A friends father has a pistol he wants to give him. His father had it left to him by his father. Likely no records from the past. Can he carry it legally, does he need a FFL or does it have to be a stash gun?

When transferring a handgun in most cases one is supposed to follow the guidelines for a face to face handgun transfer. The person who is receiving the handgun should have valid Permit to carry Pistols or Revolvers a valid Eligibility Certificate. To carry a handgun one needs a valid Connecticut permit to carry. Note: You cannot transfer/sell a semiautomatic handgun classified as an assault weapon (ie semiautomatic handgun with a threaded barrel).

The basic method for private face to face sales/transfers of handguns:

Pistols and Revolvers
Federal Law states you may only buy a handgun in the state in which you reside.

You can only buy a handgun in Connecticut, if in addition to being a resident, you have a valid Permit to carry Pistols or Revolvers, a valid Eligibility Certificate, if you are a licensed Firearms Dealer or if you are a Sworn Police Officer.

A DPS-67-C and a DPS-3-C (4 copies) must be completed. The seller of the handgun must contact the Special Licensing and Firearms Unit at (860) 685-8400, or 1-(888) 335-8438 and obtain an authorization number for that sale. This number is to be added to both forms. The DPS-67-C is to be retained by the seller for 20 years. The seller should retain the original copy of the DPS-3 for their records, give one copy to the purchaser as a receipt, submit one copy to the local police authority where the purchaser resides and submit a final copy to the Commissioner of Public Safety.

Thanks,

The friend has a permit. His father doesn't . His father doesn't think the state is aware he has it. Will he have any issues when he contacts the state for the transfer?

Don't know, but I would think probably not. As far as I know (but I could be wrong) they don't run a background check on the owner selling the handgun, only the buyer.

The state cares a lot more about where a handgun is going than where it came from.  They know full well that there are a shit-ton of pistols out there that date back to the happy days when you didn't need a permit to buy them and you didn't need to register them.  Possession of these "grandfather" guns is perfectly legal and passing them on to someone who does have a permit is also perfectly legal.

The only downside is that the gun is now in out of the cold and properly registered like the rest of us good citizens.  No more "outlaw" status safely off the books.