U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika ruled that Delaware’s bans on possessing unserialized firearms and privately manufacturing guns violate the Second Amendment. According to reporting by Bearing Arms, the court issued a permanent injunction for the named plaintiffs, including members of the Firearms Policy Coalition. The judge had previously granted a preliminary injunction against those provisions.
What Was Struck Down
Bearing Arms reports that Judge Noreika found the state’s possession and home-manufacture bans facially unconstitutional. The ruling, as described by the outlet, concludes that firearm frames and receivers are covered by the Second Amendment’s text and that serialization is not what determines whether something is an “arm.” The article states the court cited evidence that law-abiding citizens use untraceable firearms and unserialized components for self-defense.
What Still Stands
The judge kept in place Delaware’s prohibition on disseminating computer-aided design files, code, or instructions used to 3D-print gun parts, relying on Third Circuit precedent that computer code is not protected expressive speech, according to Bearing Arms.
She also upheld the state’s bar on “knowingly transport[ing], ship[ping], transfer[ring], or sell[ing] an unfinished firearm frame or receiver.” Bearing Arms reports the court referred to this as a “Distribution ban” and concluded it does not burden keeping or bearing unserialized firearms.
Why the Court Ruled This Way
Per the outlet’s account, the judge leaned on Third Circuit guidance that the term “arms” includes components necessary for a gun to function, such as frames and receivers, and that debates over “common use” arise at a later step of the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework.
Delaware argued that untraceable guns are associated with criminality and are not in common use. Bearing Arms reports the court rejected that framing as too general—stating that the more relevant question is traceability, since unserialized and serialized firearms function the same. The article adds that the state’s historical analogies (including Bowie knife and trap-gun restrictions and gunpowder rules) were deemed not close enough in their “why” and “how” to support an outright ban.
A Possible Roadmap for Lawmakers
According to Bearing Arms, the opinion suggested Delaware could consider measures that might pass constitutional muster, such as requiring serialization of currently owned and future self-manufactured firearms within a set timeframe, or regulating the materials used in 3D-printed guns to ensure reliability—approaches the outlet says the court indicated would not restrict the right to keep and bear arms in the same way as possession and manufacturing bans.
What’s Next
Bearing Arms speculated that Delaware might appeal to the Third Circuit and/or pursue new, narrower legislation. That is the outlet’s analysis, not a confirmed plan by the state.
