Delaware Senate Bill 323

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 7-0)
Status: Introduced on June 11 2024 - 25% progression
Action: 2024-06-11 - Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
Pending: Senate Judiciary Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This Act removes prohibitions in Title 11 of the Delaware code regarding owning or possessing certain types of folding knives that may be opened with one hand. So-called "switch blade knives", which are more appropriately called automatic knives, allow for easy deployment often by depressing a button. Such cutting implements are lawfully used as tools by many working in the trades, and are also popular amongst outdoor, hunting, and camping enthusiasts. Currently, despite common and myriad lawful purposes, such knives are treated as deadly weapons in Delaware and therefore subject otherwise law-abiding Delawareans engaging in law-abiding activities to criminal prosecution in the justice system. Removing the prohibitions would permit individuals to lawfully use such tools but would still subject them to prosecution for deadly weapons related offenses where an individual uses such an automatic knife in the course of an attack or assault aimed at causing death or serious injury.

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Knives

Sen. David Wilson [R]	Rep. Daniel Short [R]	Sen. Gerald Hocker [R]	Sen. David Lawson [R]
Sen. Brian Pettyjohn [R]	Sen. Bryant Richardson [R]	Rep. Timothy Dukes [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2024-06-11		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141537
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=141537&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB323