GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
The charge is one thing. What follows it can last considerably longer, and firearms are the consequence people ask about first.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
CT Safe Connect: (888) 774-2900 — 24/7, by call, text, chat, or email
If you become subject to a restraining or protective order — including an ex parte order entered before any hearing — you must transfer all firearms and ammunition to a federally licensed dealer, or surrender them to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or a local police department, within 24 hours of notice.
That is C.G.S. §29-36k(b). The deadline is 24 hours, not a few days, and it was shortened from the prior rule in 2016. You also may not transfer them privately to a friend or relative while an order is in place.
Related consequences follow for pistol permits and eligibility certificates.
Connecticut makes possession a felony for people in certain categories under C.G.S. §53a-217, with a parallel provision at §53a-217c for pistols and revolvers.
One category matters particularly here. For offences committed on or after October 1, 2023, a conviction for a misdemeanor designated a family violence crime puts you in it. That is a significant change — a misdemeanor conviction that once carried no state firearms disability now can.
Two federal prohibitions operate independently of Connecticut law:
Federal consequences can attach even where state law would not reach, and they do not expire with the state case.
Family violence is an explicit factor in Connecticut’s best-interest analysis, and a protective order can restrict contact with a household before any family judge weighs in.
A residential order can exclude you from a home you own or rent.
Some professions, security clearances, and licenses are affected by a family violence conviction or a protective order. If your work involves firearms, the 24-hour rule may reach your employment immediately.
A family violence conviction or an order violation can carry immigration consequences. If you are not a United States citizen, this is a conversation to have with counsel early rather than late.
Where children were present during an incident, a referral may follow independently of the criminal case.
People focus on the charge and discover the rest afterward. The firearms deadline in particular runs in hours, and the consequences of missing it are their own criminal exposure.
Connecticut charges strangulation at three degrees, and the third can be supported without visible injury. What the charge requires.
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What a Connecticut criminal protective order restricts, how it differs from a standing criminal protective order, and how to contest one.
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Arrested for a family violence offense in Connecticut? What happens at arraignment, what a protective order does, and how the Family Violence Education Program works.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
