UPDATE
Friday, April 22, 2016 - 4:47am
Bill to Lengthen Potential Gun Purchase Delay Clears DE House
By Kelli Steele
Legislation that would lengthen the potential delay gun buyers might face to purchase a weapon has cleared the House of Representatives.
House Bill 325 cleared the lower chamber Thursday after having been introduced just one week earlier. The controversial measure passed on a contested vote of 22 to 17 – just one vote above the 21 needed for approval.
Under existing law, most people wishing to purchase a firearm must submit to a background check to ensure they are not legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. If that background check takes more than three days, without disqualifying the potential buyer, that purchase is allowed to proceed.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. Edward Osienski, testified during the debate that there have been approximately 133,000 firearm purchase background checks performed in Delaware over the last three years. Of those, about 1,600 potential buyers were rejected. In 40 cases, gun purchases allowed to proceed because of the three-day rule were later found to have been made by someone prohibited from doing so. In those cases, authorities had to confiscate the weapons from those individuals.
House Bill 325 seeks to lengthen the potential waiting period for background checks from three days to 30 days, closing what Rep. Osienski characterized as “a loophole” in the law.
However, opponents of the bill have noted that the three-day approval default is not a flaw but a feature that was specifically designed as part of the federal statute that mandated the background checks. They argue that provision was intended as a safeguard to protect citizens’ rights by limiting the government’s ability to drag out the approval process.
Opponents, like State Rep. Dave Wilson, who holds a federal firearms dealer’s license as part of his auction business, maintains the proposal burdens citizens and businesses when the focus should be on improving the federal background check system so it can deliver timely responses. He said lengthening the waiting period just serves to reduce the motivation to make needed upgrades.
State Rep. Danny Short, who also opposed the bill, said he agrees there is a problem. However, he said increasing the waiting period doesn’t solve the issue. He said better technology, and a more concerted effort by the federal government to network all the needed data, would be a more effective approach.
National Rifle Association lobbyist Richard Armitage added during testimony on the House floor that his organization believes the bill is not constitutional because that state lacks the authority to change federal law. He noted there are 31 other states that, like Delaware, rely on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). He said none of those other states have done what Delaware is attempting.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.
“Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.” -Benjamin Franklin