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Gov. Carney signs gun safety package

A relative of Keshall "KeKe" Anderson holds a bill allowing residents to sue gun dealers and manufacturers for reckless actions leading to gun violence; Anderson was a bystander killed in a 2016 shooting involving a gun sold in an illegal straw purchase.
Paul Kiefer
/
Delaware Public Media
A relative of Keshall "KeKe" Anderson holds a bill allowing residents to sue gun dealers and manufacturers for reckless actions leading to gun violence; Anderson was a bystander killed in a 2016 shooting involving a gun sold in an illegal straw purchase.

Gov. John Carney signed a stack of gun safety bills Thursday, including some legislation that lawmakers have struggled to pass for years.

Gun safety advocates who spent years lobbying for some of the bills joined Carney in his office. Outside, opponents packed the halls and chanted in unison, at one point drowning out Carney himself.

The bills prohibit the sale of assault weapons, create liability for gun dealers who act irresponsibly, raise the age to purchase or possess most firearms to 21, and ban high-capacity magazines. State Rep. David Bentz (D-Christiana), one of the House Democrats behind the package, noted that several — including magazine size restrictions – failed to move forward in past sessions.

“This isn’t the first or second or sometimes even the third time some of these bills have been tried," he said. "This time really was different.”

Carney says the package represents the will of the majority of Delawareans – something he believes is uniquely possible in a small state. “

We’re different in the way elected officials respond to the demands – often demands – or the requests of the people we work for," he said. "This package represents that.”

Carney notes many of the bills, including the restrictions on gun purchase or ownership for 18-to-21-year-olds, will likely face court challenges.

Paul Kiefer comes to Delaware from Seattle, where he covered policing, prisons and public safety for the local news site PubliCola.