When Delaware’s controversial handgun permit law takes effect on November 16, 2025, anyone seeking to purchase a handgun in the state will face an extensive gauntlet of requirements that gun rights advocates warn could temporarily block all legal handgun sales and violate fundamental constitutional protections.
The Permit to Purchase Law, signed by then Governor John Carney in May 2024 and passed entirely along party lines by Democratic legislators, requires prospective handgun buyers to complete an 11 component firearms training course, submit to fingerprinting at a cost of $85, undergo state and federal background checks, and wait up to 30 additional days for approval from a single state official.
Hours after Carney signed the measure last May, the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association and Bridgeville Rifle & Pistol Club filed a federal lawsuit challenging what they characterize as an unconstitutional infringement on Second Amendment rights. The timing of implementation has emerged as a flashpoint. Delaware State Police only launched the online application portal on October 28, 2025, giving gun buyers barely three weeks to navigate the process before the law takes effect.
Attorney Thomas Neuberger, one of the plaintiffs, accused the state of fumbling “the ball in the 18 months” since enactment, warning that dealers may refuse to sell handguns without permits even if applications remain pending, effectively creating “a total gun ban on the 16th” of November.
State police attributed the roughly six-month delay in establishing the permitting system to waiting for federal government permission to run background investigations. Lieutenant India Sturgis said authorities anticipated the application process would open in late October. Bill Walters of 302 Tactical Operations Group, who plans to teach firearms safety courses for prospective buyers, noted that as of late October, no one had registered for his November 22 class, suggesting buyers hoped “some miracle stops the process from happening.”
Jeff Hague, president of the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, characterized the measure bluntly. “This is not common sense, gun safety, firearm legislation. It’s nothing more than gun control,” Hague said. “You have to ask a government official who is not elected, is appointed, for permission to exercise your right to purchase a firearm.”
The federal lawsuit alleges violations of the Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Article I, Section 20 of the Delaware Constitution, which recognizes citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms for defense, hunting, and recreational use. The NRA joined the legal challenge, with attorneys Joseph Greenlee and Erin Erhardt serving as counsel alongside Francis Pileggi. The complaint asserts the law was passed “in defiance of this established and unassailable authority” from both the U.S. Supreme Court and Delaware Supreme Court.
One aspect of the law particularly alarms gun rights advocates. The complaint states that if a handgun permit is revoked for any reason, state or local police would have “probable cause” to remove handguns from individuals’ homes without a warrant, violating both Second and Fourth Amendment protections. During legislative debate, Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Nathanial McQueen testified that “all weapons in the home are to be removed” upon permit revocation, meaning confiscation would extend even to firearms not purchased under the permit system.
Delaware already maintains several gun control measures, including background checks on all gun purchases, a minimum age of 21 to buy handguns, prohibitions on sales to felons, and red flag laws preventing sales to those identified as threats to themselves or others. More than a dozen states have enacted permit-to-purchase laws, with approximately half requiring permits for any firearm and the balance applying only to handguns.
Whether this law transforms a fundamental right into a bureaucratic privilege remains a question that Delaware’s courts, and perhaps the nation’s highest court, will eventually answer.
About José Niño
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can contact him via Facebook and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
