AN ACT PROHIBITING THE SALE OF ELECTRONIC DEFENSE WEAPONS.

This bill requires anyone whose firearm is lost or stolen to file a police report within 72 hours. Current law requires reports only for stolen assault weapons. The bill imposes criminal penalties for failing to make the report.

This bill, with several exceptions, makes it a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $ 2,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both, to sell or deliver electronic defense weapons. The law already prohibits anyone from carrying the weapons, except peace officers performing their official duties. Because, by law, some people the bill authorizes to sell or deliver the weapons cannot carry them, these people will be able to sell the weapons only from their residence (see BACKGROUND).

*Senate Amendment “A” adds the provision requiring reports of lost and stolen firearms.

When an assault weapon is stolen from its legal possessor under current law, he must file a report with law enforcement authorities within 72 hours after he discovers or should have discovered the theft. The bill requires such reports for any firearm lost or stolen. The person whose firearm is lost or stolen must file the report with the police department where the theft occurred or resident state trooper within 72 hours of when he discovered, or should have discovered, the occurrence. The local department or barracks must forward a copy of the report to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) commissioner.

Failing to make a timely police report is punishable by a fine of up to $ 500. Intentionally failing to do so is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $ 2,000, or both for the first offense and a class D felony for subsequent offenses. A class D felony is punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $ 5,000, or both.

The law defines an electronic defense weapon as a weapon that uses electronic impulse or current capable of temporarily immobilizing, but not seriously injuring or killing, a person.

The bill exempts the following from its prohibition on selling and delivering the weapons:

1. sworn members or authorized officials of local police departments, the State Police, or the Division of Criminal Justice;

2. authorized officials of a town or the Department of Administrative Services who buy the weapons on behalf of a police department, State Police, or the Division of Criminal Justice;

3. authorized Judicial Branch officials who buy the weapons on behalf of a probation officer;

4. National Guard members and reservists; and

5. federal marshals or law enforcement officers.

The law classifies electronic defense weapons as dangerous weapons, and only peace officers may carry them. Illegally carrying a dangerous weapon on one's person is punishable by a fine of up to $ 500, imprisonment for up to three years, or both (CGS § 53-206(a)). Illegally carrying it in a vehicle is punishable by a fine of up to $ 1,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both (CGS § 29-38).

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the prohibition against carrying dangerous weapons contains an implicit exception for carrying a weapon in a residence or abode (State v. Sealy 546 A2d 271, 208 Conn. 689 (1988)). But by law, the following people cannot possess these weapons:

1. convicted felons;

2. anyone convicted of serious juvenile offense;

3. anyone who knows that he is the subject of a restraining or protective order, issued after notice and an opportunity to be heard, for using, attempting to use, or threatening to use physical force against someone; and

4. anyone who knows that he is the subject of a firearm seizure order issued by the court after notice and opportunity to be heard.

Illegal possession is a class D felony with a mandatory minimum two-year sentence. A class D felony carries a prison term of one to five years, a fine of up to $ 5,000, or both (CGS § 53a-217).

sSB 443, reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee, allows police to seize electronic defense weapons at the site of a family violence crime and stun guns and other conductive energy guns are types of electronic defense weapons.

Yea

Nay

(03/07/2006)

Yea

Nay

(03/17/2006)