State Gun Laws

In the initial order that law enforcement requests from the Justice of the Peace Court, where the person (respondent) is not present in court or notified beforehand, the order can do any of the following:

• force the respondent to hand over (relinquish) to law enforcement any firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition that they own, have, or control;
• prohibit the respondent from living with anyone who owns, has, or controls firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition; and
• order a law enforcement agency to immediately carry out a search for the respondent’s firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition and take (seize) any that are found.¹

In the order after a hearing that the Department of Justice requests from the Superior Court, where the respondent is allowed to be present in court and is notified beforehand, the order can do any of the following:

• allow the respondent to “voluntarily” hand over (relinquish) to a law enforcement agency any firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition that they own, have, or control;
• force the respondent to give up (relinquish) any firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition that they own, have, or control to law enforcement or someone else who does not live with the respondent and will keep the weapons away from them;
• prohibit the respondent from living with anyone who owns, has, or controls firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition; and
• order a law enforcement agency to immediately carry out a search for the respondent’s firearms, projectile weapons, or ammunition and take (seize) any that are found.²

Note: You can see the definition of firearms and projectile weapons by going to Del. Code tit. 11, Section 222(13), (28) on our Selected Delaware Statutes page.³

^​1 Del. Code tit. 11, § 1448C(d)(1)
² Del. Code tit. 11, § 1448C(d)(2)
³ Del. Code tit. 11, § 222(13), (28)