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).[↩]