Pistol Permit - Additional Requirements
Background Information:
The State of Connecticut requires the following to be submitted to the local issuing authority to constitute a 'sufficient application':
- A completed, signed and notarized DPS-799-C form.
- Completed State and Federal fingerprint cards with $16.50 fee payable to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or other 'positive identification' as prescribed by CGS 29-29 for use in the background check.
- Firearms Safety and Use Course Certificate (NRA Basic Pistol course).
- $70.00 payable to the local authority.
- Proof you are legally and lawfully in the United States (e.g., certified copy of birth certificate, U.S. passport or documentation issued by I.C.E.).
These are the only necessary requirements to submit an application for a Permit to Carry Pistols and Revolvers. Any additional requirements from a local issuing authority are not necessary and should be ignored by the applicant. Local issuing authorities have been informed of their lack of legal authority to demand this information and that it is inappropriate for the local issuing authority to deny or delay an application based on the applicant’s refusal to submit such information. Some choose to continue to request it and some of those still pretend like it is necessary.
In 1968, Attorney General Robert K. Killian ruled :
If the legislature had intended that each municipal police department devise an appropriate application form for the carrying of handgun, it would not have expressly provided that the application forms be prescribed by the Commissioner of State Police. The clear and obvious intent of the General Assembly was to provide a uniform application for state-wide use by issuing authorities. The authority to prescribe such a form having been granted to the Commissioner of State Police, a municipal police department may not alter, change or add to the prescribed form no matter how laudable the intent or motive for doing so.
On 1/24/10, the Board of Firearm Permit Examiners (BFPE) ruled :
In light of the strong legislative policy favoring “a uniform application for state-wide use by issuing authorities”, it is the determination of the Board that the statute does not permit an issuing authority to require submission of additional material at the time an applicant files his application on a form prescribed by the commissioner together with the required statutory fees and proof of (a) completion of a course approved by the commissioner in safety and use of pistols and revolvers, (b) that the applicant is not an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States, (c) that he is not less than twenty-one years of age, and (d) fingerprints for a criminal record check. Refusal to submit additional material with the initial application, such as letters of reference, does not, ipso facto, render the applicant unsuitable. Further, such failure to submit this additional material does not relieve an issuing authority of its statutory duty to conduct an investigation into the applicant’s suitability and to process the application within the statutory time frame. Accordingly, an applicant’s failure to submit these additional materials with the initial application would not constitute “just and proper cause” for denial.
On 4/12/2012, the Board of Firearm Permit Examiners (BFPE) once again affirmed their decision in a hearing in person with Connecticut Carry and the Waterbury Police Department.
The issue of additional requirements being unnecessary and not within the lawful authority of local issuing authorities has been settled law since 1968. It remains that way.
