Governor Rell Signs Bill Requiring Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms (CT)

The Office of Governor Rell ^ | June 24, 2007 | NA

[neverdem]

The Office of Governor M. Jodi Rell

	STATE OF CONNECTICUT EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT  06106
M. Jodi Rell Governor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 24, 2007

Contact: Adam Liegeot  860-524-7313 Adam.Liegeot@ct.gov

 

Governor Rell Signs Bill Requiring

Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms

  

          Governor M. Jodi Rell has signed a bill to require gun owners to report their guns lost or stolen within 72-hours of discovering them missing. 

 

“Right now, police are powerless if they trace a gun used in a crime back to its owner and the owner claims it was stolen,” Governor Rell said.  “This law targets irresponsible gun owners in an attempt to stem the tide of stolen guns used in crimes in Connecticut.  We think it will prove to be a useful tool for law enforcement by closing up a loophole in our laws.”

 

Those who violate the new law could face penalties ranging from an infraction to a felony.  Under the bill, a first-time failure to report a lost or stolen gun within 72 hours is an infraction, punishable by a fine up to $90.  For first offense infractions, gun owners would not lose their pistol permits.  Any subsequent unintentional failure to report a lost or stolen gun is a Class D felony, subject to a fine of up to $5,000, up to five years in prison, or both.  Intentional failure to report a lost or stolen gun would be a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

 

The law takes effect October 1.  Similar laws already exist in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island. 

 

In March, Governor Rell announced her support of funding to re-establish the state police gun-trafficking task force, a special agency created to fight the illegal trade in guns.  The Task Force is responsible for investigating illegal gun transfers and tracing guns that law enforcement authorities seize. It has been funded with a mix of regular DPS appropriations, extra state funding and federal grants, but both the extra state funding and federal grants have been eliminated in recent years.

         

            Last year, Governor Rell took a number of steps to crack down on gun violence including sending State Police into Hartford to assist that city’s police department in combating a wave of gun crimes.  The Governor, working with the Judicial Branch and the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, also established three special “gun dockets” in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven to deal specifically – and swiftly – with gun-related offensives. Each gun docket has a state prosecutor and Superior Court judge assigned to handle the case load.

 

Content Last Modified on 6/27/2007 4:46:57 PM

[neverdem]

There's no problem with prosecuting an unwitting victim.

[magslinger]

I’m not for this law, but I was wondering if there is an exemption for LEO’s?

[Captain Ray]

Yeah, no freaking kidding. Some people are not as enthusiastic about guns as I am, but still own a handgun or two.. They might not inventory there pistols very often. I imagine guns get stolen all the time by say a family member, or house guest, or what not... and it isn’t found out immediatly.

[glorgau]

Doesn’t this have any 5th Amendment issues?

[Domandred]

This law targets irresponsible gun owners in an attempt to stem the tide of stolen guns used in crimes in Connecticut

Question govn'r...how exactly does punishing gun owners for getting their guns stolen stem the tide of stolen guns used in crime? Even if the person DOES report the gun stolen it will probably never turn up unless it used or related to a crime (even fencing the thing). By then it is way too late for anyone to do a damned thing about it. Oh yea and the rightful owner ain't getting it back either way.

Should have just said "this law targets gun owners" because that's what you actually meant and that's what this stupid law actually does.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It’s a stupid law but I doubt it’s really much to worry about, since it would be next to impossible for a prosecutor to prove when you “discovered” that the gun was missing. I don’t think they’d bother trying unless it was quite clear that you actually committed or knowingly aided in the commission of the crime that a particular gun was used in. To her credit, Gov. Rell just vetoed a bill that would have given illegal aliens the right to in-state tuition rates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/nyregion/27veto.html
Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have provided state tuition rates for illegal immigrants at state colleges and universities in Connecticut, saying she did not want to encourage the flouting of federal immigration laws. “I understand these students are not responsible for their undocumented status, having come to the United States with their parents,” Governor Rell said, in a statement issued by her office on Tuesday afternoon. “The fact remains, however, that these students and their parents are here illegally, and neither sympathy nor good intentions can ameliorate that fact.”

[sergeantdave]

“Under the bill, a first-time failure to report a lost or stolen gun within 72 hours is an infraction, punishable by a fine up to $90.”

Who the hell inventories all their property every 72 hours?

How about we pass a bill calling for the death penalty for every politcian or bureaucrat who can’t account for every public dollar spent within the last 72 hours.

I thought we had A##holes here in Michigan, but this bullsh#t law beats most, but not all, I assure you, idiot legislation in my socialist state.

I’m convinced they’re back - the bloody Tories have had a major reincarnation event.

Now we need a Concord bridge to correct them.

[PeterFinn]

The lesson here is to buy your guns on the black market to begin with and then you don’t have to worry about repercussions if they’re stolen.

[neverdem]

Doesn’t this have any 5th Amendment issues?

Good point, but who cares about the U.S. Constitution?

[teeman8r]

-knock knock.
yes?
—We’re here to confiscate your handguns.
-handguns?
—We have records that indicate you own several handguns.
we’re here to pick them up. you have’t reported them lost or stolen, so if you don’t have them, you’re in violation of our irresponsible gun owner law.
-i don’t have them.
—that’s not good. why didn’t you report them lost or stolen?
-because i turned them in during your gun buy back last time...
—doesn’t matter, you had the right to remain silent, now you can be prosecuted for not answering a police office. you are entitled to an attorney, but if you call one before we question you it is a sure sign of guilt. if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you by the state, but he won’t work to acquit but plea bargain your sentence.
-could you just shoot me now?
— well, it would keep the paper work down.
BANG!

teeman

[montag813]

It’s a stupid law but I doubt it’s really much to worry about, since it would be next to impossible for a prosecutor to prove when you “discovered” that the gun was missing.

Perhaps, but how many thousands in legal fees will you have spent to get to his failure to prove it?

[Chode]

it's better to report a known lost or stolen firearm, then have LEO's come to your house at a time and force of their choosing, after they found that gun at a crime scene/murder.

you might just get dead before you can explain yourself...

[Sender]

This is a backdoor form of registration and coercion. If the law finds records indicating that I bought a gun, and if the law asks me to produce that gun and I say I don’t have it anymore, now I will be arrested for not having it. I expect this kind of law to become the norm in conjuction with any sort of new gun ban. If they ban a certain type of gun, I won’t be able to keep it and if I put it away or hide it, I can be jailed for not having it. Just lovely. This is not America.

[Myrddin]

Doesn’t this have any 5th Amendment issues?

How about 14th amendment issues? It only applies if your firearms are stolen. What if your car is stolen and used to commit a bank robbery or plow into a crowd of people on the street? What about kitchen knives? Baseball bats? Why target the victims of firearm theft with the threat of a felony? This is a bill of attainder that targets a named class of persons i.e. gun owners, for special penalties if they are victims of theft. The owner is punished for the action of another person (the thief).

[mvpel]

It’s a stupid law but I doubt it’s really much to worry about, since it would be next to impossible for a prosecutor to prove when you “discovered” that the gun was missing.

Tell that to the Duke lacrosse team, and time how long they laugh.

[stylin19a]

we have a winner !

[MSF BU]

Yes, and it will be immediately plea bargained down. How are they going to prove youdidn’t just assume it was still locked up “in the attic” with your other stuff. Bartley Fox in Massachusetts has NEVER been used to put somebody in jail.

[GovernmentShrinker]

When all is said and done, those young men will be quite wealthy and the dirtbag Nifong will be rotting in prison and looking forward to unemployment and shame for the rest of his life after he gets out. No system is perfect.

[MichiganMan]

The law can, and probably will be misused and therefore shouldn't be enacted as written, IMO. However one like it is needed to counter the slime that sell firearms, at a profit, to felons and other folks lawfully proscribed from obtaining them, and then upon discovery claim that the weapon was stolen. A well written law would flag the folks that had 100 guns "stolen" at various times between 2005-06, for example.

This is one significant entry point for weapons to enter the black market and fall into the hands of the gang bangers and nutjobs that we legal fun owners are always cursing for making things harder on us.

[Kid Shelleen]

Actually I believe the real intent is to foil straw purchasers from claiming the gun they bought had been lost or stolen when it was linked to a crime