Minimum Age To Purchase & Possess In Connecticut - Giffords

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Who Can Have a Gun

Minimum Age to Purchase & Possess in Connecticut View Policy Area Last updated December 31, 2023 .

A person must be at least age 21 to obtain an eligibility certificate for a handgun.1 Connecticut prohibits any person from selling, bartering, lending, giving, delivering or otherwise transferring any handgun to a person under age 21.2 A handgun may be transferred temporarily to a person under age 21 for target shooting or use on a shooting range if under the immediate supervision of a person eligible to possess a handgun.3

Generally, no person or corporation may sell, deliver or otherwise transfer, at retail, any long gun to any person under 18 years of age.4 In addition, no person or corporation may sell, deliver or otherwise transfer any semi-automatic centerfire rifle that has or accepts a magazine with a capacity exceeding five rounds to any person under age 21.5

There is no minimum age to possess a long gun.

No person may purchase or receive any long gun unless such person holds a valid long gun eligibility certificate, a valid permit to sell firearms, or a valid eligibility certificate for a pistol or revolver.6 A “junior firearms hunting license” may be issued to a child between 12 and 16 years of age.7 Connecticut law permits disclosure of juvenile court records to municipal, state or federal agencies involved in evaluating the proposed transfer of a firearm to someone under age 21.8

Connecticut law generally prohibits the sale of firearm ammunition or an ammunition magazine to anyone under age 18.9 However, this prohibition does not apply to a number of law enforcement and public agencies.10

Connecticut also prohibits any person from transferring, selling or giving a machine gun to a person under age 16, including the temporary transfer of a machine gun for use in target shooting or on a shooting range or for “any other purpose.”11

Federal law imposes additional age limits.

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1. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-36f(a).[↩]
2. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-34(b).[↩]
3. Id.[↩]
4. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37a(b)(1).[↩]
5. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37a(b)(2).[↩]
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37a(c).[↩]
7. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 26-27a(1).[↩]
8. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46b-124(d).[↩]
9. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-38m(b).[↩]
10. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 28-38m(d).[↩]
11. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-202(c).[↩]

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