HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - A proposal is on the table to update Connecticut's "Red Flag" law which Representative Steve Stafstrom says would be the first major update for the law in over two decades.
The Risk Warrant law currently allows police officers and prosecutors to seek risk protection orders and risk warrants, permitting authorities to seize firearms from an individual deemed as a threat to themselves or to others.
Judiciary Committee Co-chairs Stafstrom and Gary Winfield introduced the bill at the State Capitol Wednesday which aims to modernize the law.
According to Stafstrom, this bill would extend the ability to apply for a warrant to family/household members and medical professionals, prevent those under the protective order from purchasing firearms, and make the protective order effective indefinitely.
Stafstrom says the law allows two police officers or a state's attorney to apply for a warrant. With this bill, he says family/household members and certain medical professionals would be able to apply for a warrant as well. It also reduces the number of police officers needed to apply from two to one, he says.
The law permits police officers to seize firearms, but Stafstrom says it doesn't prevent the individual with the order from purchasing or otherwise acquiring firearms. He says this bill would fix that.
Stafstrom says currently, the protective order is effective for one year, but with this bill, the order would remain indefinite until a judge lifts it. An individual can petition to a judge to lift the order after 180 days of the order's issue date, he says.
"This law has saved lives and 16 other states have since followed Connecticut's lead in creating a mechanism for law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from a home. But our law now needs to be modernized, to follow best practices we have seen in other states," Stafstrom said.