By Matt Bittle

DOVER — It may seem like the 151st General Assembly just started, but as of Thursday,, lawmakers are about three-quarters of the way through the 2021 session.

After Thursday, the full legislature will be on a two-week break while the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee reviews the state’s proposed spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1. Lawmakers have 11 regularly scheduled legislative days left, with June 30 marking the end of session this year (although legislative leadership has already announced plans to return in the fall for the decennial redistricting process).

Legislators are likely to tackle a number of significant issues before July, including gun control, a $15 minimum wage and legalizing marijuana.

The House is set today to vote on one of those gun bills, a proposal that would outlaw “ghost guns,” firearms that lack serial numbers or other identifying markings, making them untraceable by law enforcement and often undetectable by metal detectors.

The measure, which has yet to receive a vote in either chamber, generated strong opposition during its March committee hearing.

Of its 26 sponsors, 25 are Democrats.

Two other gun bills are awaiting action in the House after passing the Senate earlier this year. An amendment filed last week would alter a provision in Senate Bill 6, which seeks to ban all magazines that can hold more than 17 rounds.

Sponsored by Rep. Ruth Briggs King, a Georgetown Republican, the proposed amendment would allow manufacturers to still make such magazines in Delaware as long as they are sold to individuals outside the state. She introduced the change after hearing from the owner of Atlantis Industries Corporation in Georgetown, which manufactures firearm components.

“If Senate Bill 6 were to pass unamended, Atlantis Industries and its workforce would be significantly impacted. Without my amendment, there is a realistic and very consequential effect on their company, potentially ending 60 to 100 jobs,” she said in a statement, noting it would also help preserve Second Amendment rights.

On Tuesday, the House unanimously passed a measure that seeks to keep weapons out of the hands of individuals charged with domestic violence. House Bill 124 would prevent the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant or indictment related to a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from buying guns as long as the individual is aware of the charge.

The legislation would also prevent anyone who is aware he or she is subject to a protection from abuse order from buying or possessing a gun or ammunition.

“Separating from an abusive relationship is the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence. Studies show that over half of women killed by an intimate partner are killed with a firearm,” Rep. Krista Griffith, a Fairfax Democrat who is the main sponsor, said in a statement. “This bill will close a loophole in the system to protect victims of domestic violence and stop further acts of violence from being committed by a firearm.”

She noted 29 of the 41 domestic violence-related fatalities in the state over the past five years involved firearms.

The bill now goes to the Senate.