Firearms ship to your Delaware FFL dealer. How the transfer works
Order online, pick up at a licensed dealer in New Castle County. Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware, built where the Christina River and Brandywine Creek meet the Delaware, and it runs on banking, chemicals and the corporate registry that keeps half of America's companies on paper here. Swedes landed at The Rocks in 1638.
Pick an FFL dealer near you that accepts shipped transfers and name it at checkout. We confirm their license and ship the firearm to them. Ammunition, optics and parts ship straight to your door where Delaware law allows.
Since November 16, 2025 a Delaware resident needs a handgun qualified purchaser permit from the State Bureau of Identification before buying or receiving a handgun, unless they already hold a Delaware concealed carry license. The permit takes a certified training course with live fire, fingerprints and a photo through IdentoGO, and a background check; SBI has 30 days to issue or deny, and the permit runs two years. Long guns need no purchase permit. You must be 21 for handguns and most rifles, and 18 for shotguns. Every dealer sale means photo ID, ATF Form 4473 and a background check.
Dealers in these communities all work for Wilmington-area buyers:
Delaware is one of few states where a court, not a police agency, grants carry licenses. You apply for a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon at the Prothonotary's office of the Superior Court in your county, file a certificate signed by five respectable citizens, and the Prothonotary publishes your name in a county newspaper before the court hears the application. Fingerprints go to the State Bureau of Identification within 45 days of filing, the fee is $65, and you finish a course with 100 rounds of live fire. A first license runs three years, renewals five. Open carry is lawful without a license.
Delaware runs one of the longest deer seasons in the country, roughly five months. For 2026-27, archery and crossbow open September 1 and run to January 31, muzzleloader falls in mid-October and late January, the shotgun seasons sit in mid-November and mid-January, and the handgun season lands in early January along with several antlerless-only splits. Bottleneck centerfire rifles are never legal for deer here. Shotgun slugs, muzzleloaders, legal handguns and straight-walled pistol-caliber rifles are the tools, and the straight-wall rifles may not be used north of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Confirm dates in the current DNREC guide.
Everything around Wilmington is north of the C and D Canal, so deer hunters here use shotgun slugs, muzzleloaders and legal handguns only. Brandywine Creek State Park and the Piedmont woods north of the city hold the nearest deer ground.
Brandywine Creek State Park, the old du Pont powder yards at Hagley and Alapocas Run sit on the city's north edge where the Piedmont starts.
Delaware has no large network of public ranges. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife runs two of them, one at each end of the state, and both are open to the public on a first-come basis for a small fee; no membership is needed, though shooters aged 10 and over complete a short safety orientation. Everything else in the state is a private club or a commercial range.
Source: DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife hunter education ranges, September 2026. Distances are approximate; call or check the agency site before you drive out.
Yes. Order here, name a licensed FFL dealer in Elsmere, Newport, New Castle, Wilmington or anywhere in New Castle County, and we ship the firearm to them. You fill out ATF Form 4473 at their counter and they run the background check.
For a handgun, yes. Since November 16, 2025 a Delaware buyer needs a handgun qualified purchaser permit from the State Bureau of Identification unless they hold a valid Delaware concealed carry license. Rifles and shotguns need no purchase permit, only the background check at the dealer near Wilmington who receives your order.
Delaware sets no fixed waiting period for a dealer sale, so once the check clears you can take the gun home. The real wait is the paperwork ahead of it: the purchaser permit can take weeks, and a private transfer may not close until the State Bureau of Identification approves it or 25 days pass.
The Prothonotary's office of the Superior Court in New Castle County takes the application, publishes notice of it, and the court grants the license. The State Police do not issue carry licenses in Delaware, and neither does the New Castle County sheriff.
We ship every firearm to a licensed dealer near Wilmington that you pick at checkout. The dealer confirms your permit if one is required, runs the background check, has you sign Form 4473 and hands the gun over. Ammunition, optics and most parts ship to your door.
Not for delivery into Delaware. State law has banned magazines over 17 rounds since 2022, with narrow exemptions that include current Delaware carry license holders and .22 rimfire tubular magazines. We hold Delaware orders to 17 rounds.
DNREC runs two public ranges, Ommelanden on River Road below New Castle and Owens Station near Greenwood in Sussex County. Both charge a few dollars a session and need no membership. Beyond those two, shooters around Wilmington use private clubs and commercial indoor ranges.
Each dealer sets its own fee, commonly $20 to $75. Call before you order to confirm the price and that they accept firearms shipped from an online store.
General information, not legal advice. Rules current as of September 2026. See our Delaware gun law overview and check with the Prothonotary of the Superior Court in New Castle, Kent or Sussex County or a local attorney about your own situation.