Connecticut Gun Laws in 2026: What Applies Today

Last checked 8 October 2026 against the Connecticut General Statutes, the Special Licensing and Firearms Unit pages and the current court dockets. Connecticut rewrote large parts of its firearm law in 2023, added more in 2025, and two of its bans are now in front of the Supreme Court. This page states what applies to a buyer today, in the order you meet it: the credential, the purchase, what you can and cannot buy, carrying, storage, and the cases that could change the picture in 2027.

The four credentials

Every firearm and ammunition purchase in Connecticut requires one of four state-issued documents, all valid five years.

• Pistol permit. The State Permit to Carry Pistols and Revolvers is both the purchase credential and the carry license. Age twenty-one, a handgun safety course with live fire, an application to your town's police or first selectman, who has eight weeks to issue a sixty-day temporary permit, then the state permit from the State Police, who take about eight weeks more. The original fee is one hundred and forty dollars, half kept by the town and half by the state, plus the fingerprint and FBI check. Renewal is seventy dollars.
• Eligibility certificate. Thirty-five dollars, the same course, age twenty-one, up to ninety days to issue. It lets you buy and transport handguns but not carry them.
• Long gun eligibility certificate. Thirty-five dollars, age eighteen, a training course, fingerprints. It covers rifles and shotguns. A pistol permit or eligibility certificate also covers long guns.
• Ammunition certificate. Thirty-five dollars, age eighteen, no course. It lets you buy ammunition and magazines if you hold none of the other three. Reloading components are exempt.

Since 1 July 2024 the course behind the permit and certificates must cover safe storage at home and in vehicles, lawful use, and lawful carrying in public. The law sets no hour count; the eight-hour figure people quote is the length of the NRA course most instructors teach.

Buying from a dealer

Connecticut is a point-of-contact state. The dealer takes your credential, completes the federal form and the state DPS-3 sale form, and calls the State Police firearms unit, which runs the federal check and issues an authorization number. The number is the approval; without it no firearm leaves the shop. There is no waiting period for handguns. Long guns have a two-week wait in the statute that is waived for every holder of a permit, certificate or hunting license, so in practice there is none. A private sale of a handgun also needs an authorization number, and a private sale of a long gun must go through a dealer who obtains one.

Three handguns per thirty days

Since 1 October 2023 the State Police issue no more than three retail authorization numbers per buyer in any rolling thirty-day period. Certified instructors may receive six. Exchanges with the same dealer within thirty days, transfers to law-enforcement agencies and museum transfers do not count. A federal challenge to this limit and to the open-carry ban was dismissed for lack of standing, so both remain in force.

Assault weapons: the one-feature test

Connecticut has used a one-feature test since 2013. A semi-automatic centerfire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine is an assault weapon if it has any one of: a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip or thumbhole stock or any grip that puts a finger other than the trigger finger below the action, a forward grip, a flash suppressor, or a grenade or flare launcher. Semi-automatic pistols are caught by a magazine outside the grip, a threaded barrel, a shroud or a second grip; semi-automatic shotguns by a folding stock with a grip, a detachable magazine or a revolving cylinder. A named list of models applies on top. There is no written fixed-magazine exception; the trigger is the detachable magazine, so a compliant rifle either has no listed feature or has its magazine fixed so the rifle no longer accepts a detachable one.

The 2023 expansion

Public Act 23-53 added two classes. First, firearms that are neither pistol, rifle nor shotgun, the pistol-length or braced builds sold as others, when they carry a pistol grip, a magazine over ten rounds, a shroud, an arm brace or similar features. Second, firearms made before 13 September 1994 that meet the criteria, which had been exempt. Sale of both ended on 6 June 2023; people who owned them on 5 June 2023 had until 1 May 2024 to apply for a certificate of possession. Possessing an unregistered assault weapon is a class D felony with a one-year minimum. Registered assault weapons may be used for hunting only on private land.

Magazines

Magazines that hold more than ten rounds may not be sold, bought or possessed unless they were declared to the State Police by 1 January 2014; a late window for pre-2013 owners closed on 1 January 2024. A declared magazine may be loaded past ten rounds only at home or on a range; elsewhere it must carry ten or fewer. We do not ship magazines over ten rounds to Connecticut and we hide them for Connecticut addresses.

Unserialized frames

An unfinished frame or receiver must carry a serial number issued by the State Police before you may possess it; the form is processed in three business days. Possessing any unserialized firearm has been banned since 1 January 2024 unless it was declared. We do not ship unfinished frames or receivers to Connecticut.

Rate-of-fire devices and body armor

Devices that increase a firearm's rate of fire are banned in Connecticut as a class D felony. Body armor may only be sold face to face in Connecticut to a buyer who shows a pistol permit, an eligibility certificate, a long gun eligibility certificate or an ammunition certificate, so we cannot ship it to a Connecticut address.

The convertible-pistol law

Public Act 26-41, signed in 2026, would have prohibited from 1 October 2026 the sale of pistols that can readily be converted to fire automatically, which in practice meant most Glock-pattern pistols. On 30 September 2026 a federal judge enjoined the law in cases brought by Glock and the firearms trade association. It is not in force while the case proceeds, and Glock-pattern pistols remain legal to buy with the usual credential.

Carrying

The pistol permit is the carry permit and Connecticut issues it to any suitable applicant; denials go to the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners. Since 1 October 2023 carrying a handgun with intent to display it is prohibited outside your home, your land, your business, hunting and training, so carry is concealed in practice. Connecticut honours no other state's permit, although a non-resident with a home-state permit may apply for a Connecticut one. Even with a permit, firearms are barred from school grounds, state parks and forests except while hunting or at a range, the General Assembly, federal buildings and courts, and any premises whose owner prohibits them. Open display is also barred within a thousand feet of a polling place.

Storage and transport

A firearm must be stored in a locked container or with a locking device whenever a minor or a prohibited person could gain access. In a vehicle a handgun is carried on the permit; without a permit, or for a long gun, the firearm travels unloaded and cased. The pistol permit course now covers these rules because the law requires it.

Hunting notes that touch the gun laws

Centerfire rifles of .243 caliber and larger may be used for deer on private land of ten contiguous acres or more where the landowner has consented in writing to rifle use; state land is shotgun and muzzleloader only. Sunday hunting on private land is allowed since 2025 except for migratory birds. A hunting license waives the long-gun waiting period but is not a purchase credential; you still need a certificate or permit to buy the gun and its ammunition.

Where the court cases stand

• NAGR v. Lamont, the challenge to the assault weapon and magazine bans: preliminary injunction denied in 2023, affirmed by the Second Circuit in August 2025, and review was sought in the Supreme Court.
• Grant v. Higgins: the Supreme Court granted review on 30 June 2026, consolidated it with an Illinois case, and set argument for 2 December 2026 on whether the Second Amendment protects possession of AR-15 pattern rifles. A decision is expected by mid-2027.
• Glock v. Griffin and NSSF v. Griffin: the convertible-pistol law enjoined on 30 September 2026.
• We the Patriots USA challenge: the challenge to the three-handgun limit and the open-carry ban was dismissed for lack of standing.

Until a court says otherwise, the one-feature test, the 2023 additions, the ten-round limit, the three-per-thirty-days rule and the open-carry ban are all enforced, and the catalogue is filtered to match.

Things people get wrong

• There is no fourteen-day wait for a credential holder.
• An eligibility certificate buys a handgun; only the permit lets you carry it.
• A hunting license does not buy a long gun or ammunition on its own.
• Connecticut uses one feature, not two, and the 2023 law added others and pre-1994 guns.
• The magazine declaration window is closed.
• Open carry has been banned since October 2023.
• Nothing about the assault weapon ban is suspended; only the convertible-pistol law is enjoined.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a waiting period to buy a gun in Connecticut?

Not for handguns: the dealer's authorization number from the State Police replaced it. Long guns carry a two-week wait on paper, but it is waived for anyone holding a pistol permit, eligibility certificate, long gun eligibility certificate or hunting license, which is every lawful buyer, so in practice there is none.

Can I buy a handgun without a pistol permit?

Yes, with a thirty-five dollar Eligibility Certificate, which needs the same course and takes up to ninety days. It lets you buy and transport a handgun but not carry it.

Did the Supreme Court strike down Connecticut's assault weapon ban?

No. The Second Circuit upheld the ban in August 2025. The Supreme Court agreed in June 2026 to hear a related Connecticut case, Grant v. Higgins, with argument set for 2 December 2026. Both the assault weapon ban and the magazine limit are fully enforced today.

How many handguns can I buy a month?

The State Police issue at most three retail authorization numbers per buyer in any rolling thirty days, six for certified instructors. An exchange with the same dealer inside thirty days does not count.

Can I open carry with my permit?

No. Since 1 October 2023 carrying a handgun with intent to display it is prohibited except at home, on land you own or lease, at your business, while hunting or in training. A brief glimpse or printing through clothing is not a violation.

Can I still declare an old magazine over ten rounds?

No. The declaration window for magazines owned before 2013 closed for good on 1 January 2024. Undeclared magazines over ten rounds are illegal to possess.

What is the convertible-pistol law I read about?

Public Act 26-41 would have banned the sale of pistols that can easily be converted to automatic fire from 1 October 2026. A federal judge enjoined it on 30 September 2026, so it is not in force while the case proceeds.

General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.