2022 SB 16 - AN ACT ADDRESSING GUN VIOLENCE AND JUVENILE CRIME
Click Here to view the bill’s website on the General Assembly webpage.
Updated 4/5/2022/2022
Bill Status
Joint Favorable out of Committee
Public Hearing Date
3/14/2022
Bills Intent
To implement the Governor’s budget recommendations.
Bill Highlights
MAJOR UPDATE 3/31/2022
The Committee voted on a strike all amendment to make the original 50+ pages gun control bill to a 3-page bill. The new langue of the S.B. 16 (LCO 4199), includes 2 years of funding for the firearm trafficking task force and to require DESPP to consult with NSSF to report of the feasibility of creating a state FFL license.
ORIGINAL BILL AS PROPOSED BY THE GOVERNOR PROPOSED THE FOLLOWING
- More Gun Registration- 2022 Assault Weapon Ban
- Firearms without serial numbers
- CT “Other” firearm/weapons
- Required to obtain a certificate of possession
- Expands the list of ban firearms-
- Ban “other” firearms
- Pistol braces, Stabilizing braces
- Ban the sale of receivers/lowers
- Ban .22 rimfire rifles with detachable magazine and ONE feature
- Ban Pre-Ban (1994) semi-auto riffles
- Ban all transfers/sale of 2022 assault weapon within the state
- Modify carry laws
- Show your permit on demand if asked by police even if they do not have reasonable suspicion of a crime. Stop & Identify law for legal gun owners.
- Adds family violence misdemeanor / Felony to disqualifiers
- Spouses or former spouses, parents, children, related by blood or marriage, presently residing together or who have resided together, persons who have a child in common, persons in, or have recently been in, a dating relationship.
- Removes the right to appeal to the BFPE for some
- Gun Free Zones
- Within 75 feet of any polling place
- In any municipal or state building
- On any bus, train or ferry operated by a government entity
- No firearms can be shown, displayed or visible, within 250 feet of at any demonstration
- What’s a Demonstration (15 or more people situated in a public place, the front, immediate area or parking lot of any store, shop, restaurant, tavern, shopping center or other place of business, any public building, its grounds or surrounding area or any public parking lot, street, right-of-way, sidewalk, public park or other public grounds.)
- State license for gun dealers- State Police Oversight of FFL’s
- $200 State license required to sell firearms
- $200 Renewal every four years
- Valid state permit to carry
- Local permit
- Federal firearms license
- Any other materials required by the commissioner
- Fines of $25,000 / per violation
- Licenses may not be transferred
- Require trigger locks for all firearm sales, not just handguns
Introduced By
REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
Latest Version
CCDL's Stance
Governor Lamont stated clearly that an administration is not tough on crime if it is weak on guns. Yet, roughly 70% of gun offenses in Connecticut today are not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The overwhelming majority of all gun crimes in the state are committed by prohibited persons who are not lawfully permitted to possess a firearm. However, the Governor spoke Monday not just about his abhorrence of illegal firearms in this state but legal as well, demonstrating his indifference between criminals and law abiding gun owners.
Governor Lamont further returned to a defeated “stop and frisk” tactic allowing citizens to be questioned without suspicion of a crime. This unconstitutional requirement to show carry permits without cause would open the door for harassment and profiling. It is currently permissible for an officer to ask for a permit if there is reasonable suspicion of a crime. The Governor’s archaic plan is contradictory to the spirit of the very laws the Governor signed last year limiting police engagement particularly in our urban communities. The legislature has already rejected this very notion out of concern for unjust profiling. The CCDL has been on record for nearly a decade advocating for full restoration of the Statewide Firearms Trafficking Task Force since it was defunded shortly after Sandy Hook. The sitting majority party repeatedly defeated the proposal in committee year after year. Now the Governor’s office is turning to only a small facet of the very solution the CCDL has spent years supporting as a true common sense solution to gun crimes.
In 2021 alone, tens of thousands of Connecticut residents became new permit holders. Background checks for firearm purchases soared to record setting numbers. The Governor’s proposals demonstrate that he is out of touch with the people of Connecticut and woefully disconnected from his own failed policies which have resulted in the demand for more access to self-defense.
UPDATE 3/31/2022 – After the Judiciary Committee proposed updated language to the 53 page bill, CCDL is proud to report that the bill has been reduced to 3 pages. CCDL will continue to monitor this bill closely.
