Delaware Gun Ban List: Assault Weapons, Magazines, and Ghost Guns

The Delaware gun ban list covers three overlapping categories: specific assault weapons prohibited by manufacturer and model, “copycat” firearms banned for their design features, and a set of destructive weapons and accessories (silencers, machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, bump stocks, and magazines holding more than 17 rounds). The framework took effect on June 30, 2022 under the Lethal Firearms Safety Act, and violations range from misdemeanors to felonies carrying up to eight years in prison.

Assault Long Guns Banned by Name

Under 11 Del. C. § 1465, Delaware identifies more than 60 specific long gun models as prohibited assault weapons, along with any copies regardless of who made them.¹

Named long guns include:

Avtomat Kalashnikov (AK-47) in all forms
Colt AR-15 and CAR-15 (with a narrow exception for the Colt AR-15 Sporter H-BAR rifle)
UZI 9mm carbine or rifle
Beretta AR-70
FN-FAL and FN-LAR
Galil
SIG AMT and SIG PE-57
Steyr AUG

The “copy” language does real work here. A firearm sold under a different brand name that is functionally identical to a listed model is prohibited even if the model on the label doesn’t appear in the statute.

Assault Pistols Banned by Name

The statute names roughly 20 specific handgun models as prohibited assault pistols, again including any copies. Among them:

Intratec TEC-9/DC-9 in any centerfire variation
Ingram MAC 10/11, including variants like the Partisan Avenger and SWD Cobray
Heckler and Koch MP5K and SP-89
UZI pistol
Skorpion pistol

Copycat Weapons Banned by Their Features

Beyond the named lists, Delaware defines “copycat weapons” by design features so that manufacturers can’t sidestep the ban by rebranding. Which features trigger the ban depends on whether the firearm is a rifle, a pistol, or a shotgun.¹

Semiautomatic Rifles

A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine becomes a prohibited copycat if it also has any one of these:

A folding or telescoping stock
A flash suppressor
A grip (including a pistol grip or thumbhole stock) that lets any finger besides the trigger finger sit directly below the action while firing

One qualifying feature combined with the detachable magazine is enough.

Semiautomatic Pistols

A semiautomatic pistol that accepts a detachable magazine is prohibited if it has any one of the following:

A magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
A threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash suppressor or silencer
A barrel shroud that lets the shooter fire without being burned (a standard slide doesn’t count)
A second handgrip

Separately, any semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine holding more than 17 rounds is banned outright.

Shotguns

A semiautomatic shotgun qualifies as a copycat if it has both a folding or telescoping stock and a grip that places a non-trigger finger below the action. Any semiautomatic shotgun that accepts a detachable magazine is prohibited on that fact alone, as is any shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

Magazines Over 17 Rounds

Under 11 Del. C. § 1469, Delaware prohibits manufacturing, selling, purchasing, transferring, or possessing any ammunition feeding device that holds more than 17 rounds. That includes magazines, drums, belts, and feed strips. Tubular devices designed exclusively for .22 caliber rimfire ammunition are excluded.²

Several groups are exempt: U.S. government employees and armed forces members acting in an official capacity, active and qualified retired law enforcement officers, and holders of a valid Delaware Superior Court concealed carry permit. Magazines permanently modified to accept 17 rounds or fewer, or rendered permanently inoperable, also fall outside the ban. Licensed dealers may sell large-capacity magazines only to other licensed dealers or to buyers who qualify under one of those exemptions.

Silencers, Machine Guns, and Rate-of-Fire Devices

A separate statute, 11 Del. C. § 1444, prohibits a category the state calls “destructive weapons”: bombs, bombshells, firearm silencers, sawed-off shotguns, and machine guns or any weapon adaptable for use as a machine gun.³

Silencers are banned in Delaware. The only exception is for certified state and federal wildlife biologists using them for disease or population control; federal registration under the National Firearms Act does not create a general civilian carve-out. Sawed-off shotguns and machine guns are similarly prohibited, with limited exceptions for military and law enforcement personnel and for machine guns registered under the NFA and used for scientific research.

Delaware also bans after-market devices that increase a semiautomatic firearm’s rate of fire. Bump stocks, trigger cranks, and any “rapid fire device” designed to make a semiautomatic weapon fire at a rate that mimics a machine gun are illegal.

Ghost Guns and Altered Serial Numbers

Two statutes cover untraceable firearms. Under 11 Del. C. § 1459, possessing any firearm, frame, or receiver with a serial number that has been removed or altered to conceal its origin is a class D felony. This applies to firearms manufactured from 1973 onward; pre-1973 firearms are exempt.⁴

Section 1459A targets the unfinished frames and receivers sold in ghost gun kits. No one may sell or transfer an unfinished frame or receiver unless they are a federally licensed dealer or manufacturer, the item bears a manufacturer name and serial number, and proper records are kept. Possessing an unserialized unfinished frame or receiver is also a class D felony.

If You Owned a Banned Weapon Before June 30, 2022

If you legally owned an assault weapon before June 30, 2022, Delaware’s ban does not require you to surrender it. The Lethal Firearms Safety Act grandfathered weapons that were already lawfully possessed by that date, but it heavily restricts what you can do with them afterward. Transfers of grandfathered assault weapons are generally prohibited, with narrow exceptions for transfers to family members — defined as a spouse or someone related by blood within three degrees (parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews).⁵

Delaware also created a voluntary certificate of possession program to help pre-ban owners prove lawful ownership. The original application deadline was June 30, 2023. In any prosecution for illegal assault weapon possession, a certificate is treated as conclusive evidence that the firearm was lawfully owned before the cutoff. If you inherit a grandfathered assault weapon from a qualifying family member, you have 60 days from taking possession to apply for a certificate, and you must document that the previous owner held it lawfully.⁶

Penalties

Illegal manufacture, sale, transport, transfer, purchase, receipt, or possession of an assault weapon is a class E or class F felony under § 1466, with class E carrying up to five years in prison.⁵

Possession of a silencer, sawed-off shotgun, bomb, or machine gun is a class E felony. Bump stocks, trigger cranks, and other rapid fire devices carry a stepped penalty: a first offense is a class B misdemeanor (up to six months in jail and a $1,150 fine); a second or later offense is a class E felony.³

Large-capacity magazine violations can range from a civil violation to a class E felony depending on the circumstances.²

Possessing a firearm with a removed or altered serial number, or an unserialized unfinished frame or receiver, is a class D felony with up to eight years in prison — among the most severely punished firearm offenses in the state.⁴

How to Check a Specific Firearm

The reliable starting point is the text of 11 Del. C. § 1465, which contains both the named model list and the copycat feature definitions. Check the firearm against the named models first. Then work through the copycat criteria for its category: for a rifle, whether it takes a detachable magazine plus any one listed feature; for a pistol, whether it takes a detachable magazine plus any one listed feature (or has a fixed magazine over 17 rounds); for a shotgun, the two-feature test, the detachable-magazine trigger, and the revolving-cylinder rule.¹

Licensed dealers are required to know current restrictions and typically flag prohibited configurations during a transaction. For borderline cases, particularly around the copycat feature definitions, a Delaware firearms attorney is the safest source of an answer.