Legal Information: Connecticut

State Gun Laws

Updated: 
December 28, 2022

I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal?

It is illegal under Connecticut state law for a person to possess (have) a firearm or ammunition if any of the following are true:

  1. s/he has a final restraining or protective order issued against him/her from any state in a case involving the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force;
  2. s/he has been convicted of a felony;
  3. s/he has been convicted of illegal possession of a controlled substance on or after October 1, 2015;
  4. s/he has been convicted of any of the following misdemeanors within the past 20 years:
  5. s/he has been convicted as delinquent for a “serious juvenile offense;”
  6. s/he has been discharged from custody within the past 20 years after having been found not guilty of a crime by reason of mental disease or defect;
  7. s/he has been confined on or after October 1, 2013, in a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities within the past five years by order of a probate court, or within the past one year if the person already has a valid permit or certificate to carry firearms;
  8. s/he has been voluntarily admitted on or after October 1, 2013, to a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities or within the past six months for care and treatment of a psychiatric disability; Note: This does not apply if:
    • the person voluntarily admitted him/herself for alcohol or drug dependency; or
    • if the person is a police officer who voluntarily admitted him/herself and had his/her firearm returned for official use; or
  9. s/he has a final firearms seizure order issued against him/her; 
  10. s/he has a risk protection order or risk protection investigation order issued against him/her;1 or
  11. s/he has been adjudicated as a “mental defective” or has been committed to a mental institution.2

In addition, a person can be denied a certificate to carry a revolver or pistol if any of the following are true:

Also, federal laws, which apply to all states, restrict an abuser’s right to have a gun if s/he was convicted of a felony or a domestic violence misdemeanor or if you have a final protection order against him/her that meets certain requirements. Go to the Federal Gun Laws page to get more information.

1 C.G.S.A. § 53a-217(a)
2 C.G.S.A. § 53a-217(a)(7); 18 USC § 922(g)(4)
3 C.G.S.A. § 29-36f(b)

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