In 2019, Connecticut became one of the first states in the nation to enact laws prohibiting the possession of ghost guns. These made-at-home, unserialized firearms pose an alarming new threat in an already dystopian landscape of gun violence. The issue was correctly identified by legislators as an urgent risk to public safety.

But as with any novel area of the law, lawmakers’ well-intentioned efforts in drafting the statute did not immediately align with its practical application, and the law has undergone multiple revisions since 2019. The 2023 changes are better in some respects as to enforceability, but still miss the mark in a serious way as to penalties.