Does Delaware Have an Assault Weapons Ban?

Delaware Code title 11, section 1465 combines a named-firearm list with a copycat test. A semiautomatic centerfire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine reaches the copycat definition with one listed feature, while pistols and shotguns have their own criteria.

Section 1466 supplies the transaction and possession rules. Section 1467 provides an affirmative defense for qualifying possession before June 30, 2022 and sets transport conditions; it also creates a voluntary certificate process rather than a mandatory universal registration system.

There has been no federal assault weapons ban since the 1994 ban expired in 2004; no feature restrictions apply federally to semi-automatic rifles or pistols. The 2023 ATF pistol-brace rule was vacated nationwide and is not enforced, but federal SBR classification for a brace-equipped firearm still turns on whether the specific weapon is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder. Cargill v. Garland (2024) made bump stocks federally legal. Feature bans are entirely a matter of state law.

Scope: State laws restricting semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns by configuration features: threaded barrels, pistol grips, folding or telescoping stocks, flash suppressors, forward grips, and similar. Magazine capacity limits are tracked as a separate class.