OLR Report 2013-R-0232 explains if someone who legally possessed one of the assault weapons banned under PA 13-3 before April 4, 2013 can legally sell the weapon now and if so, how.
The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to give legal opinions and the report should not be construed as such.
It appears that anyone who legally possessed one of the newly banned assault weapons before April 4, 2013 may sell it, but only to a gun dealer in Connecticut and only after obtaining a certificate of possession for the weapon from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP). (This report sometimes uses the term register when describing an assault weapon for which a certificate was issued.)
Effective April 4, 2013, PA 13-3 expanded the assault weapons ban. But anyone who legally possessed any of the newly banned weapons and applies to register it with DESPP by January 1, 2014 may continue to possess it, under defined circumstances. Effective April 4, 2013, the act, with exceptions, also banned the sale of assault weapons. The sale ban, unlike the possession ban, contains no exemptions for people who legally possessed assault weapons before April 4 to sell or otherwise
dispose of them (e.g., sell to someone out of state.) But a separate provision allows such possessors to sell registered firearms to Connecticut gun dealers. It does not authorize them to sell unregistered weapons.
For more information, read the full report.
