Governor Meyer's New Gun Office Threatens Your Second Amendment Rights

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer marked his 100th day in office with a sweeping executive order, launching the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety. The move promises to tackle a pressing issue, but its approach raises serious questions. Centralized state oversight, paired with partnerships to groups pushing restrictive gun policies, signals a troubling shift. This isn’t about safety; it’s about control.

Gun violence demands action, no question. Lives lost to shootings in cities like Wilmington tear at the heart of communities. Yet Meyer’s office, nestled under the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, leans on a framework that risks overreaching into the lives of law-abiding citizens. Its focus on 'public health' and 'trauma-informed outreach' sounds compassionate but often serves as a Trojan horse for policies that chip away at fundamental rights.

The Second Amendment isn’t a suggestion. It’s a cornerstone of individual liberty, enshrined to ensure people can protect themselves and their families. Delaware’s new office, with its data-driven strategies and community coalitions, may claim to target violence, but its alignment with groups like Everytown for Gun Safety hints at an agenda. These organizations advocate for universal background checks and bans on certain firearms, measures that burden lawful gun owners while doing little to stop criminals.

Effective solutions exist, and they don’t require trampling on constitutional protections. Community-based programs, like those in Chicago and Philadelphia, prove that targeted interventions can work. Street outreach teams in these cities have mediated conflicts, preventing retaliatory shootings. Summer youth employment initiatives in Philadelphia cut juvenile gun incidents by 15 percent in 2024. These efforts focus on high-risk individuals, not blanket restrictions on everyone.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design offers another practical tool. In Baltimore, transforming vacant lots into green spaces correlated with a 20 percent drop in neighborhood shootings. These localized, evidence-based strategies show promise because they address root causes without punishing those who follow the law. Delaware’s office could learn from this, but its report boasts only a modest 10 percent decrease in targeted areas, suggesting it’s more about optics than outcomes.

Then there’s enforcement. Criminals, not lawful gun owners, drive violence. Republican platforms have long emphasized prosecuting those who misuse firearms, a stance backed by groups like the Heritage Foundation. In 2025, 24 states have embraced constitutional carry, trusting citizens to exercise their rights responsibly. Delaware’s office, by contrast, seems poised to layer on regulations that could criminalize simple transfers between family members or friends.

Advocates for Meyer’s approach argue that treating gun violence as a public health crisis justifies broad measures. They point to the CDC and Johns Hopkins, which link safe storage laws to reduced youth injuries. Fair enough, but these studies often overstate benefits while ignoring trade-offs. Safe storage mandates can delay access in emergencies, leaving families vulnerable. Extreme risk protection orders, another favored policy, sound reasonable but lack clear standards, risking abuse against innocent owners.

The opposition also leans on grim statistics: 46,278 gun deaths in 2023, including 17,927 homicides. These numbers are meant to shock, but they obscure context. Homicides dropped 14 percent from 2021, and mass shootings fell 24 percent in 2024. Urban centers like Chicago account for a disproportionate share of violence, yet the focus remains on statewide or federal restrictions that hit rural and suburban gun owners hardest. This one-size-fits-all mindset fails to address the real drivers of crime.

Groups like Brady United push for bans on military-style firearms and high-capacity magazines, claiming they’ll curb mass shootings. Yet school shootings, tragic as they are, numbered 330 in 2024, a fraction of overall crime. Meanwhile, lawful concealed carry holders often stop threats before they escalate. The Firearm Ownership Protection Act, backed by Republicans in Congress, seeks to expand these rights, recognizing that armed citizens are a first line of defense.

Delaware’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety may have noble intentions, but its path is fraught with pitfalls. By aligning with advocates for restrictive policies, it risks alienating the very citizens it claims to protect. Gun violence is a complex problem, but the answer lies in precision: enforce existing laws, invest in proven community programs, and respect the rights of those who pose no threat.

The Second Amendment stands as a reminder that liberty comes with responsibility. Delaware’s leaders must reject the temptation to centralize power and instead empower communities to address violence on their terms. Trust in the people, not in bureaucracy, will build a safer future for all.