Why is Delaware called "Murdertown, USA?"
The seemingly sleepy state has recently been erasing their unexpected nickname
Delaware state flag (via Liberty Flagpoles)
By: Traci Manza Murphy
Recently, while guest lecturing at the University of Delaware, I asked a group of students how far apart they should stand from someone to avoid contracting COVID-19.
Every student knew the answer, instantly. “SIX FEET!” It’s an excellent example of public health messaging — everyone knew the answer, they knew it was the right answer, and they were able to recall the answer quickly.
By contrast, a landmark survey in 2023 by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimates that only 49% of Americans know that gun violence has recently become the leading cause of death for those under 20, even though 84% have “taken at least one precaution to protect themselves or their families from the possibility of gun violence.”
Despite being a small state of just over one million residents, Delaware is not exempt from the crisis of gun violence, or the lack of public health messaging about it.
We are a state of neighbors, a state where everyone knows everyone, or seems to. So why is our lingering national reputation that of “Murdertown, USA”? Why are our rates of gun violence higher than those of so many states perceived to be far more dangerous?
According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Delaware ranked 28th for gun safety — far behind our safest neighbor New Jersey (3rd), and still significantly behind other neighbors Pennsylvania (20th) and Maryland (22nd).
What lessons can we learn from our safest neighbors to help us build a safer Delaware?
First, let’s look at what is driving Delaware’s dismal gun-related fatalities — disproportionately high rates of community violence. Why? Nearby Pennsylvania and New Jersey have far lower rates of community violence, even with more densely populated cities experiencing similar root causes, including educational outcomes, poverty, housing insecurity.
So, if our root causes are similar, why are the outcomes so vastly different?
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings has said, “Straw purchasing is a major means of firearms getting into the hands of violent people who intend to kill others, who intend to rob others, and who intend to commit firearm crimes, drug trafficking, et cetera.” Firearms trace data from 2022 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and recently released ATF data from 2023 indicate that “the majority of guns used to commit crimes in Delaware were bought in Delaware.”
Enter permit-to-purchase legislation, which is a cornerstone policy of the safest states, and one that can seriously reduce straw purchases.
In 2019, the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence and partner organizations began a six-year journey to passing a permit-to-purchase policy in Delaware — and quickly learned what we were up against in the Delaware legislature. The bill was filed and died quickly in a Senate leadership committee because, “it didn’t have the votes.”
In 2020, Delaware saw a surge in handgun purchases during the COVID crisis, and our existing gun violence problem grew even more dire. Ironically, it was the perfect storm to begin the momentum for change that we really needed.
In the Delaware primary election, a first-time young candidate primaried and beat the former Senator that killed the permit-to-purchase bill — thanks to incredible support from gun safety groups like Moms Demand Action and the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence.
We tried the permit-to-purchase bill again in 2021, and got it through the Senate! But progress stalled when the bill reached the House, and it never saw a vote on the House floor. In 2022, the legislature ended the session, and sadly the bill died once again.
But during this time, the Coalition was strengthening. We had hired our first ever full-time Executive Director and began doing grass-tops organizing. Instead of one strong partner group advocating, the Coalition was engaging critical partners across multiple disciplines — including healthcare, education, domestic violence, peace activism, violence interruption, government agencies, and beyond.
Finally, in 2023, the bill passed the Senate again and headed to the House. New House leadership made sure the bill got to the floor, and after spirited debate the House passed permit-to-purchase, paving the way for the Governor to sign the bill in mid-May. Six years after the first bill was drafted, it was signed into law in Delaware.
Delaware’s Permit-to-Purchase Policy will add an additional layer of scrutiny to firearm transactions, ensuring that only individuals who pass a thorough background check and meet specific criteria are permitted to buy firearms. This process typically involves a comprehensive background check, completion of a firearm safety course, and obtaining a permit from law enforcement or a designated authority before purchasing a gun.
What was the tipping point? Never giving up, always showing up, and remaining committed to the single most important reason: lives will be saved.
Traci Manza Murphy (photo courtesy of author)
Traci Manza Murphy is the Executive Director of the Coalition for a Safer Delaware, which is dedicated to ending gun violence in Delaware and nationwide through policy, partnerships, and prevention education. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware and has of course met Joe Biden.