You asked for an outline of gun legislation passed in the last five years. The memo gives the highlights of gun legislation for 1997 through 2002 (in reverse order).

2002 LEGISLATION

PA 02-120. By law, illegal possession of assault weapons is a class D felony. This act exempts possession of certain types of assault weapons purchased or acquired between October 1, 1993 and May 8, 2002 if the purchase and buyer meet certain conditions. (The act does not affect other restrictions on the weapons, such as those governing sales and transportation. ) The act establishes an affirmative defense for possessing any of the listed weapons.

The act requires people to surrender any firearm, instead of just handguns, within two business days after the occurrence of any event that makes them ineligible to possess the firearm.

The act (1) allows a peace officer to seize a firearm in plain view at the scene of a family violence crime even if no arrest is made; (2) expands the circumstances under which the firearm may be seized to include crimes involving dating relationships; (3) allows for seizure from someone suspected of committing a crime but not arrested; and (4) increases, from up to 48 hours to up to seven days, the time a peace officer has to return a firearm seized at a domestic violence crime scene to its rightful owner.

Public Act 01-103 required the Department of Public Safety (DPS) commissioner, chief state's attorney, and Connecticut Police Chiefs Association to work together to update the protocol they developed to ensure that people who become ineligible to possess handguns either transfer them to someone eligible or surrender them to the commissioner. PA 02-120 requires them to include in the protocol specific transfer instructions when several law enforcement agencies must be involved to complete the transfer or surrender.

2001 LEGISLATION

PA 01-83. This act exempts anyone who lawfully possesses a firearm for use in a school-sponsored activity from the crime of weapon possession on school grounds. People commit this crime when they possess firearms or dangerous weapons on school property or at school-sponsored activities (those a board of education sponsors or authorizes, held on school property or elsewhere) knowing that they are not licensed or privileged to do so. But people who lawfully have guns on school property for use in a school-sponsored activity (such as a school's rifle club) are exempt. It was unclear under prior law whether such people were exempt when the activity was held off campus.

PA 01-130. This act expands the definition of assault weapons to include semiautomatic firearms with certain characteristics, banning any made after September 12, 1994 with those characteristics. With exceptions, it also bans. 50-caliber armor-piercing and incendiary bullets. The act also (1) requires the DPS to establish a firearms evidence databank to store ballistic data (discharged ammunition and the unique markings or impressions each gun leaves on bullets and bullet casings) that can be used to search for matching gun fingerprints, (2) creates a single gun permit system by abolishing the local permit to carry handguns and makes other changes to the gun laws, (3) tightens the controls over people possessing guns in family violence situations, and (4) makes technical and conforming changes.

2000 LEGISLATION

PA 00-142. This act creates the crimes of negligent hunting and hunting while under the influence of or impaired by alcohol. It imposes enhanced penalties for persistent offenders. It generally requires the person arrested for these crimes to surrender his weapon. A hunter whose license has been suspended for violating hunting laws must complete a remedial hunter education course designed by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) before his license can be reinstated. The act additionally requires the hunter to demonstrate that he has passed a conservation education/firearms safety course or its equivalent, as specified by DEP.

PA 00-192. This act creates a statewide gun trafficking task force of law enforcement officers who must work together to enforce the state's gun distribution and possession laws. It creates the State-Wide Firearms Trafficking Task Force Policy Board to direct the task force's policy formulation and operating procedures, and it allows the board to apply for and administer local, state, federal, or private appropriations or grant funds available for task force operations.

The task force, located within the State Police, consists of local law enforcement officers and may also include federal law enforcement officers. The public safety commissioner, within available appropriations, may appoint a commanding officer and other personnel he deems necessary to perform task force duties.

The task force may (1) conduct statewide investigations the act authorizes; (2) seek and accept help to perform its duties from federal, state, and local agencies, including temporary personnel assignments; (3) enter into mutual aid agreements with other states to address interstate gun law enforcement matters; and (4) consult and exchange information and personnel with other states' agencies on such matters. The task force must (1) review illegal gun trafficking and its effects on the public and implement strategies to address the problem, (2) identify illegal gun traffickers and focus resources on prosecuting them, (3) track illegally sold or distributed guns and implement strategies to take them from illegal possessors, and (4) coordinate its activities with other Connecticut law enforcement agencies.

1999 LEGISLATION

PA 99-186. This act authorizes a peace officer who makes an arrest for domestic violence to seize guns from the arrestee and from plain view at the site of the alleged crime.

PA 99-212. This act:

1. allows the police to seize guns, under certain limited circumstances and following specified procedures, from people posing a risk of imminent personal injury to themselves or others;

2. makes people strictly liable, in some circumstances, if their guns are used to kill or injure anyone;

3. makes it a class D felony, for people convicted of any felony, rather than just specified felonies, to possess long guns, thus making this standard the same as for possessing handguns;

4. eliminates the two-week waiting period for handgun transfers and makes other substantive and procedural changes to the laws governing gun sales and transfers, including mandating a national instant criminal background system check on anyone acquiring a handgun or buying a long gun at retail;

5. requires employees selling guns in department-type stores to complete a DPS-approved course in gun safety and statutory procedures for selling guns and meet other standards;

6. allows interstate transportation of handguns without handgun permits in accordance with federal law and broadens the circumstances under which nonresidents may transport handguns in Connecticut without a permit;

7. increases the penalty for giving false information when buying, selling, or transferring handguns by making it a class D felony and also makes it a class D felony to give false information in connection with long gun transactions;

8. modifies the list of dangerous weapons, which, with minor exceptions, could be carried under prior law only with a permit, and, except for peace officers on official duty, generally bans the carrying of these weapons;

9. removes restrictions on out-of-state long gun purchases, thus allowing Connecticut residents to buy long guns in any state, rather than just specified states, pursuant to federal law; and

10. makes miscellaneous changes affecting gun shows, permit fees, and gun surrender protocol.

PA 99-240. This act revokes automatically the gun permit of a bail enforcement agent whose license is suspended, revoked, or not renewed.

1998 LEGISLATION

PA 98-129. This act establishes a mechanism for the public safety commissioner to exchange information with the mental health and addiction services commissioner about the status of people who have been committed to psychiatric hospitals and who also have handgun permits or eligibility certificates or certificates to possess assault weapons.

The act also:

1. makes it a crime to carry a loaded gun while intoxicated and eliminates a provision of prior law that allowed anyone with a valid permit to carry a handgun to bring his gun onto school property or to school-sponsored activities;

2. prohibits anyone convicted as a delinquent for a serious juvenile offense from obtaining a certificate to acquire or a permit to carry a handgun and subjects people with such convictions to criminal penalties if they possess guns;

3. exempts existing firing ranges from criminal prosecution or civil liability for noise pollution from shooting-related activities (but it allows municipalities to regulate noise increases due to facility expansion);

4. requires law enforcement agencies to trace and attempt to identify all seized guns using state and federal resources and return them if they were stolen; and

5. requires handguns to be sold equipped with reusable trigger locks or similar devices.

1997 LEGISLATION

PA 97-56. This act extends to other guns the prohibition against anyone removing, altering, or obliterating the serial numbers on handguns.

The act also:

1. establishes procedures, including documentation, record keeping and reporting requirements, for secondary handgun sales;

2. makes it a class D felony to transfer handguns in violation of the sales procedures or to a person ineligible to possess them;

3. requires a person to have a handgun permit, dealer's permit, or eligibility certificate to acquire a handgun;

4. strengthens the criteria for issuing and revoking handgun permits;

5. makes successful completion of an approved course in handgun safety and use a condition of getting a handgun permit or certificate;

6. requires anyone possessing a handgun to surrender it within two business days of any event that makes him ineligible to possess it;

7. requires anyone who sells more than 10 handguns in a calendar year to get a dealer's permit;

8. makes it illegal to provide a handgun to anyone under age 21, instead of under age 18; and

9. requires the public safety commissioner to establish a state data base for anyone who sells or transfers handguns to use to verify the validity of permits and certificates.

VR: eh