Delaware Democrats give final approval to handgun permit-to-purchase bill

By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Senate Democrats in Delaware have given final approval to a bill requiring anyone wanting to buy a handgun to first be fingerprinted, undergo training and obtain permission from the state.  The bill cleared the Senate on a straight party-line vote Thursday and now goes to Democratic Gov. John Carney, who supports it. Thursday’s vote came exactly one week before a federal appeals court hears arguments on Maryland’s decade-old permit-to-purchase law, which was declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the court in November. Only a handful of other states have similar permit laws, some of which are facing legal challenges. North Carolina repealed its permit law effective earlier this year.