Section 26-31 - Instruction in handling and use of hunting weapons. Required education course for reinstatement of suspended license(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall formulate conservation courses of instruction in safe trapping, hunting and archery practices and the handling and use of traps and hunting implements, including bow and arrow, for such persons as are applying for a license to hunt with firearms or to hunt with bow and arrow or trap for the first time and for minors who fall within the provisions of section 26-38, and shall designate one or more competent persons or organizations to give such instruction. Any person or organization so designated shall give such instruction online or in a classroom to any person requesting the same and shall, upon the successful completion thereof, recommend to the commissioner issuance of a certificate of completion to such person. Successful completion of such instruction for hunting license applicants shall include, but not be limited to, achieving a passing grade on an examination formulated by the commissioner, which shall include correctly stating in writing, or reciting orally, the regulations for hunting in proximity to buildings occupied by persons or domestic animals or used for storage of flammable or combustible materials and the regulations for shooting towards persons, buildings or animals. Any such person or organization may charge any person taking a course of instruction a reasonable fee, established by the commissioner.(b) No firearms hunting, archery hunting or trapping license shall be issued to any person unless he presents proof in the form of a license or certified copy thereof that he has held a similar resident license to hunt with firearms or with bow and arrow or to trap within five years from the date of application in any state or country or possession thereof, or unless he presents to the town clerk a certificate of completion issued under subsection (a) of this section or an equivalent, as deemed by the commissioner, of such certificate. Each town clerk shall transmit all such certificates presented to him to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection in connection with his report to the commissioner under section 26-36.(c) Any person who obtains a firearms hunting, archery hunting or trapping license by giving false information or by presenting a fraudulent certificate shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars or more than one hundred dollars and such license, or any such subsequent license procured by such person on the basis of any fraudulent statement or act in procuring such original license, shall be revoked and shall not be reissued for one year from the date of such revocation.(d) Any certified conservation education-firearms safety instructor while giving such instruction and any person scheduled to receive such instruction may possess and transport shotguns and rifles on Sunday and on said day may discharge such firearms on any state-owned property with prior approval of the agency controlling such property and on any privately owned property with the permission of the owner, the provisions of section 26-73 to the contrary notwithstanding.(e) There is annually appropriated to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from the General Fund the sum of fifty thousand dollars to be used by said department for the purchase of supplies and materials and necessary personal services in carrying out the provisions of this section.(f) Any person who has been refused a certificate of completion under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section may appeal from such refusal to the commissioner, who shall make the final determination on issuance of such certificate to the applicant.(g) Any holder of a hunting license which has been suspended under section 26-61, for a hunting safety violation as identified by the commissioner in the Hunting and Trapping Guide published annually by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection or any holder of such a license which has been suspended under section 26-62 shall successfully complete a remedial hunter education course formulated by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection and show proof that the hunter has successfully completed a conservation education-firearms safety course or its equivalent, as deemed by the commissioner, prior to any reinstatement of such license.(1955, S. 2473d, 2474d; 1957 P.A. 638, S. 1; 1961, P.A. 133, S. 1; 415; 1963, P.A. 329, S. 3; 1967, P.A. 244, S. 3; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 230; P.A. 81-298, S. 4-7, 9; P.A. 82-366, S. 4; P.A. 85-22; P.A. 87-25; P.A. 91-378, S. 2; P.A. 97-250, S. 7; P.A. 00-142, S. 2; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 14-201, S. 3.)
Amended by P.A. 14-0201, S. 3 of the Connecticut Acts of the 2014 Regular Session, eff. 10/1/2014.