As a statewide advocate for gun safety with Moms Demand Action, the largest grassroots gun safety organization in the country, I have sat in rooms full of gun violence survivors from Wilmington to Dover sharing their pain from losing a loved one to gun violence and their yearning for lawmakers to pass and implement gun safety laws. I hear parents and kids who were survivors of the Christiana Mall shooting this year share their trauma and fear of knowing that nowhere is safe from gun violence. I vividly remember the story of a Dover mother who thought her gun was securely stored only to discover that her daughter knew how to get it when she used it to harm herself. These stories all end with survivors sharing their desire for lawmakers to act by passing life-saving gun safety laws.
Last year, a permit to purchase bill was introduced and failed to pass the House Appropriations Committee. With a record number of mass shootings that have taken place this year and gun violence being the leading cause of death amongst children and teenagers, now more than ever it is critical for lawmakers to strengthen our state’s gun safety laws.
This year, thanks to state Sen. Elizabeth Lockman and state Rep. Melissa Minor Brown, lawmakers have reintroduced a permit-to-purchase bill (SB2). SB2 creates a permitting system that will allow law enforcement to deny permits to those who pose a danger to public safety, ensure that all handgun purchasers have completed a rigorous safety training course, and require all individuals to complete a background check before purchasing a handgun. The bill also addresses some of the concerns lawmakers raised last session by offering vouchers to offset that cost for low-income Delaareans, and would exempt concealed carry permit holders from getting a permit.
States with strong gun safety laws, such as creating a permitting process to purchase a firearm, see a significant decrease in gun homicides, gun suicides and illegal trafficking of firearms. A 2019 study found that permit-to-purchase requirements were associated with 21 percent lower firearm homicide rates in large cities and 20 percent lower firearm homicide rates in suburban and rural areas.
Moms Demand Action volunteers have been on the front lines advocating to get SB2 across the finish line. The bill has passed the Senate with a unanimous vote from the Democratic caucus, and its fate is once more in the hands of the House Democrats. Let’s all work together to protect our families and communities. Please contact your state representative and urge them to vote to pass SB 2.
Mara Gorman is state volunteer chapter lead for Moms Demand Action in Delaware.
