Delaware has no consolidated "sensitive places" list. Title 11, Chapter 5, Subchapter VII, Part E creates separate place-based offenses, each with its...
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This page covers one part of our Delaware concealed carry guide.
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