(a) Any person who is twenty-one years of age or older may apply to the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection for an eligibility certificate for a pistol or revolver.

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(b) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall issue an eligibility certificate unless said commissioner finds that the applicant: (1) (A) For any application filed prior to July 1, 2024, has failed to successfully complete a course approved by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection in the safety and use of pistols and revolvers including, but not limited to, a safety or training course in the use of pistols and revolvers available to the public offered by a law enforcement agency, a private or public educational institution or a firearms training school, utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and a safety or training course in the use of pistols or revolvers conducted by an instructor certified by the state or the National Rifle Association, or (B) for any application filed on or after July 1, 2024, has failed to successfully complete, not earlier than two years prior to the submission of such application, a course approved by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection in the safety and use of firearms, which courses may include those certified by the National Rifle Association or other organizations, conducted by an instructor certified by the National Rifle Association or by the state, provided any such course includes instruction in state law requirements pertaining to safe storage in the home and in vehicles, lawful use of firearms and lawful carrying of firearms in public; (2) has been convicted of (A) a felony, (B) a misdemeanor violation of section 21a-279 on or after October 1, 2015, (C) a misdemeanor violation of section 53a-58, 53a-61, 53a-61a, 53a-62, 53a-63, 53a-96, 53a-175, 53a-176, 53a-178 or 53a-181d during the preceding twenty years, or (D) a misdemeanor violation of any law of this state that has been designated as a family violence crime pursuant to section 46b-38h; (3) has been convicted as delinquent for the commission of a serious juvenile offense, as defined in section 46b-120; (4) has been discharged from custody within the preceding twenty years after having been found not guilty of a crime by reason of mental disease or defect pursuant to section 53a-13; (5) (A) has been confined in a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities, as defined in section 17a-495, within the preceding sixty months by order of a probate court; or (B) has been voluntarily admitted on or after October 1, 2013, or has been committed under an emergency certificate pursuant to section 17a-502 on or after October 1, 2023, to a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities, as defined in section 17a-495, within the preceding six months for care and treatment of a psychiatric disability and not solely for being an alcohol-dependent person or a drug-dependent person as those terms are defined in section 17a-680; (6) is subject to a restraining or protective order issued by a court in a case involving the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against another person, including an ex parte order issued pursuant to section 46b-15 or section 46b-16a; (7) is subject to a firearms seizure order issued prior to June 1, 2022, pursuant to section 29-38c after notice and hearing, or a risk protection order or risk protection investigation order issued on or after June 1, 2022, pursuant to section 29-38c; (8) is prohibited from shipping, transporting, possessing or receiving a firearm pursuant to 18 USC 922(g)(2), (g)(4) or (g)(9); or (9) is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States.