Kent County advocates: Permit-to-purchase bill backed by Moms Demand Action

As residents of Kent County and members of the Dover group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, we support Senate Bill 2 (permit to purchase). This bill would require fingerprint-based state and federal background checks and firearm training within the last five years to legally purchase a handgun, including both private sales and transfers.

Our nation and our community have experienced too many incidents of gun violence, including gun suicides, guns brought to our schools and domestic violence with guns. Nearly 6 in 10 gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides, a statistic that permit-to-purchase legislation could help reduce. The policy reduces firearm suicides — one research study found that, after passing a similar law, Connecticut saw a 15% reduction in its gun suicide rate. Another study showed that a permit-to-purchase law was associated with 21% lower firearm homicide rates in large cities and 20% lower firearm homicide rates in suburban and rural areas.

SB 2 has already passed the Delaware Senate and is currently waiting for a vote in the House of Representatives. We support House Speaker Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, in her commitment to bring this to the floor for a vote and Gov. John Carney’s promise to sign it.

Passing permit-to-purchase regulations will save lives — let your representatives know you support this bill!

Detta Burcat

Sherri Harrell

Margaret Kling

Gregory Layton

Cheryl Scheir

Lynne Sweeney

Amy Yarnall

Kent County

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