Incidentally, under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), where an officer has a reasonable and articulable suspicion that criminal activity is ongoing, they may conduct an investigative detention for the limited purpose of determining the target individual's name, DOB, where the individual is coming from, and what their business abroad is. Delaware has gone a step further by codifying this under its criminal code in 11 Del. C. § 1902. In effect, in the hypothetical situation above, if it is determined by the officer that the target left the state of Delaware with a newly illegal "assault weapon" and then returned to Delaware with same, then the officer is well within his rights to initiate an investigative detention even in the absence of a traffic stop. The standard is reasonable suspicion of the officer based upon concrete, observable facts as interpreted through the eyes of a similarly situated law enforcement officer. Miller v. State, 25 A.3d 760 (Del. 2011). In reaching the threshold requirement for reasonable suspicion, which is less than probable cause, an officer may rely on part on information provided to a third party so long as there is indicia of reliability for the tip received by law enforcement. Bottom line here, folks, don't go out of state to shoot anything that's currently covered under Delaware's assault ban.
