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First State bump stock ban has limited impact, so far

Courtesy of the Dover Police Department
The gun and bump stock found during the arrest of a Dover man in February.

On Feb. 18, Dover Police arrested a 45-year-old man for Possession of a Destructive Weapon— specifically, an AR-15 outfitted with a bump stock attachment to make it fire like an automatic.

According to the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System, that bump stock arrest was the first since Delaware’s ban on the accessories became law last June.

Some activities surrounding bump stocks, like sale or purchase, became illegal in Delaware when the bill was signed. The ban on possession went into effect in October.

The state held buyback programs last fall. According to  Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security data, the state collected 35 stocks, 1 trigger crank and 120 homemade devices.

Reimbursing owners cost the state several hundred dollars. A total of $15,000 were set aside this fiscal year for the buybacks.

Both Maryland and New Jersey also have state-level bump stock bans.

 

Earlier this week a federal judge allowed the Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks to go forward. It is set to take effect at the end of March.

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
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