What Assault Rifles Are Legal in Connecticut?

Rifles that are legal to own in Connecticut fall into a few clear categories: semi-automatic centerfire rifles built without any of the features the state prohibits, most rimfire semi-automatics, antique firearms, and pre-ban rifles that their owners registered with the state before the applicable deadline. Everything else on the “assault rifle” spectrum, including the AR-15, AK-47, and their listed copies and duplicates, is banned for new purchase or acquisition. Understanding what assault rifles are legal in Connecticut really means understanding which features and configurations keep a modern semi-auto on the right side of Section 53-202a.

What Puts a Rifle on the Banned List

Connecticut General Statutes Section 53-202a bans assault weapons two ways. It names dozens of specific firearms, including the Colt AR-15, AK-47 variants, FN FAL, FN LAR, FN FNC, and Steyr AUG, and it extends that list to “copies or duplicates” with equivalent capability. Rebranding a listed rifle under another manufacturer’s name does not make it legal.¹

The statute then applies a feature-based test. A semi-automatic centerfire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine becomes an assault weapon if it has even one of these:

A folding or telescoping stock
A pistol grip, thumbhole stock, or similar grip that lets any finger besides the trigger finger sit directly below the action while firing
A forward pistol grip
A flash suppressor
A grenade or flare launcher

A semi-automatic centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine is banned if that magazine holds more than ten rounds, and any semi-automatic centerfire rifle shorter than thirty inches overall qualifies regardless of features.²

The single-feature test is the result of Public Act 13-3, passed after Sandy Hook, which tightened the original 1993 two-feature rule. Public Act 23-53 then expanded the definition again in 2023, creating a new “2023 assault weapons” category and pulling in additional firearms, including rimfire weapons that meet the old two-feature test.³

Compliant Semi-Automatic Centerfire Rifles

A semi-automatic centerfire rifle with a detachable magazine is legal in Connecticut as long as it carries none of the prohibited features. Manufacturers produce “Connecticut-compliant” versions of popular platforms by using fixed stocks (nothing folding or telescoping), featureless grips that prevent any non-trigger finger from wrapping below the action, and muzzle brakes in place of flash suppressors. An AR-15-pattern rifle built to those specifications can be lawfully bought and owned.²

A second path is a centerfire rifle with a permanently fixed magazine holding ten rounds or fewer. The one-feature test applies only to rifles that take a detachable magazine, so a fixed-magazine build sidesteps that test entirely.

The catch is what happens after you buy. Adding a prohibited feature to a compliant rifle, or converting a fixed magazine to detachable, or increasing capacity beyond ten rounds, turns a legal firearm into a felony to possess. Aftermarket modifications on any modern rifle need to be evaluated against 53-202a before you install them.

Rimfire Rifles

The single-feature test targets “semiautomatic, centerfire” rifles by its own terms, which means most rimfire rifles, including .22 LR semi-autos styled after AR-15s or AK-pattern rifles, are not caught by that provision.²

The 2023 law added an important exception. A rimfire rifle that has two or more of the prohibited features from the original 1993 list, for example both a pistol grip and a folding stock, now qualifies as a 2023 assault weapon regardless of caliber.³ Owners of rimfire rifles that fell into this new category had to apply to DESPP for a certificate of possession by the deadline to keep them lawfully. A .22 rimfire semi-auto with only one banned feature, or none, is still legal.

Antique and Curio Rifles

Connecticut exempts antique firearms from most modern gun regulation, including the assault weapon ban. An antique firearm is one manufactured in or before 1898, or a replica of such a firearm that is not designed to use rimfire or conventional centerfire ammunition still commercially available in the United States.⁴

Firearms at least 50 years old also qualify as “curios or relics” under federal ATF regulations, opening the door to collectors who hold a Federal Curio and Relic License. The firearm must be in its original configuration, not a modern reproduction.⁵ Federal collector status alone does not override Connecticut law, though. If a curio or relic still matches the named list or the feature-based definition, it is an assault weapon in Connecticut unless the antique exemption applies.

Registered Pre-Ban Rifles

Connecticut does not let you newly acquire an assault weapon, but people who lawfully owned one before each expansion of the ban may keep it with a certificate of possession from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Three cutoff dates matter:

Firearms on the original 1993 list had to have been owned before October 1, 1993.
Firearms added by Public Act 13-3 had to have been owned on or before April 4, 2013, with registration completed by January 1, 2014.
Firearms newly classified under Public Act 23-53 had to have been owned on or before June 5, 2023.

Registration requires the make, model, and serial number of the firearm, along with proof of lawful possession before the applicable date.⁶ A registered assault weapon cannot be sold or transferred to anyone in Connecticut; the only lawful exits are surrender to law enforcement or transfer to a licensed dealer. Missing the deadline means the firearm is unlawful to possess no matter when it was purchased.

Magazine Capacity Applies to Any Rifle

Even a legal rifle becomes a serious problem when it feeds from an illegal magazine. Connecticut prohibits any magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that can hold, or be readily converted to accept, more than ten rounds.⁷ The law carves out magazines permanently altered to hold ten rounds or fewer, .22 caliber tube ammunition feeding devices, and tubular magazines in lever-action rifles.³

Magazines lawfully possessed on or before April 4, 2013, could be grandfathered by declaring them to DESPP.⁸ Even declared magazines cannot be loaded beyond ten rounds at home or at a business, with narrow exceptions such as at a shooting range.⁹

You Still Need a Permit to Buy Any of Them

Any legal rifle in Connecticut still requires the buyer to hold either a State Pistol Permit or a Long Gun Eligibility Certificate before purchase.

The State Pistol Permit covers handguns and long guns. Applicants must be at least 21 and legal U.S. residents.¹⁰
The Long Gun Eligibility Certificate covers rifles and shotguns only. Applicants must be at least 18.¹¹

Both require a state-approved firearms safety course with live-fire training and a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Federal law separately bars several categories of people from possessing firearms at all, including anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, anyone subject to a domestic violence restraining order, and unlawful users of controlled substances.¹²

Every transfer, including private sales, must go through a federally licensed dealer or the DESPP Special Licensing and Firearms Unit to obtain an authorization number, with a DPS-3-C transfer form documenting the sale.¹³ There is no unrecorded private rifle sale in Connecticut.

What Happens if You Get the Feature Line Wrong

Possession of an unregistered or prohibited assault weapon is a Class D felony in Connecticut, carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000, with at least one year of the sentence non-suspendable.⁶

A narrow first-offense reduction to a Class A misdemeanor is available if the owner can prove lawful possession before the relevant cutoff date (October 1, 1993, April 4, 2013, or June 5, 2023) and otherwise handled the firearm in compliance with the law. That drops the exposure to up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000, and it can only be used once.⁶

One more boundary worth flagging: Connecticut’s 30-inch minimum overall length for a semi-automatic centerfire rifle is stricter than the federal 26-inch threshold under the National Firearms Act.² A rifle that is federally lawful at 27 inches is still a banned assault weapon in Connecticut. If you are building or buying a shorter-than-standard rifle, measure before you commit.

1
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 53-202a – Assault Weapons Definitions
2
Connecticut General Assembly. Chapter 943 – Offenses Against Public Peace and Safety
3
Connecticut General Assembly. Summary of State Gun Laws
4
Connecticut General Assembly. Chapter 529 – Division of State Police
5
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Curios and Relics
6
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 53-202c – Possession of Assault Weapon Prohibited Exemptions Class D Felony
7
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 53-202w – Large Capacity Magazines Definitions Sale Transfer or Possession Prohibited Exceptions
8
Connecticut General Assembly. An Act Concerning Revisions to the Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety Act
9
Justia. Connecticut Code 53-202x – Possession of Large Capacity Magazines
10
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Connecticut State Pistol Permit
11
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 29-37r – Long Gun Eligibility Certificate Fees Expiration and Renewal
12
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
13
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Firearm Rules and Regulations