By Matt Bittle

DOVER — Lawmakers on Thursday filed two gun-control bills that are sure to spark passions in the coming days and months.

The proposals, which would require training and a permit to buy a handgun and would ban magazines capable of holding more than 17 rounds, are set to be heard in committee next week.

Senate Bill 3 would mandate that individuals seeking to buy a handgun first complete a training course. The person would then be able to submit an application to the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which would issue a qualified-purchaser card (as long as the applicant is eligible). There would not be a cost, and the bill places no limit on the number of firearms that can be purchased during the 180 days a qualified-purchaser card is valid.

Delawareans who already have a concealed-carry permit would be exempt from the training course.

“Through countless polls and election cycles, Delawareans have been clear in their support for measures that will reduce the gun violence plaguing our communities and address the wave of mass shootings gripping our nation,” Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman, a Wilmington Democrat sponsoring Senate Bill 3, said in a statement.

“We cannot stand idly by and allow the carnage to continue without taking direct and meaningful action to curb the flow of high-powered weaponry streaming into our neighborhoods. The bills we introduced today will raise the level of responsible gun ownership in our state and give local police the tools they need to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals.”

Senate Bill 6 would outlaw “large-capacity” magazines — ones defined as capable of holding 18 or more rounds. The measure would create a buyback program and give Delaware gun owners until June 30, 2022, to sell their magazines to the state.

“Responsible gun owners have no legitimate need to fire off 17 rounds without reloading,” Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola, a Newark Democrat and the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 6, said in a statement. “But limiting the sale of these absurdly large magazines will help to save lives in police standoffs and mass shootings where these items inevitably lead to far greater deaths and casualties.”

The bills, which come soon after mass shootings in Colorado and Georgia killed a combined 18 people, are aimed at limiting gun violence in the state.

A 2018 study from the National Institutes of Health found that “assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics” were used in 22% to 36% of gun crimes, including more than 40% of serious violent crimes in some estimates.

“Assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics appear to be used in a higher share of firearm mass murders (up to 57% in total), though data on this issue are very limited,” the study says. “Trend analyses also indicate that high-capacity semiautomatics have grown from 33 to 112% as a share of crime guns since the expiration of the federal ban — a trend that has coincided with recent growth in shootings nationwide.”

A 2013 report from Johns Hopkins University found permit-to-purchase laws result in a stark decline in “crime gun exports.”

Polling released by the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence this week indicates that 74% of Delawareans back a permit-to-purchase statute, including 69% of gun owners.

Gov. John Carney supports both measures. They have no Republican co-sponsors.

Per the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 10 states have passed laws requiring individuals to get a license to buy at least some types of firearms, while nine have restrictions on large-capacity magazines.

“We require individuals to obtain permits and to undergo training before they can safely operate a motor vehicle or serve alcohol. It is reasonable and prudent to conclude that individuals who wish to purchase a handgun should complete a similar training course, so they are better able to safely handle and use that firearm,” Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, a Wilmington Democrat, said in a statement.

“This bill does not restrict a law-abiding person’s ability to purchase a firearm. As a Second Amendment supporter, this is a public safety measure which ensures that a person who is buying a handgun has learned how to properly store, care for and use that deadly weapon. This bill will save lives, it will make responsible gun owners even safer and it will help keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not possess them."

Legislators attempted to pass a magazine limit and a permit law in 2019, but both bills faced stiff opposition and failed to advance out of committee. The results of the 2020 elections make these bills more likely to find success, though they are still guaranteed to meet with criticism from gun-rights advocates.

In a statement, Attorney General Kathy Jennings praised the measures.

“Owning a gun is a right and a responsibility. The vast majority of Delawareans support smart gun safety policies, including permits and magazine capacity limits, because they refuse to accept the status quo on gun violence,” she said.

“We’ve seen how effective these policies are in other states: in one permit to purchase state alone, gun homicides fell by 40% and gun suicides fell by 15%. These are common sense, constitutionally sound bills and I applaud Sen. Lockman, Sen. Sokola, and their colleagues for introducing them. I’ll do everything in my power to help the General Assembly pass them this year."

They will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.