Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 411

FORMERLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 493

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 RELATING TO CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE :

Section 1. Amend § 1444, Title 11 of the Delaware Code by deleting said Section and inserting in lieu thereof a new § 1444 to read as follows:.

Ҥ 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 one (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.”.

Approved July 21, 2008