What To Expect When You're Expecting...
- Max D.
- Aug 21
- 9 min read
MOVING TO DELAWARE AS A GUN OWNER? HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO EXPECT:
Two words: Culture Shock.
WHO I AM AND WHERE I'VE BEEN
Hello! I'm Max, X-Ring Supply's newest marketing and social media guy. I grew up for the first 30-some-odd years as a proud, anti-gun New Jersey resident, just outside of the bright lights of Atlantic City's casinos. I was fairly outspoken on the social platforms about gun rights and gun ownership.
Guns are bad. Nobody needs an AR-15. I'll never shoot or own a firearm. NEVER EVER.
SPOILER ALERT: I was wrong. My bad.
In 2021, I met my partner, and we moved out of NJ. I lived in various states I would've never dreamed of even visiting, including the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawai'i, and my favorite place in the world - Las Vegas, Nevada. New job opportunities opened up for us, which took us to the Deep South. Dixie Alley. A place that changed my life and my mindset.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA
Huntsville, Alabama. The Rocket City. Where the air always had a faint smell of BBQ smoking from some Citgo gas station, an integral location to The USA beating the Russians to the moon, and the final resting place of Little Richard. Boyyyy, let me tell you, the first time I tried fresh-made fried okra that was seasoned? Something in me changed.
But that wasn't the only thing.
I had a job lined up at a place called Redstone Pawn, and while I was already familiar to minutiae of working a short-term loan counter from my stint in a high-end, designer luxury goods Pawnshop in Vegas, what I wasn't ready for was the sheer amount of guns I knew nothing about AND had to sell.
If there's one thing about Alabama that you should know, is that the citizens love their guns. And they love their 2A rights. Me, a Yankee who hated guns and didn't give a shit about 2A rights? How in the hell was I going to make this work?
I decided that if the goal was to sell these, then I'd have to learn everything about them. I was given a notebook from my boss, Juston, which was mainly to be used to retain customer contact info in case I had repeat customers who liked the cut of my jib. Instead, I took notes. I wrote down every Glock number, every Sig model, what calibers were best in what situation, I soaked it all in. I also became familiar with popular YouTubers like Honest Outlaw and Garand Thumb, retaining as much info as I could. I was able to sell quite a bit at first by regurgitating their key talking points in videos, and I made do.
One day we had a young lady walk in, who wanted to buy her first handgun. She had a couple of options in mind, stated that she's seen a bunch of youtube videos on different models, but asked me one very simple question when she pointed to the Glock 43X:
"How does it shoot?"
"By pulling the trigger, duh." I slyly responded, which thankfully she picked up on as a joke.
I then told her the truth: I don't know.
I had never shot one myself. How could I sell a gun without knowing exactly what the user experience is like? I let her down. She left empty-handed because I couldn't answer a fairly simple question that most Alabamans could easily answer.
That weekend, two days before my 33rd birthday, I went to Huntsville's premier 5-star NSSF rated range, Bullet & Barrel, and rented a Glock 43X, to shoot my very first gun.
A switch had been flipped. I had seen the light. The thing I had been so vocally against for years was actually really cool and fun, and I was wrong this entire time.
I dove in, head first into a new lifestyle and a new mindset.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Time passed, and my time at the pawnshop came to an end. I ended up getting a job at another gun store in Huntsville, where I gained even more knowledge from professional shooters in the USPSA, PRS, and 22NRL communities, and expanded my creative outlets to become their social media guru.
After about a year there, my partner announced she was looking for a new job, and that she was looking back towards the Mid-Atlantic. We both missed our friends and family. It was time to come home. Yet, I became so engrained in the 2A community in The South, I felt scared about my future. As we know, this area of the US, outside of Pennsylvania, has incredibly strict gun laws. But I was willing to make the changes needed. She accepted a job here in Newark, and my hunt began. I Google'd gun stores in the New Castle County area, and did some recon. Out of all of them, I really liked X-Ring's website, and they were hiring. So I figured "Hey, I'll just apply, and see what happens." Two month later, we were on the road again. We had both secured a brighter future in Delaware.
WHAT TO REALLY EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING
So I was briefed on the gun laws before arriving, and I tried to study them. I was even provided the X-Ring Supply Flow Chart to help make sense of what restrictions on semi-autos there were. They made no sense, and I figured things would make more sense once I saw the laws in action.
SPOILER ALERT: I was wrong. Again. My bad.
Y'all. Moving from a "Free State" to a not "Free State"... Listen, I'm happy to be here. Very happy, in fact. But Delaware's gun laws are whacked out. And seeing them effect damn near every aspect on how we get to exercise our Constitutional rights... It's sad.
To not help ease the sadness, and to let new potential Delaware residents who are firearm owners know, I'm going to compare and contrast exactly what these laws do, and how they're asinine and convoluted, and don't really do anything to help.
CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY VS. DELAWARE CDWL
The State of Alabama is a constitutional carry state; you no longer need a permit to carry a firearm in public. Open carry or concealed. You can get a pistol permit if you'd like, but it's not a necessity. I was able to buy my Smith & Wesson Shield Plus, load it, conceal it on my person, and walk out of the store, all within twenty minutes (my background checks proceed automatically because I've been a Good Ol' Boy my entire life).
If I'm to get the Delaware Concealed Deadly Weapons License (or CDWL for short), I need to do these few things:
Take a certified instructional/training course. Okay, cool. No big deal. I received most of my handgun training from my best buddy Kurt, and former MIL/LEO pals in Alabama. It's not a bad thing for me to get the proper training.
Obtain 5 references of people you know for two years, who live in the same county as you, to sign off on your behalf that you can and should carry a firearm. Uh... I Just moved here. I know like maybe two people.
Publish your intent to conceal a firearm to your local newspaper. So I have to just doxx myself to the general public that I'm going to be carrying when I'm out and about? What's the point of concealing if people know?
Get fingerprinted, photographed, and have your application notarized and filed with the Prothonotary in the county you reside AND pay $65. I mean, after everything else, this part should be the easiest.
NO COOL GUNS BEYOND THIS POINT
Can we chat about the semi-auto regulations in this state? I mentioned the Flow Chart earlier. When it comes to pistols, we can't have "copycats"... which isn't really a clear definition of anything at all. So when it comes to pistols, if I put a threaded barrel into a Glock 19, it's now illegal and a "copycat"? Last I checked, a threaded barrel - in its essence - doesn't change the functionality of a Glock 19. You load the magazines, rack the slide, pull the trigger, and that Glock 19 is going to Glock 19 every single time. This State already doesn't allow NFA devices/suppressors, so they're worried that some compensator that you can thread on is going to change... what exactly? It's just silly.
I think Delaware doesn't want me to live out my wildest dreams of owning the Hi-Point YC9 Yeet Cannon with a GSL Suppressor, and be the coolest guy in all of Newark.
NO AKS? DENIED!
That Flow Chart has guns listed that are banned by name. Including the sale of any and all AK-47s. That's a major bummer. The AK platform is my favorite.
"FEATURELESS" RIFLES
I'm sorry, but the idea of "features" on a firearm making it more lethal or dangerous is pretty comical. Let's take the tried and true Ruger Mini-14. Let's reference this article. In it, you'll see that the one with the folding stock and flash suppressor is banned, but the wood stock is not.
They both support detachable magazines.
They both have the same receiver.
They both shoot the same round.
However the one with the flash suppressor and folding stock is no good? Let me tell you a little insider tidbit: I've shot both version of this down south. The one with the folding stock/flash suppressor looks cooler, but isn't that comfortable to shoot. I'd prefer the standard wood stock any day. It's going to do the exact same thing.
THE AR PLATFORM
So far, it seems like the AR platform deals with the most regulations, and they also seem to be worse than the dreaded laws of New York, New Jersey, and California. There are a few ways to get an AR into your life, but you're going to need to have one of these UpGrAdEs to make it state legal, yet still be allowed to have "features":
A Mag Block. Okay, so my 30rd P-Mags from days of old now have to be capped at 17 rounds. A little less than half, could be worse honestly. But still not great. More on that in a bit.
A Fixed Comp Mag. This magazine stays fixed in your rifle, and must be reloaded through a port in the side of the magazine. Yeah, no. Absolutely not. If God forbid I'm in a SHTF scenario, and my fixed comp mag runs out, and I don't have the ability to do them fancy tactical reloads I trained to do in Alabama, I'm dead in the streets. No thank you.
A Bullet Button. The bullet button replaces your magazine release, with a fixed release that has a - you guessed it - button inside of it. To access the button and perform a reload, just grab any .22 caliber projectile, insert it into the button, and drop the mag. Cumbersome, but not a bad option especially with some of the work-arounds on the market.
Juggernaut Tactical Quick Release Pin. This guy will help release the upper receiver from the lower receiver allowing you to drop the magazine from the release freely. This would probably be my go-to suggestion. Quick reloads, when trained properly using the pin, are much more attainable.
A NOTE ON MAGAZINE CAPACITY
Here's one that I'll try my best to keep my opinion to myself on. Magazines are capped at 17 rounds. Before moving, I had a CZ P-10F as my home defense pistol, with the stock 19+1 magazines. I would have either had to 1) lie and not get to play with one of the best, most reliable inexpensive pistols ever made, or 2) get it blocked just two rounds to stay compliant.
What'd I do? I sold it to help with moving expenses. Such is life.
Now, let's say I go through through those steps above to obtain my CDWL. Once I have that, there are no more magazine capacity restrictions. I can go back to my home defense pistol having 17+ rounds, and get an AR and have my 30rd magazines. Sometimes it pays to do the right thing. It's like a reward.
MAGAZINE CAPACITY FOR SHOTGUN OWNERS
If you're someone like me, then you have a taste for the finer things in life. Nice wines, expensive cheeses, and shotguns. My Maverick Arms 88 is my baby. My pride and joy. It's the security model that has the tube that can hold seven 2 3/4" shells. However, I have this little device that allows me to run short shells, turning the magazine tube into a device that can hold 11 shells. I'll admit, that's a lot. Shotgun Owners: if you have a pump-action shotgun, there are NO restrictions on them. At all. Pump away, my friends. If you have a semiauto shotgun, however, you are restricted.
My boldest opinion: pump shotguns are cooler and better. Get a pump shotgun, and all your worries will go away.
IN CONCLUSION
Ultimately, I'm so happy to be closer to friends, family, and the place I called home for over 30 years. Wawa's Hoagiefest has saved me more times this past month than the Buc-Ee's chopped brisket sandwich ever could. But making the accommodations for how I'd like to protect myself and my loved ones has been frustrating and confusing. There ain't much Alabama does better, but when it comes to not infringing on our 2A rights, they're pretty good.
I believe we owe it to ourselves and our community to continue to fight for our rights not to be infringed upon. I wish as an Alabama resident, I could've done more to shed light on what States are doing unconstitutionally to the citizens, while enjoying the spoils of living in a Free State. We are all in this together, no matter where we our located across this nation.