O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 23-203—HB 6895
Judiciary Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING FI REARMS AND STREET TA KEOVERS
SUMMARY: This act makes several changes to the state’s laws regulating
firearms (guns) and certain actions around motor vehicle races, contests, and
demonstrations of speed or skill (“street racing”), including amending provisions
in other 2023 public acts (PA 23-53 and PA 23-135). Principally, the act does the
following:
1. expands the exceptions to the prohibition on carrying a firearm with intent
to display it;
2. provides a grace period for certain people in possession of a grandfathered
large capacity magazine (LCM) to declare their possession by January 1,
2024, to avoid criminal penalties; and
3. changes the penalties for illegal street racing and related conduct.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2023
§ 1 — EXCEPTIONS TO THE PROHIBITION ON CARRYING A FIREARM
WITH INTENT TO DISPLAY IT
PA 23-53, § 1, generally prohibits anyone from knowingly carrying any firearm
with intent to display it. Among other exceptions under that act, this prohibition
does not apply to a person (1) in his or her home, (2) on land he or she leases or
owns, or (3) in his or her place of business. This act further exempts such firearm
display (1) on land that a person possesses by other means than leasing or owning
and (2) when a person has been explicitly allowed by another person to do so while
in that person’s home; on land he or she leases, owns, or otherwise possesses; or in
his or her place of business.
PA 23-53, § 1, also exempts certain individuals and circumstances from the
prohibition (e.g., whenever carried by certain law enforcement officials or by
anyone transporting a firearm for repair). This act additionally exempts the
following:
1. security guards and other individuals employed to perform public or private
property protection duties, while performing their duties or traveling to or
from them;
2. individuals carrying a firearm that is needed to participate in an honor guard
or an historic reenactment; and
3. licensed bail enforcement agents.
§ 2 — GRACE PERIOD FOR DEC LARING POSSESSION OF LARGE
CAPACITY MAGAZINES
O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 13-3, as amended by PA 13-220, generally prohibited anyone from
possessing an LCM (see below), but, among other exceptions, allowed individuals
who lawfully possessed (see below) an LCM prior to January 1, 2014, to keep that
LCM if he or she declared it to the Department of Emergency Services and Public
Protection (DESPP) by, generally, January 1, 2014.
Under prior law and absent any applicable exception, a person who possessed
an LCM on or after January 1, 2014, that was obtained (1) before April 5, 2013,
was guilty of an infraction with a fine up to $90 for a first offense and a class D
felony (see Table on Penalties) for any subsequent offense; and (2) after April 5,
2013, was guilty of a class D felony (CGS § 53-202w(c)). Beginning October 1,
2023, PA 23-53, § 27, eliminates the differing penalties for when the LCM was
obtained and instead bifurcates the penalties based on whether a person is eligible
to possess a firearm under state or federal law, making violations a class D felony
for those who are ineligible and a class A misdemeanor for those who are eligible.
This act allows anyone who lawfully possessed an LCM before January 1, 2014,
and who has not declared possession of it as of July 1, 2023, to do so by January 1,
2024, and thus avoid the above penalties. The application must be made on a form
and in a manner as the DESPP commissioner prescribes. Any truthful information
included on a timely registration application for an LCM made under this provision
may not be used against the defendant in any criminal prosecution for LCM
possession.
The act makes a related change that generally carries forward an existing grace
period for state and U.S. Armed Forces members moving into Connecticut. Under
prior law, these members in lawful possession of an LCM who had been transferred
into the state after January 1, 2014, could, within 90 days after arriving, apply to
DESPP to declare possession of the LCM. The act limits which members are
eligible for this option to those transferred after January 1, 2024.
The act also makes related changes affecting “licensed gun dealers” (i.e., people
with a federal firearms license and a local permit to sell firearms (CGS § 53-
202w(a))). By law, these dealers, when an LCM owner transfers his or her LCM to
them, must execute a certificate of transfer at the time of delivery. Under prior law
and for any transfer before January 1, 2014, each dealer also had to report monthly
to the DESPP commissioner, on forms he prescribed, regarding the number of
transfers that the dealer accepted. The act reinstitutes this reporting requirement for
transfers made on or after July 1, 2023, and before January 1, 2024. For transfers
on or after January 1, 2014, prior law required each dealer to mail or deliver each
certificate of transfer to the DESPP commissioner. The act modifies this
requirement to only apply to transfers (1) on or after January 1, 2014, and before
July 1, 2023, and (2) on or after January 1, 2024.
Definitions
By law, an “LCM” is any firearm magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar
device that can hold, or can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than
10 rounds of ammunition. It excludes:
1. feeding devices permanently altered so that they cannot hold more than 10 O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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rounds,
2. .22 caliber tube ammunition feeding devices,
3. tubular magazines contained in a lever-action firearm, and
4. permanently inoperable magazines.
“Lawful possession” of an LCM generally means (1) actual and lawful
possession of the LCM or (2) constructive possession of the LCM through a lawful
purchase of a firearm that contains an LCM that was transacted before or on April
4, 2013, even if the firearm was delivered after that date. For constructive
possession, the lawful purchase must be evidenced by a writing sufficient to
indicate that (1) a contract for sale was made between the parties before or on April
4, 2013, for the purchase of the firearm, or (2) full or partial payment for the firearm
was made by the purchaser to the seller before or on April 4, 2013. “Lawful
possession” also includes such actual or constructive possession that is evidenced
by a written statement under penalty of false statement on a DESPP commissioner-
prescribed form (CGS § 53-202w(a)).
§ 3 — COURT AUTHORITY OVER VIOLATIONS OF LARGE CAPACITY
MAGAZINE LAWS
Under existing law, the court may order suspension of prosecution for
violations of the state’s LCM laws if it finds that the violation is not of a serious
nature and the person charged (1) will probably not offend in the future, (2) has not
previously been convicted of these laws, and (3) has not previously had a
prosecution under these laws suspended. PA 23-53, § 27, (1) further allows the
court, if it makes the above findings, to order any other diversionary programs
available to the defendant, and (2) updates a statutory reference to reflect other
changes in the act. (PA 23-53, § 18, makes the same statutory cross reference update
as § 27.) This act retains that act’s allowance but changes the statutory reference to
an incorrect one.
§ 4 — STREET TAKEOVERS
(To be added in fully strung version)