Delaware Court Could Nuke Every Under-21 Gun Ban in America

On June 10, 2026, Delaware's highest court heard oral arguments in *DE Department of Safety and Homeland Security v. Birney* — a direct challenge to HB 451, the 2022 law signed by then-Governor John Carney that stripped every 18-to-20-year-old adult in the state of the right to buy, own, or possess most firearms.

**They didn't water down a right. They deleted it for an entire class of adults.**

This isn't a federal Second Amendment fight. It's a state constitutional challenge — and that makes it *more* dangerous for gun controllers, not less.

Delaware's Article I, Section 20 doesn't hedge or equivocate. It protects the right to keep and bear arms for "defense of self, family, home and state, and for hunting and recreational use." That's a stronger, more explicit floor than the federal Second Amendment. HB 451 doesn't bend around it. It stomps directly through it.

A lower court already said so. On August 29, 2025, Kent County Superior Court Judge Reneta L. Green-Streett granted summary judgment for the challengers and struck down HB 451's age restrictions — ruling the law unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of adults aged 18 to 20. The state appealed. Birney's side filed a cross-appeal demanding even broader relief.

**The state lost. Then it asked for a second bite anyway.**

Birney has the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association — the NRA's state affiliate — behind him. DSSA president Jeff Hague called HB 451 "downright despicable." The group's lawsuit accused Delaware lawmakers of passing the ban "in defiance" of both the U.S. Supreme Court and their own state's constitutional precedent.

That's not spin. The DSSA's complaint described HB 451 as turning young adults into "felons for exercising one of their most exalted rights." That is precisely what the law does — and the Delaware Supreme Court is now the last wall standing between Carney's gun grab and the dustbin of history.

The stakes reach far beyond one state. Eighteen states have enacted some version of an under-21 firearm restriction since 2018. If Delaware's Supreme Court affirms the lower court under a state constitution that sets a *higher* floor than the federal baseline, gun-rights attorneys get a precision weapon to dismantle copycat bans coast to coast.

**Eighteen states. One ruling. The chain reaction starts the day this decision drops.**

A decision is expected within months. Watch the *Birney* docket at dssa.us. If you live in a state with an under-21 restriction, get this case in front of your state-level gun rights organization now — before the ink is dry and the blueprint is already in enemy hands.

This is what winning looks like. Don't blink.