Delaware’s Homemade Firearm Ban Struck Down in Court

A federal judge has permanently blocked Delaware’s bans on possessing and self-manufacturing unserialized firearms, ruling that the Second Amendment covers both the guns and a law-abiding citizen’s ability to build them at home.

What the Court Decided

U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika entered final judgment in Rigby v. Jennings, permanently enjoining Delaware’s bans on possessing and self-manufacturing or assembling untraceable firearms, including unserialized unfinished frames and receivers. The state’s commercial distribution rules and its ban on CAD/3D-print files survive.

The case dates to Oct. 27, 2021, when John Rigby, Alan Knight, and the Firearms Policy Coalition sued Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings over H.B. 125 (2021), the state’s “ghost gun,” unfinished-frame, and 3D-print regime under 11 Del. C. §§ 1459A and 1463. A preliminary injunction against the possession and manufacture provisions came down Sept. 23, 2022, and both sides moved for summary judgment in March 2024.

According to a Delaware Department of Justice letter, while the law was enjoined a family court mistakenly prosecuted a juvenile under the enjoined § 1463(a); because the court applied an enjoined statute, the juvenile’s conviction was vacated.

The Second Amendment Reasoning

The court held the possession ban unconstitutional both facially and as applied. Unserialized firearms and unfinished frames and receivers qualify as “Arms,” the judge found, and frames and receivers receive the same protection magazines get in this circuit because they are necessary for a firearm to function. The ban fails Bruen step one.

At step two, Delaware pointed to historical laws on clubs, Bowie knives, slungshots, trap and punt guns, and gunpowder storage. The Third Circuit had already rejected those same analogues in ANJRPC (2026), and the court found the state did not carry its burden.

The manufacturing and assembly ban fell for the same reasons. The right to keep and bear arms includes an ancillary right to acquire them, and cutting off self-manufacture interferes with repair, reassembly, and a person’s ability to obtain a chosen self-defense firearm.

The court noted that a different statute — for example, one requiring existing homemade guns to be serialized with the state, or requiring future homemade guns to be serialized after manufacture — might survive. An outright ban on possession and manufacture does not.

What Survives

The distribution ban stands as a condition on commercial sale of the kind Heller called presumptively lawful. The instruction ban, challenged on First Amendment grounds, also survived, with the court citing the Third Circuit’s 2026 Defense Distributed decision.

Delaware is expected to appeal to the Third Circuit, according to AmmoLand Shooting Sports News. No timeline has been set.

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