Senate Bill 3 requires a permit to purchase a handgun in Delaware. Before obtaining a permit, the prospective buyer would undergo instruction on safe handling of firearms, child safety and suicide prevention.
Senate Bill 3 passed the Senate on April 1, 2021. It was released from the House Judiciary Committee on May 11 and assigned to the House Appropriations Committee on May 13, 2021. There, it languishes, despite House rules that require “committee hearings take place within twelve legislative days.”
Gov. John Carney and the Senate and House Democrats have announced a package of gun bills they plan to pass and sign into law this legislative session. Among the bills are a ban on the sale of assault weapons, a limit on high-capacity magazines and raising the age from 18 to 21 to purchase most firearms. Each of these bills will reduce gun violence.
But Senate Bill 3 is not in this package. I don’t know why. There is ample research showing that permit-to-purchase laws reduce homicides and suicides. For example, “After Missouri repealed its licensing law in 2007, the state saw a 16.1 percent increase in firearm suicide and a 25 percent increase in firearm homicide. Following Connecticut’s implementation of a licensing law, the state’s firearm homicide rate declined 40 percent and the firearm suicide rate declined 15.4 percent” (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy).
In a recent statement, Attorney General Kathy Jennings said, “The Senate passed SB 3 nearly 400 days ago. The House has the power right now to save lives by sending this bill to the governor’s desk; in doing so it would have not only my support, but the support of 70 percent of our state. It is not too late for us to do the right thing.”
The General Assembly will pass meaningful gun legislation this month, but when the session ends on June 30, Senate Bill 3 will, in all probability, be dead. For over a year, the Democratic House leaders have blocked our representatives from voting on an important gun-safety bill. Delawareans deserve to know why.
Joanne Cabry
Chair, Progressive Democrats of Sussex County
