By D. Fender O’Freedom
Democrats in the Delaware State Legislature introduced a bill last session which would require individuals wanting to purchase firearms to obtain a permit from the state. It is likely that this bill, or one very much like it, will be re-introduced in the coming legislative session.
The application process is onerous, to say the least, and can take 30 days (or maybe longer). Individuals will have to take a training course in order to get a permit, and the course must be repeated every two years. Separate permits will be required to buy long guns (i.e., rifles and shotguns) and handguns.
While a permit to purchase a long gun is good for three years and multiple purchases, each and every handgun purchase will require a new permit application, including fingerprinting, and they will only be good for 90 days. The supporters of this bill will tell you that it will help keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have them. Clearly, this is fallacious on its face since criminals will not go through this process in order to obtain the firearms which they use to commit their crimes. Therefore, it only affects the law-abiding citizens, whose guns are almost never used in crimes unless they are first stolen. It is clearly and solely an effort by the sponsors of this bill to make the exercising of a right, which is protected by both the United States Constitution and the Delaware State Constitution, as difficult, expensive, and time-consuming as possible. Of even greater significance, however, is that the process that this bill would put in place is very similar to the permitting process that has been in effect in our neighboring state of New Jersey for several years now.
New Jersey’s gun laws are among the strictest in the nation. To purchase a firearm, law-abiding citizens must first fill out forms available at their local police stations, submit to a background check on any possible criminal history or mental health issues, give fingerprints and pay a fee. Once those steps are completed, local police conduct a 14-point investigation and the chief is supposed to approve or deny the application, for cause, within 30 days. When you read the Delaware bill, it is very clear that the proposed law is designed on this model. It is a major delaying tactic, and as the saying goes, a right delayed is a right denied. It can also be fatal, as was the result in the case of Carol Bowne.
Carol Bowne was a petite and attractive 39-year old woman, who lived in Berlin Township, New Jersey. She was a widow, having lost her husband three years earlier in a motorcycle accident. She lived alone in a nice, suburban home and worked as a hair stylist at a salon in Somerdale, New Jersey. She was an outgoing, well-liked person, and in the spring of 2015, she was looking forward to celebrating her 40th birthday with friends, during a vacation at a resort in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, she never made it to her milestone birthday. She never got to take the trip to which she had been so eagerly looking forward. Her life was violently ended one night in June, 2015, by an ex-boyfriend, who brutally attacked and stabbed her to death in the driveway of her home as she returned from work. The restraining order which she had against her attacker could not save her. Her security cameras could not save her, although they did clearly record the time and manner of her death, which allowed police to make an arrest of her murderer. She died a victim not just of her attacker, but also a victim of the permit-to-purchase-a-gun laws of the State of New Jersey.
You see, several months prior to her death, Carol had gone to court to get a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, a 45-year old convicted felon. He had a history of violence, including aggravated assault with bodily injury, and weapons offenses during an assault on a former girlfriend. Shortly after the order was granted, her car windows were broken out. Now, even more afraid, she had a security system and cameras installed at her home, but she still did not feel safe. Carol recognized that she was no match physically for her violent ex if he were to physically assault her. She needed something more than a restraining order to protect herself. She decided that she needed a handgun.
On April 21, 2015, Carol filed for her New Jersey state permit to purchase a gun. More than six weeks later, she was still waiting for it. As a consequence, she bled out from her wounds, denied possession of the one tool that might have given her a chance to save her own life. The “common sense gun laws” of the State of New Jersey delayed her in the exercise of her Constitutionally-protected right to have a gun to defend herself. In her case, a right delayed was not only a right denied, it was a life denied.
Now, several Democrats in the Delaware State Senate want to bring essentially that same law to Delaware. Right now, if there is a law-abiding woman (or man, for that matter) in our state who finds herself in a position similar to Carol Bowne, she can walk into any federally-licensed gun store, select a firearm, fill out a form 4473, have her background check processed through the National Instant Check System (NICS) operated by the FBI, and once approved, pay for her purchase and leave the store with a tool that gives her the capability to defend herself against a violent attacker. The whole process can take as little as 15 minutes to an hour. But if the permit-to-purchase bill becomes law, you can add at least 30 days to that timeline. And as Carol Bowne’s tragic experience confirms, that delay can cost someone their life.
Below is a photo of Carol, taken not too long before her murder, and the violent felon who ended her life, as she waited in vain for the state’s permission to buy what she needed to have a fighting chance to defend herself. The State of New Jersey effectively violated Carol’s civil rights and, in so doing, gave her what turned out to be a death sentence. So much for her life, her liberty and her pursuit of happiness. Carol Bowne’s blood is on the hands of every politician who voted for that bill, on the Governor who signed it into law, and the bureaucrats who sat on her application even beyond the mandated 30-day approval period.
So, if Delaware enacts a similar law, imagine that you or someone whom you care about finds themself in a situation like the one in which Carol Bowne found herself. Imagine the worry and fear and sleepless nights as she waited for the State’s permission to exercise her Constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. Imagine her sheer terror when she was attacked in the driveway of her home and brutally stabbed, completely without the means to defend herself, thanks to the State of New Jersey.
Imagine the thoughts that must have been going through her head as she helplessly bled out, probably realizing that she was dying. Carol Bowne followed the law, and it cost her life. No one should ever lose their life because they obeyed the law.
The criminals will not follow the law. They will not wait for the state to give its blessing to their intended victims to buy a tool that will potentially level the playing field and negate some of their advantage. And as bad as all that is, it could be even worse. What if the permit-to-purchase bill becomes the law in Delaware? What if there is a crisis, like the current pandemic, which results in the Governor declaring a state of emergency and closing the state offices – especially including those needed for processing the permit-to-purchase applications? Forget about waiting only 30 days. The wait could be much, much longer. For some, like Carol, it could stretch into an eternity.
So, call and email your State Senator and House Representative. Tell them the story of Carol Bowne. Remind them that a right delayed is a right denied. And finally, respectfully and sincerely ask them, how will they feel if it is one of their constituents who becomes the first Carol Bowne of Delaware – the first victim of their permit to purchase law? Do they want that blood on their hands?