Inheriting a Firearm in Delaware: Permit, Report, Dealer and What the Code Says About Inheritance

Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: In Delaware, an ordinary heir does not need a state permit, licence or card to receive or possess the firearm, and the acquisition does not have to be reported to any state agency. Delaware does run a dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers, but the law itself excludes from its definition of “transfer” a transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will, which covers an ordinary estate distribution. The statute does name it: the definition of “transfer” excludes a transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will. Every answer below is quoted from Delaware’s own code with the section named and linked, because this is a subject where being roughly right is not a category that exists.

What Delaware law settles, in four lines

What this covers. An ordinary estate transfer in Delaware: the person who died and the person inheriting are in the same state, and the firearm is an ordinary rifle, shotgun, pistol or revolver. Machine guns, suppressors, short-barrelled rifles and anything else registered under the National Firearms Act run on a separate federal track that is not this page, and neither is moving a firearm across a state line. The federal layer is set out separately.

Does the heir need a permit, licence or card

No. Delaware does not condition receiving or possessing an inherited firearm on a state permit, licence or card.

A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will.

Source: 11 Del. C. §§ 1448B(a)(2), (b)(6)d, and 1448D

Does anyone have to be told, and by when

No. Nothing in Delaware’s code requires the acquisition to be reported or registered with a state or local agency.

An unlicensed person may not sell or transfer any firearm to any other unlicensed person without having conducted a background check through a licensed firearms dealer in accordance with § 1448A of this title and § 904A of Title 24 to determine whether the sale or transfer would be in violation of federal or state law, and until the licensed firearms dealer has been informed that the sale or transfer of the firearm may “proceed” by the State Bureau of Identification, through the Firearm Transaction Approval Program under subchapter VI of Chapter 85 of this title or 25 days have elapsed from the date of the request for a background check and a denial has not occurred.

Source: 11 Del. C. § 1448B(a)(1), (b)(6)d

Does it have to go through a licensed dealer

Delaware does run a dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers, but the law itself excludes from its definition of “transfer” a transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will, which covers an ordinary estate distribution. The claim that an inherited firearm always has to be transferred through a licensed dealer is not true as a flat statement in any state in this table.

The exemption itself, quoted:

“Transfer” means assigning, pledging, leasing, loaning, giving away, or otherwise disposing of, but does not include any of the following: a. The loan of a firearm for any lawful purpose, for a period of 14 days or less, by the owner of the firearm to a person known personally to the owner. b. A temporary transfer for any lawful purpose that occurs while in the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm, if the temporary transfer does not exceed 24 hours in duration. c. The transfer of a firearm for repair, service, or modification to a licensed gunsmith or other person lawfully engaged in such activities as a regular course of trade or business. d. A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will.

Source: 11 Del. C. § 1448B(b)(6)

What the code says about inheritance itself

The statute does name it: the definition of “transfer” excludes a transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will.

The exemption, quoted:

A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will.

Source: 11 Del. C. § 1448B(b)(6)d

What this page does not tell you

• This is what the statute says, not what a court or a police department has done with it. No case law and no agency guidance was read. Where a code is silent, this page reports silence rather than filling it in.
• City and county rules sit on top and are not here. A local rule can add a step the state code does not mention.
• Who may possess is a separate question from how it transfers. A federal or state bar on possession (a felony conviction, a protective order, an involuntary commitment) attaches to the person and reaches an inherited firearm exactly as it reaches a bought one.
• A gun trust is a different mechanism and is covered separately. What a gun trust does and does not do is its own question, and it is mostly a federal one.
• This is general information, not legal advice. On this subject a wrong step is not a paperwork problem, so the sections are linked for you to read and a probate lawyer in the state is the right next call if anything here is close.

Sources

Every answer on this page comes out of a 51-jurisdiction table built from statute text. Delaware’s four cells are individually cited below.

All 51 jurisdictions are in the by-state table, with the same four cells for every state side by side.

General consumer information, not legal advice. State codes are as published by the cited source and change without notice; the statute and a lawyer in the state govern.