You asked under what circumstances long distance truck drivers can carry handguns in their trucks while in Connecticut.

SUMMARY

With limited exceptions (see Attachment 1), anyone wanting to carry handguns in Connecticut must get a gun permit from the Department of Public Safety and carry it on his person when carrying any handgun (CGS § 29-35). One exception allows people traveling through Connecticut (including truck drivers) to carry handguns in their vehicles without a permit if traveling from and to a state where they can legally possess and carry firearms.

Another exception allows a nonresident permitted to possess handguns in the state where he resides to carry handguns without a permit if he is taking them for repairs, participating in competitions or approved handgun training exercises, or attending a gun exhibition of an organized collectors' group.

CARRYING HANDGUNS WITHOUT A PERMIT WHILE TRAVELLING THROUGH CONNECTICUT

The law allows people to transport handguns without a permit through Connecticut for lawful purposes if they (1) are not otherwise prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing guns and (2) are transporting them between states where they can legally possess and carry them. They cannot use, sell, deliver, otherwise transfer, or carry the the gun on their person while in the state (CGS § 29-38d).

The law also allows nonresidents to transport handguns in and through the state for repairs, when participating in competitions, when participating in handgun training at locally approved or permitted firing ranges or training facilities, or when attending any meeting or exhibition of an organized collectors' group, as long as they are permitted to possess handguns in the state where they reside (CGS § 29-35).

In both cases above, the guns must be kept unloaded, and they and any ammunition must be carried in the vehicle where they cannot be readily or directly accessible from the vehicle's passenger compartment. If the vehicle does not have a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the guns and any ammunition must be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console (CGS §§ 29-35 & 29-38d).

Anyone who carries a handgun without his permit on his person commits an infraction, which carries a $35 fine (CGS § 29-37). Anyone who knowingly carries in his vehicle a handgun for which a permit was not issued is subject to a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both (CGS § 29-38).

VR:ts