How to Apply for a Concealed Carry Permit in Delaware

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.