Delaware News

AG Jennings’ statement on Senate passage of Senate Bill 2

Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | News | Date Posted: Thursday, March 14, 2024


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Attorney General Kathy Jennings today released the following statement regarding the Senate’s overwhelming passage of Senate Bill 2, legislation requiring training and a permit to purchase a handgun. The Senate’s vote sends the legislation to Gov. John Carney’s desk. 

For five years, all of us — not only me, but the bill sponsors, the advocates, and voters — have been fighting to reach this moment for one reason: to save lives.

The Senate today passed the single most impactful piece of gun safety legislation available to our state. States with permit to purchase laws have 25% lower gun homicide rates and 50% lower gun suicide rates than those without, and reduce gun trafficking by 75%.

This bill doesn’t ban anything. It simply says that owning a tool whose sole purpose is the ability to kill — and in particular owning a handgun, which is overwhelmingly the weapon of choice in gun crime — is a responsibility that ought to involve training.

Despite the gun lobby’s rhetoric, this is a fundamentally moderate, and clearly constitutional, proposal. One that has been on the books in this country for 30 years. And one that has already proven effective in our state: less than one percent of concealed carry license holders, whose required training is essentially identical to SB 2’s requirements, use their guns to commit a crime.

Last year we lost about 100 Delawarean lives to gun homicide and suicide. Data from the ATF and the patterns that we see in the Department of Justice strongly indicate that gun trafficking is rampant in this state and is undermining the work of law enforcement. And the reality is that tonight in this country, the number one cause of death for children will be guns. Why would we leave anything off the table to change that?

I am proud to stand for this legislation. I am grateful for the advocates who have fought tirelessly and who waited years for this moment. And I am in awe of Sen. Lockman and Rep. Minor-Brown, who have fought tirelessly to get us here, who have worked in good faith to accommodate reasonable compromises for the last 18 months — indeed for the last five years — and who shepherded this legislation masterfully to the Governor’s desk. This is a great day for our state.

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AG Jennings’ statement on Senate passage of Senate Bill 2

Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | News | Date Posted: Thursday, March 14, 2024


Navy blue background featuring the Delaware state seal in the center

Attorney General Kathy Jennings today released the following statement regarding the Senate’s overwhelming passage of Senate Bill 2, legislation requiring training and a permit to purchase a handgun. The Senate’s vote sends the legislation to Gov. John Carney’s desk. 

For five years, all of us — not only me, but the bill sponsors, the advocates, and voters — have been fighting to reach this moment for one reason: to save lives.

The Senate today passed the single most impactful piece of gun safety legislation available to our state. States with permit to purchase laws have 25% lower gun homicide rates and 50% lower gun suicide rates than those without, and reduce gun trafficking by 75%.

This bill doesn’t ban anything. It simply says that owning a tool whose sole purpose is the ability to kill — and in particular owning a handgun, which is overwhelmingly the weapon of choice in gun crime — is a responsibility that ought to involve training.

Despite the gun lobby’s rhetoric, this is a fundamentally moderate, and clearly constitutional, proposal. One that has been on the books in this country for 30 years. And one that has already proven effective in our state: less than one percent of concealed carry license holders, whose required training is essentially identical to SB 2’s requirements, use their guns to commit a crime.

Last year we lost about 100 Delawarean lives to gun homicide and suicide. Data from the ATF and the patterns that we see in the Department of Justice strongly indicate that gun trafficking is rampant in this state and is undermining the work of law enforcement. And the reality is that tonight in this country, the number one cause of death for children will be guns. Why would we leave anything off the table to change that?

I am proud to stand for this legislation. I am grateful for the advocates who have fought tirelessly and who waited years for this moment. And I am in awe of Sen. Lockman and Rep. Minor-Brown, who have fought tirelessly to get us here, who have worked in good faith to accommodate reasonable compromises for the last 18 months — indeed for the last five years — and who shepherded this legislation masterfully to the Governor’s desk. This is a great day for our state.

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.