2018 HB 5540: An Act Concerning Ghost Guns.

Bill Text

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 53a-3 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):

Except where different meanings are expressly specified, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this title:

(1) "Person" means a human being, and, where appropriate, a public or private corporation, a limited liability company, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a government or a governmental instrumentality;

(2) "Possess" means to have physical possession or otherwise to exercise dominion or control over tangible property;

(3) "Physical injury" means impairment of physical condition or pain;

(4) "Serious physical injury" means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ;

(5) "Deadly physical force" means physical force which can be reasonably expected to cause death or serious physical injury;

(6) "Deadly weapon" means any weapon, whether loaded or unloaded, from which a shot may be discharged, or a switchblade knife, gravity knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, or metal knuckles. The definition of "deadly weapon" in this subdivision shall be deemed not to apply to section 29-38 or 53-206;

(7) "Dangerous instrument" means any instrument, article or substance which, under the circumstances in which it is used or attempted or threatened to be used, is capable of causing death or serious physical injury, and includes a "vehicle", as that term is defined in this section, and includes a dog that has been commanded to attack, except a dog owned by a law enforcement agency of the state or any political subdivision thereof or of the federal government when such dog is in the performance of its duties under the direct supervision, care and control of an assigned law enforcement officer;

(8) "Vehicle" means a "motor vehicle", as defined in section 14-1, a snowmobile, any aircraft, or any vessel equipped for propulsion by mechanical means or sail;

(9) "Peace officer" means a member of the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or an organized local police department, a chief inspector or inspector in the Division of Criminal Justice, a state marshal while exercising authority granted under any provision of the general statutes, a judicial marshal in the performance of the duties of a judicial marshal, a conservation officer or special conservation officer, as defined in section 26-5, a constable who performs criminal law enforcement duties, a special policeman appointed under section 29-18, 29-18a or 29-19, an adult probation officer, an official of the Department of Correction authorized by the Commissioner of Correction to make arrests in a correctional institution or facility, any investigator in the investigations unit of the office of the State Treasurer, a United States marshal or deputy marshal, any special agent of the federal government authorized to enforce the provisions of Title 21 of the United States Code, or a member of a law enforcement unit of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe or the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut created and governed by a memorandum of agreement under section 47-65c who is certified as a police officer by the Police Officer Standards and Training Council pursuant to sections 7-294a to 7-294e, inclusive;

(10) "Firefighter" means any agent of a municipality whose duty it is to protect life and property therein as a member of a duly constituted fire department whether professional or volunteer;

(11) A person acts "intentionally" with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense when his conscious objective is to cause such result or to engage in such conduct;

(12) A person acts "knowingly" with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware that his conduct is of such nature or that such circumstance exists;

(13) A person acts "recklessly" with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregarding it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation;

(14) A person acts with "criminal negligence" with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation;

(15) "Machine gun" means a weapon of any description, irrespective of size, by whatever name known, loaded or unloaded, from which a number of shots or bullets may be rapidly or automatically discharged from a magazine with one continuous pull of the trigger and includes a submachine gun;

(16) "Rifle" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger;

(17) "Shotgun" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger;

(18) "Pistol" or "revolver" means any firearm having a barrel less than twelve inches;

(19) "Firearm" means any sawed-off shotgun, machine gun, rifle, shotgun, pistol, revolver or other weapon, whether loaded or unloaded from which a shot may be discharged, and any unfinished "frame or lower receiver", as that term is defined in this section;

(20) "Electronic defense weapon" means a weapon which by electronic impulse or current is capable of immobilizing a person temporarily, but is not capable of inflicting death or serious physical injury, including a stun gun or other conductive energy device;

(21) "Martial arts weapon" means a nunchaku, kama, kasari-fundo, octagon sai, tonfa or chinese star;

(22) "Employee of an emergency medical service organization" means an ambulance driver, emergency medical technician or paramedic, as defined in section 19a-175;

(23) "Railroad property" means all tangible property owned, leased or operated by a railroad carrier including, but not limited to, a right-of-way, track, roadbed, bridge, yard, shop, station, tunnel, viaduct, trestle, depot, warehouse, terminal or any other structure or appurtenance or equipment owned, leased or used in the operation of a railroad carrier including a train, locomotive, engine, railroad car, signals or safety device or work equipment or rolling stock;

(24) "Frame or lower receiver" means the part of a firearm that provides the action or housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock and firing mechanism, and includes a frame or lower receiver blank, casting or machined body that requires further machining or molding to be used as part of a functional firearm, and which is designed and intended to be used in the "assembly", as that term is defined in section 29-36, as amended by this act, of a functional firearm.

Sec. 2. Section 29-36 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):

(a) No individual shall complete the manufacture or assembly of a firearm without (1) obtaining a unique serial number or other mark of identification from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection pursuant to section 3 of this act, and (2) engraving upon or permanently affixing to the firearm such serial number or other mark in a manner that conforms with the requirements imposed on licensed importers and licensed manufacturers of firearms pursuant to 18 USC 923(i), as amended from time to time, and any regulation adopted thereunder.

(d) No person individual shall remove, deface, alter or obliterate the name of any maker or model or any maker's number, unique serial number or other mark of identification on any firearm. as defined in section 53a-3. The possession of any firearm upon which any identifying mark, number or name has been removed, defaced, altered or obliterated shall be prima facie evidence that the person individual owning or in possession of such firearm has removed, defaced, altered or obliterated the same.

(b) (h) Any person individual who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a class C felony for which two years of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court, and five thousand dollars of the fine imposed may not be remitted or reduced by the court unless the court states on the record its reasons for remitting or reducing such fine, and any firearm found in the possession of any person individual in violation of said provision shall be forfeited.

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall develop and maintain a system to distribute a unique serial number or other mark of identification to any individual requesting such number or mark in accordance with section 29-36 of the general statutes, as amended by this act. The department shall maintain identifying information of the individual requesting the number or mark and of the firearm for which each such number or mark is requested.

In Section 2(a), an extraneous word was deleted and at the end of Section 2(f)(2), "by the law enforcement agency" was added for clarity.

Related Articles

Behind the Bill