Delaware - DE Gun Laws

As of November 2025, Delaware requires a firearm purchase permit in addition to the standard federal NICS background check, unless the buyer already holds a CDWL (which exempts them from the separate purchase-permit process). Federal age minimums apply: 18 for a long gun, 21 for a handgun. This is a genuinely new requirement — worth flagging clearly since it changes Delaware's purchase framework significantly from where it stood before 2024.

Private-party firearm transfers to anyone other than family must go through a licensed dealer, who runs the required background check and keeps a sale record. Exemptions apply for transfers to immediate family members, qualified law-enforcement officers, and certain short-term transfers to someone personally known to the owner.

Delaware follows the standard federal prohibited-persons categories: felony conviction, certain domestic violence convictions or active protective orders, unlawful drug users, individuals adjudicated mentally defective or committed to a mental institution, fugitives from justice, dishonorable military discharge, undocumented immigration status, and renunciation of U.S. citizenship. Delaware also has a red-flag law allowing certain petitioners to seek a court order temporarily removing firearms from someone found to pose a risk.

Legal without a permit for anyone 21 or older who can otherwise legally possess a firearm, subject to restrictions in sensitive locations like schools and detention facilities.

Requires a Concealed Deadly Weapon License (CDWL), issued may-issue through the Superior Court. The formal process includes a written application, a certificate from five citizens attesting to good moral character, 10 business days of newspaper publication of the application, fingerprinting, and a state-approved training course covering Delaware deadly-force law and live firing. Despite the formally discretionary structure, most qualified applicants are approved in practice. Delaware has not adopted permitless carry.

A valid CDWL is required to carry a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Open carry in a vehicle by someone eligible to possess a firearm is generally treated the same as open carry on foot, subject to the same sensitive-location restrictions.

Delaware's restricted-location list includes K-12 schools and detention facilities, with local ordinances and additional sensitive-place bans applying in some areas. Federal restrictions still apply regardless of state law — federal buildings and other federal property remain off-limits under federal statute.

Delaware does not set a comprehensive statewide minimum age for possessing a firearm beyond the federal purchase-age framework (18 for long guns, 21 for handguns through a dealer, matching Delaware's own CDWL age floor). Supervised possession and use by minors below these ages — for hunting, target shooting, or firearms safety instruction under adult supervision — is common practice and not separately restricted by a dedicated state age-floor statute.

Delaware bans magazines over 17 rounds (a first offense is a misdemeanor, subsequent offenses a felony) and bans a defined list of semiautomatic firearms and shotguns under a 2022 law. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld both bans against constitutional challenge, so they're currently settled and enforced rather than pending litigation.

Delaware is not a Stand Your Ground state. Under 11 Del. C. § 464, a person has a duty to retreat before using deadly force if it can be done safely. The exception is Delaware's castle doctrine: within your own dwelling, there is no duty to retreat, and deadly force is justified if you reasonably believe it's necessary to prevent death, serious physical injury, kidnapping, or forcible sexual assault.

Delaware has partial preemption — counties and municipalities are generally barred from regulating the ownership, transfer, or possession of firearms, though local governments retain authority over the discharge of firearms and can impose limited carry restrictions in certain locations.

Delaware Department of Justice, Concealed Carry Deadly Weapons (CCDW) resources: attorneygeneral.delaware.gov
Delaware Code, Title 11 (full text): delcode.delaware.gov
Delaware Superior Court, Office of the Prothonotary: for CDWL applications
ATF: for federal NFA questions — note that Delaware's own state law bans suppressor possession outright regardless of federal approval