Delaware Superior Court struck down a state requirement that hunters between the ages of 18 and 20 be directly supervised by an adult. According to DNREC, the courts felt that the right to keep and bear arms extended to all Delawareans 18 and older.
“The decision by Kent County Resident Judge Reneta L. Green-Streeet found in favor of the plaintiffs,” the DNREC press release read. “The court’s decision, dated August 29, 2025, affects Delaware’s hunting supervision rules for the 2025-26 hunting seasons when the direct supervision for 18-to 21-year-old hunters would have been in effect for the first time since then Governor John Carney signed HB 451 into law in 2022.”
The court case, Birney et.al. v. Delaware Department of Homeland Security et.al., was filed by Gavin J. Birney, the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, Inc. and the Bridgeville Rifle & Pistol Club, Ltd. Birney, who had not reached the age of 21, was unable to purchase a firearm. Birney was a member of the two gun clubs who joined the suit, and many of their members were between the ages of 18 and 21.
The lawsuit claimed that the new regulation violated Article I, Section 20 of the Delaware Constitution which reads “a person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state and for hunting and recreational use.” In her decision, Green-Streeet found that “Delaware citizens have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms for the defense of themselves, their families and their homes, separate and apart from any rights enshrined in the Second Amendment.”
One of the arguments made by the defendants in the case was that 18- to 20-year-olds would not have been included as “people” in the Delaware Constitution article as “infants did not possess the right to own or use firearms outside of their family structures.
“This is because the recognized age of majority in the colonial era in America through the adoption of the U.S. Constitution up until 1971 was 21 years old,” the defendant’s argument read. “This age of majority was adopted from English common law tradition. And the Founding Era law analogized infants to those who did not possess a separate legal identity, such as married women or convicts.”
The courts found this argument to be flawed and antiquated, using who qualified as a “person” in the colonial era to justify the deprivation of rights.
“As of 1971, the recognized age of majority in the United States, Delaware included, is 18. Section 20, passed in 1987, protects, “reasonable, law-abiding adults.” The inclusion of 18- to 20-year-olds as adults has been codified in Delaware since 1972,” the opinion read. “Defendants have failed to show that HB 451 does not restrict the right to self-defense more than is reasonably necessary. Prohibiting the acquisition and possession of firearms completely eviscerates the right to self-defense. At minimum, some provisions of HB 451 infringe on the right of a subsection of adults, aged 18 to 20, to exercise their right to defense of self, family, home and state.”
The decision then concluded that HB 451 violated the Delaware Constitution and makes it unenforceable. However, provisions that do not affect the rights of 18-to-20-year-olds remain intact, such as providing rehabilitative services to those under the age of 18.
