The bill to be voted on today by the CT legislature seems to be SB1060, given emergency certification this morning and which if passed, the governor has said he might sign as early as this evening. Here are some relevant details.
There's a lot of legalese in it, as you might expect.
First section seems to be a two-week waiting period for rifle purchases, in addition to the normal background check for retail sales of any kind, the record of the purchase is sent to your local police department and two separate state agencies.
After April 14, 2014, rifles may not be purchased without a "long gun eligibility certificate".
The long gun eligibility certificate requires: fingerprinting, state background check, national background check, no felony record, no juvenile delinquency record, no admission (voluntary or otherwise) to a hospital for mental illness...and an NRA safety course. Failure to notify the proper state authorities within two days of changing your address is a class A misdemeanor.
If I read it correctly, after January 1, 2014, private transfers or sales must meet the same requirements.
Section 9b says that the police can auction off seized firearms. You can decide for yourself how good an idea that is.
Section 15 describes the process for acquiring an "ammunition certificate", necessary to buy ammunition, leading to the interesting possibility that a quirk in the law might allow you to buy a gun but not ammunition, or buy ammunition but not a gun.
Section 23 defines large capacity magazines, effectively 10 rounds. Section 23(e)(3) grandfathers possession of existing magazines that have been registered.
editorial note: This is problematic, since magazines have no serial numbers nor means of identifying date of manufacture, nor does the law have any proviso to do this. So, a person with twenty AR-15 magazines could register one of them, and if the police spot the weapon being legally used (with only 10 rounds in it), they have no way to determine whether that magazine is registered, unregistered, or brought in illegally from out of state.
Section 25 is the "assault weapon" section, which is more or less a cut & paste from the badly flawed NY SAFE Act and the Feinstein bill in Congress, but even worse from a "try to defend this against a legal challenge" standpoint. Not only does it outlaw five-shot, .22 rimfire, multi-thousand dollar Olympic target pistols (like the NY and Feinstein bills), it legally defines an assault weapon as:
A part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert a firearm into an assault weapon
So, under the law an "assault weapon" is either the weapon or the parts that make a normal weapon into an "assault weapon". Things that make a weapon into an "assault weapon" include bayonet mounts, flash suppressors and pistol grips. So, a person could be convicted of possession of an illegal assault weapon for having a flash hider in their pocket (actually, that would be illegal
concealed possession).
Section 26(a)(1) says you go to jail for two years (no reduction in sentence allowed) for having an illegal pistol grip in your possession.
editorial note: This is going to be problematic if the wording is how the final law goes. Not only is it silly and overbearingly authoritarian, many of the things like folding stocks and pistol grips are also used on paintball guns, and these grips and stocks are the exact ones used on real weapons (they are available and they work, so why make new ones just for paintball). This makes many paintball guns "assault weapons".
Section 26(1) says that police are of course perfectly trustworthy to buy and own such weapons for off-duty purposes.
Section 28 is about people who currently own "assault weapons" being able to register them. However, they can never sell them, transfer them or have anyone inherit them (at least not within CT). Since the definition of assault weapon also encompasses some very nice hunting rifles, not so good.
editorial note: The law also sets up a dual class of citizenship. A person living in CT now who legally owns an "assault weapon" may register it and keep it. A person in neighboring MA who legally owns an "assault weapon" and moves to CT may not register it and keep it (Section 28(5)(d).
Section 28 also lists the legal places an assault weapon may be possessed, like your property, a shooting range, a gun store, etc. This is only relevant because Section 29 then states that while being transported, it is illegal to transport it in such a way that it is concealed from view. Which means that if you say, park your car and then have to walk a block to the gun store, you are required by law to carry your assault weapon in a fully visible fashion. I'm sure that will go over well.
Section 30 says "we don't like assault weapons, but since Colt is a big manufacturer of assault weapons in our state, we don't mind if they make them here and ship them to other states."
Section 32 bans armor-piercing bullets again (because a Federal ban just isn't enough). Police are exempt, naturally.
Section 42 and 53 both seem to deal with straw purchases.
Section 43 sets mandatory minimums for firearms theft. Again, stealing someone's pistol grip lands you in the pokey for two years.
Section 54 is about keeping guns away from minors (secure storage)
Section 57 is about issuance of carry permits for pistols, which seems to be judged solely on wanting to have such a permit, not being disallowed gun ownership and passing a safety course. No requirement for a specific "need" is listed.
Section 64 through 99 have nothing to do with guns.