the Peace Court, State Police, State Bureau of Identification, and the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System Board of Managers promulgate rules to carry out the chapter.

Quick reference

State Preemption of Firearm Law in Delaware

Delaware preempts local firearm regulation, but it does so through two separate statutes sitting in two different titles of the Code, and neither one is absolute. Municipalities are governed by 22 Del. C. § 111, titled "Limitation on firearm regulations." Counties are governed by 9 Del. C. § 330(c), buried inside a section whose catchline reads "General powers and duties" and gives no hint that firearms are in it. If you go looking for Delaware preemption in the Title 11 weapons chapter, it is not there.

Both statutes use nearly the same operative sentence, and both attach the same exception in the same breath. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(a), "The municipal governments shall enact no law, ordinance or regulation prohibiting, restricting or licensing the ownership, transfer, possession or transportation of firearms or components of firearms or ammunition except that the discharge of a firearm may be regulated; provided any law, ordinance or regulation incorporates the justification defenses as found in Title 11." Section 330(c) of Title 9 says the county governments "shall enact no law or regulation" in the same terms, with the same discharge exception and the same justification-defenses proviso.

So the headline for a carrier is good but qualified. New Castle County, Kent County, Sussex County, Wilmington, Dover, Newark, and every other Delaware county and municipality are barred from licensing your handgun, from banning possession, and from restricting how you transport it. What they may still reach is a short and specific list.

What local governments may still regulate

Discharge. Both statutes carve discharge out of the preemption clause in express terms. A municipality may regulate the discharge of a firearm under 22 Del. C. § 111(a), and a county may do the same under 9 Del. C. § 330(c). Both provisions condition the power the same way: the ordinance must incorporate the justification defenses found in Title 11, so a local discharge ordinance that failed to carry those defenses forward would not satisfy the proviso.

Possession inside municipal and county buildings and police stations. This is the second carve-out. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b), "Subsection (a) of this section notwithstanding, municipal governments may adopt ordinances regulating the possession of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or explosives in police stations and municipal buildings which contain all of the provisions contained in this subsection." Section 330(d) of Title 9 grants counties the identical power for police stations and county buildings.

The power comes with conditions written into the statute, and an ordinance must contain all of them. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b) and 9 Del. C. § 330(d), any such ordinance must:

• Require that every restricted area be clearly identified by a conspicuous sign posted at each entrance to the restricted area. The sign may also specify that violators may be denied entrance or ordered to leave.
• State that any person who immediately foregoes entry, or immediately exits the building, because of the possession of a firearm, ammunition, components of firearms, or explosives is not guilty of violating the ordinance.

Local government may set penalties for an intentional violation as deemed necessary to protect public safety. Read both conditions as mandates on the ordinance rather than as rules of enforcement. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b) and 9 Del. C. § 330(d), the ordinance "shall require that all areas where possession is restricted are clearly identified by a conspicuous sign posted at each entrance to the restricted areas," so a conforming ordinance is one that carries that signage requirement on its face. If you are already inside and realize you are carrying, immediately exiting is written into the statute as a way out.

The eight exceptions the ordinance cannot override. Even a valid building ordinance is limited. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(b)(1) through (b)(8) and 9 Del. C. § 330(d)(1) through (d)(8), an ordinance shall not prevent possession of firearms, components of firearms, ammunition, or explosives by law-enforcement officers; law-enforcement agencies receiving shipments or delivery of those items, or conducting firearms safety, training, public safety, donation, or amnesty programs; compliance by persons subject to protection from abuse court orders; carry by federal officers and employees authorized to carry concealed; carry by agents and messengers of common carriers, banks, or business firms protecting money and valuables on duty; and, most relevant here, carry by license holders.

The license-holder exception is 22 Del. C. § 111(b)(6) and 9 Del. C. § 330(d)(6), and it is conditional. It protects "Carrying firearms and ammunition by persons who hold a valid license pursuant to either § 1441 or § 1441A of Title 11 so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others." If you hold a Delaware license to carry a concealed deadly weapon issued under 11 Del. C. § 1441, a city or county building ordinance cannot bar you, provided you keep the gun concealed. The exception does not cover open carry into a municipal or county building, so a carrier who open carries into a posted city hall has stepped outside the statutory protection.

What counts as a covered building. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(c), a "municipal building" is a building where a municipal government entity meets in its official capacity or that contains the offices of elected officials and of public employees actively engaged in performing governmental business, "but excluding any parking facility." If the building is not municipally owned or leased, it counts only during the time the government entity is meeting in or occupying it, so a rented hall is covered while the council meeting is happening and not otherwise. Section 330(e) of Title 9 defines "county building" in identical terms, parking exclusion included.

Where the statutes differ

The Title 22 and Title 9 provisions are close but not interchangeable. The differences below sit in the municipal statute.

22 Del. C. § 111(a) contains a grandfather clause with no counterpart in Title 9: "Nothing contained herein shall be construed to invalidate municipal ordinances existing before July 4, 1985, and any ordinance enacted after July 4, 1985, is hereby repealed." A municipal firearm ordinance predating July 4, 1985 survives on the face of the statute; one enacted after that date is repealed by operation of the statute itself. Section 330 of Title 9 does neither of those things. It sets no date, it contains no savings clause, and it contains no repealer. Section 330(c) bars future county enactment and stops there, so a county ordinance already on the books is left unaddressed by the text: not grandfathered, and not repealed by Title 9 either.

Section 111(a) also gives one municipality a power no other Delaware local government has. "Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, the City of Wilmington may, in addition to the nature and extent of regulation permitted by this section, enact any law or ordinance governing the possession or concealment of a paintball gun within its corporate limits as it deems necessary to protect the public safety." That is the entire scope of Wilmington's extra authority here. It is about paintball guns, and it grants no additional power over firearms.

Practically, then, expect the same thing in Wilmington as in any Delaware municipality: no city handgun permit, no city possession ban, no city transport rule, but a possible discharge ordinance, a possible posted municipal-building ordinance, and the possibility of an ordinance predating July 4, 1985. Check the city code itself.

Where preemption stops: state agencies

Read both statutes for who they bind. Section 111 of Title 22 binds "municipal governments." Section 330(c) of Title 9 binds "county governments." Neither text names a state agency, a state department, a school district, or a state institution, and neither contains a general clause reserving firearm regulation to the General Assembly alone.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control now permits firearm possession in Delaware state parks. Its regulations are part of 7 DE Admin. Code 9201, adopted through Secretary's Order No. 2019-P-0010. The Delaware State Parks policy page describes those regulations as "the result of a December 2017 ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court," and links that ruling as Bridgeville Rifle and Pistol Club, Ltd., et al., v. Small, et al. (Dec. 7, 2017).

That characterization is the agency's. Read the opinion itself if you need the holding.

What DNREC says its own regulations do is what a park visitor needs. Per the Delaware State Parks policy page, visitors may legally possess firearms in state parks as allowed by Delaware law unless prohibited because of a past conviction for a violent crime, an active Protection from Abuse order, or a mental health commitment, and that reaches trails, unguarded beaches, parking lots, and vehicles. The same page says the regulations prohibit firearms only in certain public facilities and designated areas, which are marked with signs. Holders of valid Delaware concealed carry permits may carry within the parks, including designated areas, provided the permit is produced on request.

What preemption does not reach at all

Preemption of local government does not clear state-law restrictions off local property. Delaware's Safe Recreation Zone offense, 11 Del. C. § 1457, defines the zone at § 1457(c)(4) to include any building or structure owned, operated, leased, or rented by any county or municipality, or by the State or any of its agencies, that is used as a recreation center, athletic field, or sports stadium. Section 1457 operates as state law inside that zone whether or not the locality ever passes anything.

Read what § 1457 actually makes a crime, because it is derivative rather than a flat ban. Section 1457(a) of Title 11 provides: "Any person who commits any of the offenses described in subsection (b) of this section, or any juvenile who possesses a firearm or projectile weapon and does so while in or on a 'Safe Recreation Zone' shall be guilty of the crime of possession of a weapon in a Safe Recreation Zone." Subsection (b) is a closed list of underlying offenses in Title 11: §§ 1442, 1444, 1446, 1448, 1452, 1453, and 1466. One of those is spent: the Title 11 catchline for § 1446 now reads "Unlawfully dealing with a switchblade knife; unclassified misdemeanor [Repealed]," so that predicate can no longer be committed. So the question at a county recreation center or a municipal athletic field is whether you are committing one of those predicate offenses there.

For a licensed carrier, the answer runs through the lead predicate. Under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a), "A person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon when the person carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title." A carrier holding a valid Delaware license under 11 Del. C. § 1441 and keeping the handgun concealed commits no § 1442 offense, and so commits no § 1457 offense either. Someone whose conduct does violate one of the § 1457(b) offenses is reached by § 1457 in the zone regardless of what the county or city has enacted. Section 1457(h) puts two people outside the section entirely: a police officer, and a constable employed by a recreation zone who is acting in that capacity within a Safe Recreation Zone.

Preemption also does not help an officer relying on LEOSA. Delaware's implementation for active officers, 11 Del. C. § 1441A(b), states that the section "shall not be construed to supersede or limit the laws of any state that" permit private persons or entities to restrict concealed firearms on their property, or that "Prohibit or restrict the possession of firearms on any state or local government property, installation, building, base, or park." Section 1441B(b) of Title 11 carries the same two limits for qualified retired officers.

Neither statute declares the field closed to local government in so many words. Section 111 of Title 22 and § 330(c) of Title 9 bar a defined list of local subjects and then hand back discharge and building possession.

Reference table

Delaware Concealed Carry Reciprocity

Delaware recognizes concealed carry licenses and permits from some other states, but not by any blanket rule. Recognition runs through one subsection of the licensing statute, 11 Del. C. § 1441(j), which tells the Attorney General to determine which states qualify and to publish the answer as a list once a year. If your state is on the current list and your permit is of a level the list names, you may carry concealed in Delaware. If not, Delaware treats you like anyone carrying without a license.

The statute that creates recognition: 11 Del. C. § 1441(j)

Section 1441(j) says the State of Delaware "shall give full faith and credit and shall otherwise honor and give full force and effect to all licenses/permits issued to the citizens of other states" when a set of conditions is met. The qualifying conditions are cumulative, and they describe the issuing state's system rather than your training or background. One threshold element is personal, though: the subsection reaches only permits issued to the citizens of other states.

The issuing state must honor Delaware licenses. Recognition under § 1441(j) is written as a two-way arrangement. The other state has to give full faith and credit to, and otherwise honor, licenses Delaware issues under § 1441.

The permit must be issued under state law and afford reasonably similar protection. The out-of-state license or permit has to be issued by authority pursuant to that state's law and "afford a reasonably similar degree of protection as is provided by licensure in Delaware." The statute then defines the standard down rather than up: for purposes of that subsection, "reasonably similar" does not preclude alternative or differing provisions, nor a different source and process by which eligibility is determined.

No pattern of issuing permits to convicted felons. This bar overrides the rest. Section 1441(j) provides that if there is evidence of a pattern of issuing licenses or permits to convicted felons in another state, the Attorney General shall not include that state, even if that state's law is determined to be reasonably similar.

The same subsection assigns the administrative work. The Attorney General communicates the provisions of the section to the Attorneys General of the several states, determines which states' systems qualify, and publishes on January 15 of each year a list of all states that have qualified. Section 1441(j) states that the list is valid for one year, that removal of a state cannot occur without one year's notice of the impending removal, and that the list is to be made readily available to Delaware state and local law enforcement agencies and to all then-current holders of Delaware licenses issued under § 1441.

The list the Attorney General publishes (posted period: January 15, 2025 to January 15, 2026)

The recognition list lives on the Delaware Department of Justice page for Concealed Carry Deadly Weapons (CCDW) at attorneygeneral.delaware.gov. As posted, that page says that for the period from January 15, 2025 to January 15, 2026, Delaware recognizes the concealed deadly weapon licenses or permits issued by the following states.

The permit-level qualifiers matter as much as the state names. The page explains that some states issue multiple levels of permits or licenses, that only those meeting the statutory requirements are recognized in Delaware, and that a notation of the recognized permits appears with the state. Three states on the list carry such a notation: Idaho (enhanced permits only), North Dakota (Class 1 permits only), and South Dakota (enhanced permits only). For those three states, only the permit level the page names is recognized. A permit from one of them that is not of the named level does not qualify, so confirm your level with your issuing authority.

On removals, the page repeats the statutory rules and adds timing: removal comes no sooner than January 15 of the calendar year following the one-year notice period, notice of impending removal goes to the state in question and is posted to the site, and there are currently no notices of pending removal that would take effect January 15, 2026.

Since § 1441(j) requires a new list each January 15, check the CCDW page for the edition in force on the day you carry, including any removal notices posted there.

Resident and non-resident permits

For states on the list, the Attorney General's page states that Delaware will recognize both resident and non-resident licenses. A non-resident permit from a listed state is not disqualified for being a non-resident permit.

That does not create a path for Delaware residents. Section 1441(j) extends recognition to licenses and permits issued to the citizens of other states, and the Attorney General's page states that Delaware residents who wish to carry a concealed deadly weapon in this state must have a current Delaware CCDW license. The page defines a Delaware resident as someone who carries or is required to have a Delaware driver's license, is registered to vote in Delaware, or both.

Delaware does have a narrow non-resident option outside the recognition list. Under 11 Del. C. § 1441(k), the Attorney General may issue, on a limited basis, a temporary license to a non-resident whom the Attorney General determines has a short-term need to carry here in conjunction with that individual's employment, for the protection of person or property. It expires automatically 30 days from issuance, cannot be renewed, and must be carried at all times while within the State. No individual may be issued more than three. Section 1441(l) requires the written application to bear notice that false statements are punishable by law.

What recognition actually gets you

Recognition is permission to carry in Delaware. It is not permission to carry the way your home state allows. The Attorney General's page puts it plainly: persons possessing a recognized license or permit may lawfully possess a concealed deadly weapon while in Delaware, and such persons are subject to and responsible for knowing and obeying all Delaware laws and regulations applicable to carrying or possessing deadly weapons. Two consequences follow.

Delaware's prohibited-person rules apply to you. The page warns that because of differences in state laws, a person lawfully permitted in another state may be prohibited in Delaware, and it lists the categories it says are prohibited from possessing deadly weapons or ammunition here: a previous conviction for any felony; a previous conviction for any misdemeanor involving physical injury to another or domestic violence, unless more than 5 years has elapsed from the date of the conviction; a previous conviction for any crime involving the unlawful use, possession or sale of any illegal drug; a previous juvenile conviction, until the person's 25th birthday, for a crime that would be a felony if committed by an adult; being subject to a Protection From Abuse Order issued by a competent court; and previous commitment to a hospital or mental institution for treatment for a mental disorder. That is the agency's summary. The controlling text is 11 Del. C. § 1448, which sets out the prohibited categories and their exceptions in full, including the mental-health provisions tied to § 1448A.

Age is the category that summary leaves out. Section 1448(a)(5) prohibits "any person under the age of 21" from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm within the State. The exceptions are narrow. Paragraph (a)(5)a. lifts the bar only for shotguns and shotgun ammunition, muzzle-loading rifles, and, for a person 18 or older, deadly weapons including projectile weapons other than firearms. Paragraphs (a)(5)c. and d. cover a person under 21 in supervised or lawful hunting, instruction, sporting, or recreational activity, and justifiable use of force. Paragraph (a)(5)b. lifts the bar for persons 18 or older who are active members of the Armed Forces or National Guard, qualified law enforcement officers as defined in § 1441A, or a person "who has license to carry a concealed deadly weapon pursuant to § 1441 of this title." That last exception names the Delaware license, so an 18 to 20 year old carrying a handgun on a recognized out-of-state permit is not covered and remains barred.

Delaware's scope and place rules apply to you. Delaware licenses the carrying of concealed deadly weapons, and "deadly weapon" is defined in 11 Del. C. § 222(6) to include far more than firearms, among them a knife of any sort other than an ordinary pocketknife carried closed (a blade not more than 3.75 inches under § 222(6)b.), switchblades, billies, blackjacks, metal knuckles, slingshots, razors, ice picks, and projectile weapons. For where you may not carry, see the Restrictions section, which covers 11 Del. C. § 1457 and the other place-based offenses. For vehicles, see the Vehicle Carry, Transport, and Storage sections. Some items are off limits outright: the page states that Delaware law prohibits the possession of silencers, sawed-off shotguns and machine guns under all circumstances, so a suppressor that is lawful in your home state is not lawful to bring here on a recognized permit.

Carrying concealed without a license Delaware honors is an offense in its own right. Under 11 Del. C. § 1442, carrying a concealed deadly weapon without a license as provided by § 1441 is a class G felony, or a class D felony if the weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon.

For Delaware-issued licenses, 11 Del. C. § 1441(m) makes a license void and automatically repealed by operation of law if the licensee is or becomes prohibited under § 1448 from owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon.

Whether other states honor a Delaware CCDW

Delaware law cannot answer that question. Section 1441(j) and the Attorney General's list govern only what Delaware does with other states' permits. Whether another state honors a Delaware CCDW is that state's decision under that state's law, and it can change without any change in Delaware law.

The Attorney General's CCDW page does address the outbound direction and names some destinations, so read it there rather than working backward from the recognition list. What it stresses is the traveler's obligation: Delawareans who carry a deadly weapon in another state are responsible for knowing and obeying that state's laws and regulations, a person lawfully permitted under Delaware law may be prohibited elsewhere, and most states require a person carrying under a license or permit to have it in their possession. Confirm your status with the destination state's licensing authority before you travel.

The same page states that law enforcement officials from other jurisdictions may verify Delaware CCDW permits through Delaware State Police Headquarters via NLET.AM directed to DEDSP0000 or by calling 302-659-2341.

LEOSA is a federal carve-out, not state reciprocity

Qualified law enforcement officers carry under a separate authority that has nothing to do with the Attorney General's list. Delaware codifies both halves of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act.

11 Del. C. § 1441A implements 18 U.S.C. § 926B and covers active qualified law enforcement officers. Under § 1441A(a), notwithstanding the law of any state or political subdivision, a qualified law enforcement officer carrying the identification required by § 1441A(d) may carry a concealed firearm that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. Section 1441A(c) sets the qualifying conditions, among them agency authorization to carry, no disciplinary action that could result in suspension or loss of police powers, meeting agency qualification standards, not being under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating or hallucinatory drug, and not being prohibited by federal law from receiving a firearm. The identification is agency-issued photographic identification naming the holder as a police or law enforcement officer.

11 Del. C. § 1441B implements 18 U.S.C. § 926C and covers qualified retired law enforcement officers. Section 1441B(c) defines the qualified retired officer: separation in good standing, an aggregate of 10 years or more of service or separation due to a service-connected disability, and firearms qualification at the individual's own expense within the most recent 12 months. Section 1441B(d) sets out two acceptable identification packages, both turning on a qualification test taken within the year before carry.

Both sections carry the same limits. Sections 1441A(b) and 1441B(b) each provide that they shall not be construed to supersede or limit state laws that permit private persons or entities to prohibit or restrict concealed firearms on their property, or that prohibit or restrict firearms on any state or local government property, installation, building, base, or park. Both exclude machineguns, silencers, and destructive devices from the definition of firearm.

Key statutes

Delaware Concealed Carry: Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a license, and is it discretionary?

Yes, and yes. Under 11 Del. C. § 1442(a) a person is guilty of carrying a concealed deadly weapon when the person carries concealed a deadly weapon upon or about the person "without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title." Section 1441(d) then reads: "The Court may or may not, in its discretion, approve any application." Section 1441(a)(2) adds the requirement applicants underestimate: a certificate of 5 respectable citizens of your county stating that you are of full age, sobriety and good moral character, bear a good reputation for peace and good order, and need to carry for the protection of you or your property. The license covers deadly weapons generally, not only handguns (§ 222(6)), and is void by operation of law if the holder becomes prohibited under § 1448 (§ 1441(m)).

How long does the license run, and do I have to retrain to renew?

11 Del. C. § 1441(a)(3) puts the firearms training course on the front end: the notarized instructor certificate is filed "Prior to the issuance of an initial license." Section 1441(a)(5)a. makes the initial license valid for 3 years, then lets the licensee renew "without further application" for a further 5 years on a $65 fee to the Prothonotary and an affidavit of continued need and continued qualification, "and may make like renewal every 5 years thereafter," subject to the Superior Court's power to inquire into the request and deny it "for good cause shown." The paragraph then closes the door on extras: "No requirements in addition to those specified in this paragraph may be imposed for the renewal of a license." The course belongs to the initial license, and renewal is governed by paragraph (a)(5)a. alone.

What is the penalty for carrying concealed without a license?

Carrying a concealed deadly weapon is a class G felony, and a class D felony if the deadly weapon is a firearm or a projectile weapon (11 Del. C. § 1442(b)). The license is what takes the conduct out of § 1442(a). Two defenses sit in the section: § 1442(c) covers a licensee whose license expired where renewal was applied for in time and was still pending when the offense occurred, and § 1442(d) makes compliance with the vehicle storage rule in § 1456(b) a defense.

Is open carry legal without a license?

Section 1442(a) reaches a deadly weapon carried "concealed ... upon or about the person," so carrying openly falls outside the conduct that offense describes. You still have to be a person who may lawfully possess the weapon under 11 Del. C. § 1448, and the location rules below apply however the firearm is carried. Local governments have narrow room to fill the gap: 22 Del. C. § 111(a) and 9 Del. C. § 330(c) bar municipal and county regulation of firearm ownership, transfer, possession and transportation "except that the discharge of a firearm may be regulated." Discharge is not all they keep. Section 111(b) lets "municipal governments ... adopt ordinances regulating the possession of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or explosives in police stations and municipal buildings," and 9 Del. C. § 330(d) gives counties the same authority for police stations and county buildings.

Can an 18 to 20 year old carry or possess a firearm?

11 Del. C. § 1448(a)(5) puts any person under 21 on the prohibited-persons list for purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition. Paragraph (a)(5)a. lifts the bar for a shotgun as defined in § 1444(c) or shotgun ammunition and a muzzle-loading rifle as defined in § 704(f) of Title 7, neither with an age condition, plus "Deadly weapons, including projectile weapons other than firearms if the person is 18 years of age or older." Paragraph (a)(5)b. exempts three groups at 18: active Armed Forces or National Guard members, qualified law-enforcement officers as defined in § 1441A, and a person holding a § 1441 license. Section 1441(a) requires an applicant to be "of full age," which 1 Del. C. § 701 sets at 18. Paragraph (a)(5)c. covers supervised hunting, instruction and sporting activity. Section 1448(c) grades possession by a person prohibited in three tiers: a class F felony by default; a class D felony where "said deadly weapon is a firearm or ammunition for a firearm, and the violation is one of paragraphs (a)(1)-(8) of this section," the range (a)(5) sits in; and a class C felony where "the person is eligible for sentencing pursuant to subsection (e) of this section."

What does the § 1448D permit do, and does it let me carry?

Section 1448D creates the handgun qualified purchaser permit, issued by the State Bureau of Identification. It is a purchase document: § 1448D(j)(3) lets the holder buy handguns while the permit is valid, and § 1448D(j)(1) makes it valid 2 years. It takes being 21 or older, not being prohibited under § 1448, and a firearms training course completed within the previous 5 years with at least 100 rounds of live fire (§ 1448D(f)). A § 1441 licensee need not apply for one (§ 1448D(c)(2)) and is excepted from the permit requirement on private handgun sales (§ 1448B(c)(6)).

Does my license exempt me from the large-capacity magazine ban?

Yes, and the exemption is categorical. 11 Del. C. § 1469(a) makes it unlawful "to manufacture, sell, offer for sale, purchase, receive, transfer, or possess a large-capacity magazine." Under § 1469(b) a first violation involving only possession is a $100 civil penalty, a second is a class B misdemeanor, and all other violations are a class E felony. Section 1469(c) then says the section "does not apply to" a list that at (c)(5) includes "An individual who holds a valid concealed carry permit issued by the Superior Court under § 1441 of this title." No vehicle, location or storage condition attaches, unlike the vehicle-only licensee exceptions in the school and college zones.

Does Delaware honor other states' permits?

Through 11 Del. C. § 1441(j). Delaware honors permits issued to citizens of other states where the issuing state also honors Delaware licenses and where those permits afford "a reasonably similar degree of protection as is provided by licensure in Delaware." The Attorney General decides which states qualify and publishes the list each January 15; it is valid one year, and no state may be removed without one year of notice. The list for January 15, 2025 to January 15, 2026 named 21 states, some only at a specific permit level. Because § 1441(j) runs to citizens of other states, a Delaware resident needs the Delaware license. The one other route is the § 1441(k) temporary license, for a non-resident with a short-term employment need: 30 days, not renewable, capped at 3 per person.

Must I tell an officer I am carrying?

Section 1441 is a licensing statute: its duties run to the application, publication of notice, court approval, renewal, and the voiding of a license if the holder becomes prohibited (§ 1441(a), (b), (d), (e), (m)). The one carry-the-document requirement written into § 1441 is subsection (k), for the temporary non-resident license, which "must be carried at all times while within the State." Section 1441 imposes no notification or disclosure duty on a licensee. Two rules elsewhere turn on producing or concealing the weapon: the state parks regulations let licensees carry "provided only that the permit be produced upon request," and a municipal or county building ordinance excuses a licensee only "so long as the firearm remains concealed except for inadvertent display or for self-defense or defense of others" (22 Del. C. § 111(b)(6), 9 Del. C. § 330(d)(6)).

Where is carry barred even with a license?

• Safe School Zone, 11 Del. C. § 1457A. Knowing possession of a firearm or projectile weapon on school buildings, grounds, athletic fields, stadiums or school vehicles is a class E felony (§ 1457A(b), (e)). A § 1441 licensee is excepted "but only if the firearm or projectile weapon is in a motor vehicle" (§ 1457A(c)(4)).
• College or university safe zone, § 1457C. Class A misdemeanor (§ 1457C(e)). The licensee exception again reaches only a firearm "in a vehicle" (§ 1457C(c)(5)); written authorization from the administration is separate (§ 1457C(c)(9)).
• Polling place on election day, § 1457B. Class A misdemeanor (§ 1457B(f)), and "election day" runs from 2 hours before polls open to 2 hours after they close (§ 1457B(a)(1)b.). The § 1457B(c) exceptions cover a private residence at the polling place, certain hunting and instruction on public lands, and named on-duty personnel. A license is not among them.

Local ordinances may also restrict police stations and municipal or county buildings, with a sign at each entrance (22 Del. C. § 111(b), 9 Del. C. § 330(d)). The state parks rules at 7 DE Admin. Code 9201 bar firearms from signed facilities but let Delaware licensees carry there.

Private property and posted-sign rules are outside the scope of this page, so nothing above answers whether a private owner or business may bar carry on its premises. For that question, read the Delaware Code directly at delcode.delaware.gov or ask a Delaware lawyer.

Does the Safe Recreation Zone law bar a licensee from a recreation center?

No. A Safe Recreation Zone under 11 Del. C. § 1457(c)(4) is any building or structure "utilized as a recreation center, athletic field or sports stadium," but § 1457 is derivative rather than a flat ban. Section 1457(a) reaches "Any person who commits any of the offenses described in subsection (b) of this section, or any juvenile who possesses a firearm or projectile weapon" while in or on the zone. The § 1457(b) predicates are §§ 1442, 1444, 1446 (repealed, so it can no longer be committed), 1448, 1452, 1453 and 1466. Section 1442(a) reaches carrying concealed "without a license to do so as provided by § 1441 of this title," so a licensee carrying lawfully does not commit it, commits no other predicate, and is not a juvenile. With no predicate, § 1457 does not attach to the licensee. It still reaches an unlicensed carrier, a person prohibited under § 1448, a juvenile, and anyone who commits another § 1457(b) offense there.

Grading tracks the predicate: § 1457(j)(3) says "If the underlying offense is a class E, F, or G felony, the crime shall be one grade higher than the underlying offense," and § 1457(j)(4) says "If the underlying offense is a class D felony, the crime shall also be a class D felony." An unlicensed person carrying a concealed firearm there commits a class D felony under § 1442(b), so § 1457(j)(4) holds the zone offense at class D rather than raising it.

What are the vehicle rules?

Under 11 Del. C. § 1456(b) you commit unsafe storage of a firearm in a vehicle when you knowingly leave a firearm unattended in a vehicle unless it is in a locked box or container, in a locked firearms rack on the vehicle, or locked in the trunk. That is a class B misdemeanor, or a class A misdemeanor if an unauthorized person obtains it and commits or attempts a crime with it, causes serious injury or death, or transfers it on (§ 1456(d)). A valid § 1441 license is not a defense to subsection (b) (§ 1456(g)). Compliance with § 1456(b) is, though, a defense to a § 1442 charge (§ 1442(d)).

Does Delaware preempt local firearm ordinances?

Yes, with defined exceptions. Under 22 Del. C. § 111(a) municipal governments "shall enact no law, ordinance or regulation prohibiting, restricting or licensing the ownership, transfer, possession or transportation of firearms ... except that the discharge of a firearm may be regulated." Within § 111(a) itself, municipal ordinances existing before July 4, 1985 survive and those enacted after that date are repealed by the statute. 9 Del. C. § 330(c) applies the same enactment bar to county governments, and it carries no comparable date, savings clause or repealer. The building ordinances authorized by § 111(b) and § 330(d) are the main carve-out.

Is there a duty to retreat?

Sometimes. 11 Del. C. § 464(b) lets a person using protective force estimate its necessity "without retreating." But § 464(e)(2) withdraws the justification for deadly force where the defendant knows the necessity of using it can be avoided with complete safety by retreating. Two exceptions sit inside that paragraph: you need not retreat in or from your dwelling, or in or from your place of work unless you were the initial aggressor (§ 464(e)(2)a., b.). Deadly force is justified only against death, serious physical injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat (§ 464(c)).

Can I carry after drinking?

Drinking is not itself the offense. Under 11 Del. C. § 1460(a) a person is guilty when the person "possesses a firearm or projectile weapon in a public place while under the influence of alcohol or drugs." Section 1460(b)(4) sets the line at .08 or more grams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood (or .08 or more grams per 210 liters of breath), or at "Being manifestly under the influence of alcohol or any illicit or recreational drug ... to the degree that the person may be in danger or endanger other persons or property." "Public place" under § 1460(b)(3) includes "restaurants, bars, taverns." Section 1460(a) also supplies an affirmative defense: "that, the firearm or projectile weapon was not readily operable, or that the person was not in possession of ammunition for the firearm or projectile weapon." The offense is a class A misdemeanor, and a class G felony after a previous conviction under the section (§ 1460(d)).

What is Delaware's red flag process?

Delaware calls it a lethal violence protective order, under 10 Del. C. Chapter 77. A law-enforcement officer may seek an emergency order in the Justice of the Peace Court, which hears it within 24 hours; the respondent has no right to notice or to be heard, the standard is a preponderance of the evidence, and the order requires relinquishment of firearms, projectile weapons and ammunition (§ 7703). An emergency order may not exceed 45 days and triggers a full Superior Court hearing within 15 days (§ 7703(f)). There the petitioner, a family member or a law-enforcement officer, must prove the danger by clear and convincing evidence (§ 7704(b)). A final order runs up to 5 years (§ 7704(j)) and may be renewed for up to 1 year at a time (§ 7705(b)(4)). A person subject to one is prohibited under § 1448(a)(11) of Title 11.