Delaware Police, Prosecutor Enforce Law After Court Says They Can't

There are a number of ongoing lawsuits challenging multiple gun control laws in Delaware, including Rigby v. Jennings, which takes on the state's ban on possessing, manufacturing, and assembling "untraceable" firearms. A U.S. District Court judge, however, granted a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of much of the law back in September, 2022. 

Apparently someone didn't get the memo, because the state Department of Justice sent a letter to Judge Maryellen Noreika this week informing her of an arrest and prosecution under the enjoined statutes. 

Delaware informed the district court today in our lawsuit challenging the state's bans on self-manufacturing and possession of home-built firearms that it mistakenly prosecuted someone for violating one of the laws enjoined by our preliminary injunction: https://t.co/tU1mayKKuY pic.twitter.com/HxyS4F8dcZ

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) February 9, 2026

I can't recall anything like this happening in more than twenty years of following 2A cases, and it's still unclear how and why it occured. 

According to the Delaware DOJ, a New Castle police officer arrested a 17-year old in January, 2025 and charged them possession of an untraceable firearm, as well as possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person and unsafe storage of a firearm. 

The case proceeded to family court, where a Deputy Attorney General offered the 17-year-old a plea deal: plead guilty to possession of an untraceable firearm and all other charges would be dropped. 

That was a pretty good deal for the defendant, since possession of a firearm by a juvenile comes with a mandatory six-month stay in juvenile detention, while possession of an untraceable firearm can be punished with a probationary sentence. The teen took the deal last April and received probation for his crime. 

The state DOJ claims it was entirely unaware of the problem with the case until it reviewed a summary report of criminal charges and convictions in Delaware over the past five year, apparently as part of an unrelated case. After discovering the error the Deputy AG notified the defense counsel and moved to vacate the conviction in Family Court late last month. 

Delaware DOJ told the judge that after the injunction was issued the department issued a guidance memo explaining the terms of the injunction in detail. The department added that it was "very likely" the same information was distributed to law enforcement agencies during a meeting of the Delaware Police Chiefs Association. 

So how did a police officer, prosecutor, and Family Court judge all manage to blissfully ignorant of the status of the law? The Delaware DOJ's letter to Noreika never does explain how exactly that happened, but this is a pretty big mistake... as well as evidence of the soft-on-crime policies and practices by the state's Department of Justice. 

The possession of an untraceable firearm wasn't the only charge the teen faced, so he still would have been arrested and prosecuted for possessing a gun and ammunition as a juvenile. But if this is a serious crime in the eyes of the state (and we've been told repeatedly that guns in the hands of juveniles is a huge problem), then why did the state offer a plea deal that ensured the defendant would be sentenced solely to probation instead of a mandatory six-month stay in juvenile detention? 

It's bad enough that no one involved in this case managed to figure out that the statute in question is currently unenforceable. Using that statute to deliver a slap on the wrist, though, is arguably even worse. 

Delaware's prohibition on the manufacture and possession of unserialized firearms should be struck down permanently by Noreika, given that there is no national tradition of gun ownership requiring firearms to be serialized. And if the state plans on using the statute as plea bargain bait, I'd say it's not only unconstitutional but unconscionable as well. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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