Connecticut Residents' Gun Rights Change Dramatically on April 1 -- and It's No April Fools

MIDDLETOWN (TheBlaze/AP) -- Connecticut State Police are reminding firearms owners that state regulations on long guns will change Tuesday.

An AR-15 rifle to be raffled off, is seen at the 'Wall of Guns,' during the 142nd annual National Rifle Association(NRA) Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center May 4, 2013 in Houston, Texas.  (Source: AFP/Getty Images)

Troopers say that beginning April 1, long guns cannot be sold or transferred without one of the following documents: a permit to carry pistols or revolvers, an eligibility certificate for pistols or revolvers or a long gun eligibility certificate.

State police say those documents also will allow people to buy ammunition. Anyone who wants to buy ammunition and not additional firearms will only be required to obtain an ammunition certificate.

Also beginning Tuesday, hunting licenses will no longer be accepted for the purchase of long guns.

All permits and certificates can be applied for at state police headquarters in Middletown.

As TheBlaze has reported extensively, Connecticut's hastily-passed gun control law made tens of thousands of legal gun owners technically guilty of committing felonies overnight. The law requirers owners of semi-automatic rifles classified as so-called "assault weapons" to register their guns and high-capacity magazines.

That part of the law officially went into affect on the first day of 2014.

The state estimates there are still thousands of gun owners who haven't done so. It's unclear at this point what action police intend to take -- if any -- to enforce the law.