Senate Bill No. 37, the “assault weapons” ban introduced by Sen. Marshall of Wilmington was abruptly withdrawn yesterday, Wednesday, April 3 by the sponsor saying it was a mistake. Marshall, said the introduction was a mistake by his staff. The bill filed was an earlier draft that seemed to reflect his ideas that were floated in an earlier press release that indicated he favored Mayor Bloomberg’s style of gun control.
The bill that Marshall withdrew included a registration requirement that would have required existing lawful owners of certain modern semi-automatic sporting firearms to register them with the Delaware State Police within four months of the bills enactment. While the Markell administration, as well as the Speaker of the House, have said they do not favor registration of firearms, neither seemed to want to comment on the “mistake” that Marshall made.
This ill-conceived piece of legislation is just one of a package of anti-gun bills that the Markell administration is attempting to ram through the legislature.
We now have in writing the true intent of Markell when it comes to his stance on the right to keep and bear arms. As we all know, none of the proposed remedies the Governor and his minions have rolled out will truly deal with the goal we all seek, keeping firearms out of the hands of bad people. His ideas simply burden and potentially criminalize the law abiding firearm owner.