DOVER, DE (AP) – Delaware Senate Democrats have given final approval to a bill requiring anyone wanting to buy a handgun to first be fingerprinted, undergo training, and obtain permission from the state. The bill cleared the Senate on a straight party-line vote and now goes to Gov. John Carney, who supports it. GOP lawmakers say the legislation violates the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. They also reject claims that a permit-to-purchase law will reduce gun violence, saying criminals will ignore it in the same way they ignore current gun restrictions. Thursday’s vote came exactly one week before a federal appeals court hears arguments on Maryland’s decade-old permit-to-purchase law, which was declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the court in November. Only a handful of other states have similar permit laws, some of which are facing legal challenges.
