Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 496

FORMERLY HOUSE BILL NO. 946 AS AMENDED BY HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 1

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, DELAWARE CODE, MAKING IT UNLAWFUL TO MANUFACTURE, MAKE, DELIVER, TRANSPORT, TRADE, GIVE, SELL, OR POSSESS A SHORT-BARRELLED OR SAWED-OFF SHOTGUN.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Amend Subchapter XVI, Chapter 3, Title 11, Delaware Code, by adding a new section thereto to read as follows:

§ 465A. Manufacture, sale, possession, delivery of sawed-off shotgun; penalty

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, make, deliver, transport, trade, give, sell, or possess a short-barrelled or sawed-off shotgun except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of Public Safety consistent with public safety and necessity.

(b) 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 "short-barrelled" or "sawed-off shotgun" as used in this section means a shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length and 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.

() Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a felony and shall be fined not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 or imprisoned not less than one year nor more than five years, or both.

Approved July 6, 1972.