In Connecticut, any person who sells ten or more firearms in a calendar year or is a federally licensed firearms dealer must have a state handgun sales permit to advertise, sell, deliver, or offer for sale or delivery, or possess with intent to sell or deliver, any handgun.¹ The chief of police, warden of a borough, or first selectman of a town may issue a permit to sell only if the applicant holds a valid state eligibility certificate for a handgun or a valid permit to carry a handgun and submits documentation sufficient to establish that local zoning requirements have been met for the location of the sale.²

Business organizations that sell firearms at retail must maintain effective controls against theft of firearms.³ These controls must include, but not are limited to, installation or maintenance of a burglar alarm installed on their premises where 10 or more firearms are stored or kept for sale.⁴ The alarms must be connected directly to the local police department or a monitoring organization and must activate upon unauthorized entry or the interruption of the security system.⁵

Any person, firm or corporation that engages in the retail sale of goods, where the principal part of such business is not firearms, may not employ a person to sell firearms in a retail store unless the person:

• Is at least age 18;

• Has submitted to state and national criminal history records checks which indicate he or she has not been convicted of a felony or a violation that would render her or him ineligible for a handgun certificate; and

• Has successfully completed a course or test approved by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection in firearms safety and statutory procedures relating to the sale of firearms.⁶

A person may not sell a firearm anywhere except the room, store, or other place described in the permit for sale of firearms, and the person must display the permit for sale “exposed to view” in the location identified in the permit.⁷

Retail sellers of firearms must keep a record of each firearm sold in a book kept for that purpose.⁸ The seller must make such record available for inspection upon the request of a local law enforcement agent, a member of the Division of Sate Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, any investigator assigned to the state-wide firearms trafficking task force, or an investigator from a federal law enforcement agency.⁹

Retail sellers of firearms must, at the time of transfer of a firearm, provide a written warning to the purchaser, in block letters at least one inch in height, stating: “UNLAWFUL STORAGE OF A LOADED FIREARM MAY RESULT IN IMPRISONMENT OR FINE.”¹⁰

Anyone who possesses a permit to sell firearms at retail must complete a yearly physical inventory comparing their physical inventory of firearms with purchase and sales records; any missing firearms must be reported to the Attorney General and local authorities.¹¹

For laws:

• Applicable to both licensed and private firearm sellers, please see the Private Sales in Connecticut section;

• Requiring firearms dealers to conduct background checks on purchasers, see the Background Checks in Connecticut section; and

• Requiring firearms dealers to maintain and report records of firearm sales, see the Retention of Firearm Sales/Background Checks Records in Connecticut section.

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1. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-28(a).[↩]
2. Id.[↩]
3. 2023 Conn. P.A. No. 23-53 § 8(a)(4).[↩]
4. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37d.[↩]
5. Id.[↩]
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37f. Any employer who employs a person to sell firearms in violation of these provisions is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 per day for each violation. Id.[↩]
7. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-31.[↩]
8. Id.[↩]
9. Id.[↩]
10. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-37b(a).[↩]
11. 2023 Conn. P.A. No. 23-53 § 8(b).[↩]