Delaware State NFA Rules and Allowable NFA Items

Delaware is not an NFA friendly state and restricts the possession of machine guns and silencers, regardless of their registration status with the federal law. In addition, Delaware restrict the possession and use of short-barreled shotguns, and destructive devices (DD’s).

Possession of NFA items:

§ 1441A State implementation of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004
     (a) For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
     (1) "Firearm" means a weapon as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3), but does not include a machine gun as defined in § 5845(b) of the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b), or a firearm silencer as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(24), or a destructive device as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(4)
§ 1444 Possessing a destructive weapon; class E felony
     (a) A person is guilty of possessing a destructive weapon when the person sells, transfers, buys, receives or has possession of a bomb, bombshell, firearm silencer, sawed-off shotgun, machine gun or any other firearm or weapon which is adaptable for use as a machine gun.
     (b) Possessing a destructive weapon is a class E felony. This section does not apply to members of the military forces or to members of a police force in this State duly authorized to carry a weapon of the type described; nor shall the provisions contained herein apply to authorized and certified (by an accredited state enforcement agency) state and federal wildlife biologists possessing firearm silencers for the purposes of wildlife disease or wildlife population control, or persons possessing machine guns for scientific or experimental research and development purposes, which machine guns have been duly registered under the National Firearms Act of 1968 (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.).
     (c) The term "shotgun" as used in this section means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of projectiles (ball shot) or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger. The term "sawed-off shotgun" as used in this section means a shotgun having 1 or more barrels less than 18 inches in length or any weapon made from a shotgun (whether by alteration, modification or otherwise) if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches.

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This information is provided as a service to the public. It is NOT intended as legal advice and should never be considered as such. This information was up to date at the time of publication.