SPONSOR:	Sen. Lavelle
	Sen. Cloutier; Reps. Briggs King, Ramone

DELAWARE STATE SENATE 147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SENATE BILL NO. 32

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE GIVING OF A FIREARM TO A PERSON PROHIBITED.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Two-thirds of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1.Amend Section 1454 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code by making insertions as shown by underlining and deletions as shown by strikethrough as follows:

§1454.Knowingly gGiving a firearm to person prohibited; class F felony.

(a)A person is guilty of knowingly giving a firearm to a certain persons prohibited when the person sells, transfers, gives, lends or otherwise furnishes a firearm to a person knowing that said person is a person prohibited as is defined in §1448 of this title.

(b)Knowingly gGiving a firearm to a certain persons prohibited is a class F felony.

Section 2.Amend Title 11 of the Delaware Code by making insertions as shown by underlining and deletions as shown by strikethrough as follows:

§1454AGiving a firearm to a person prohibited; class A misdemeanor.

(a)A person is guilty of giving a firearm to a person prohibited when the person sells, transfers, gives, lends or otherwise furnishes a firearm to a person who is prohibited as defined in §1448 of this Title without knowledge that the person was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

(b).For any prosecution under this section it shall be an affirmative defense that the accused relied upon the results of a criminal records background check conducted by a licensed firearms dealer pursuant to §904A of Title 24 to determine that the recipient of the firearm was not a person prohibited.

(c).Giving a firearm to a person prohibited is a class A misdemeanor.

SYNOPSIS

Currently giving, selling, lending, or otherwise furnishing a firearm to a convicted felon, mentally ill person or other prohibited person knowing that the person is prohibited, is a class F felony.This Bill makes it a class A misdemeanor for someone to give a firearm to a person prohibited without knowledge that the person was prohibited from possessing a firearm.If the intended recipient is not known well enough, the use of a criminal background check by a licensed gun dealer would ensure that the law is not being broken.

AUTHOR:Sen. Lavelle