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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6491
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3557
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING NO NLETHAL ELECTRONIC D EFENSE
WEAPONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 29-38 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 2
passage): 3
(a) Any person who knowingly has, in any vehicle owned, operated 4
or occupied by such person, any weapon, any pistol or revolver for 5
which a proper permit has not been issued as provided in section 29-28 6
or any machine gun which has not been registered as required by section 7
53-202, shall be guilty of a class D felony, and the presence of any such 8
weapon, pistol or revolver, or machine gun in any vehicle shall be prima 9
facie evidence of a violation of this section by the owner, operator and 10
each occupant thereof. The word "weapon", as used in this section, 11
means any BB. gun, any blackjack, any metal or brass knuckles, any 12
police baton or nightstick, any dirk knife or switch knife, any knife 13
having an automatic spring release device by which a blade is released 14
from the handle, having a blade of over one and one-half inches in 15 Raised Bill No. 6491
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length, any stiletto, any knife the edged portion of the blade of which is 16
four inches or more in length, any martial arts weapon, [or electronic 17
defense weapon,] as defined in section 53a-3, or any other dangerous or 18
deadly weapon or instrument. 19
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 53-206 of the general statutes is 20
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 21
passage): 22
(a) Any person who carries upon his or her person any BB. gun, 23
blackjack, metal or brass knuckles, or any dirk knife, or any switch knife, 24
or any knife having an automatic spring release device by which a blade 25
is released from the handle, having a blade of over one and one-half 26
inches in length, or stiletto, or any knife the edged portion of the blade 27
of which is four inches or more in length, any police baton or nightstick, 28
or any martial arts weapon, [or electronic defense weapon,] as defined 29
in section 53a-3, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or 30
instrument, shall be guilty of a class E felony. Whenever any person is 31
found guilty of a violation of this section, any weapon or other 32
instrument within the provisions of this section, found upon the body 33
of such person, shall be forfeited to the municipality wherein such 34
person was apprehended, notwithstanding any failure of the judgment 35
of conviction to expressly impose such forfeiture. 36
Sec. 3. Section 53a-217 of the general statutes is repealed and the 37
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 38
(a) A person is guilty of criminal possession of a firearm [,] or 39
ammunition [or an electronic defense weapon] when such person 40
possesses a firearm [,] or ammunition [or an electronic defense weapon] 41
and (1) has been convicted of a felony committed prior to, on or after 42
October 1, 2013, or of a violation of section 21a-279, 53a-58, 53a-61, 53a-43
61a, 53a-62, 53a-63, 53a-96, 53a-175, 53a-176, 53a-178 or 53a-181d 44
committed on or after October 1, 2013, (2) has been convicted as 45
delinquent for the commission of a serious juvenile offense, as defined 46
in section 46b-120, (3) has been discharged from custody within the 47 Raised Bill No. 6491
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preceding twenty years after having been found not guilty of a crime by 48
reason of mental disease or defect pursuant to section 53a-13, (4) knows 49
that such person is subject to (A) a restraining or protective order of a 50
court of this state that has been issued against such person, after notice 51
has been provided to such person, in a case involving the use, attempted 52
use or threatened use of physical force against another person, or (B) a 53
foreign order of protection, as defined in section 46b-15a, that has been 54
issued against such person in a case involving the use, attempted use or 55
threatened use of physical force against another person, (5) (A) has been 56
confined on or after October 1, 2013, in a hospital for persons with 57
psychiatric disabilities, as defined in section 17a-495, within the 58
preceding sixty months by order of a probate court, or with respect to 59
any person who holds a valid permit or certificate that was issued or 60
renewed under the provisions of section 29-28 or 29-36f in effect prior to 61
October 1, 2013, such person has been confined in such hospital within 62
the preceding twelve months, or (B) has been voluntarily admitted on 63
or after October 1, 2013, to a hospital for persons with psychiatric 64
disabilities, as defined in section 17a-495, within the preceding six 65
months for care and treatment of a psychiatric disability, unless the 66
person (i) was voluntarily admitted solely for being an alcohol-67
dependent person or a drug-dependent person as those terms are 68
defined in section 17a-680, or (ii) is a police officer who was voluntarily 69
admitted and had his or her firearm [,] or ammunition [or electronic 70
defense weapon] used in the performance of the police officer's official 71
duties returned in accordance with section 7-291d, (6) knows that such 72
person is subject to a firearms seizure order issued pursuant to 73
subsection (d) of section 29-38c after notice and an opportunity to be 74
heard has been provided to such person, or (7) is prohibited from 75
shipping, transporting, possessing or receiving a firearm pursuant to 18 76
USC 922(g)(4). For the purposes of this section, "convicted" means 77
having a judgment of conviction entered by a court of competent 78
jurisdiction, "ammunition" means a loaded cartridge, consisting of a 79
primed case, propellant or projectile, designed for use in any firearm, 80
and a motor vehicle violation for which a sentence to a term of 81
imprisonment of more than one year may be imposed shall be deemed 82 Raised Bill No. 6491
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an unclassified felony. 83
(b) Criminal possession of a firearm [,] or ammunition [or an 84
electronic defense weapon] is a class C felony, for which two years of 85
the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court, 86
and five thousand dollars of the fine imposed may not be remitted or 87
reduced by the court unless the court states on the record its reasons for 88
remitting or reducing such fine. 89
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 29-38(a)
Sec. 2 from passage 53-206(a)
Sec. 3 from passage 53a-217
Statement of Purpose:
To remove the prohibition on possession of nonlethal electronic defense
weapons.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]