(a) Any person who is eighteen years of age or older may apply to the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection for a long gun eligibility certificate.

(b) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall issue a long gun eligibility certificate unless said commissioner finds that the applicant: (1) Has failed to successfully complete a course approved by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection in the safety and use of firearms including, but not limited to, a safety or training course in the use of firearms 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 firearms conducted by an instructor certified by the state or the National Rifle Association; (2) has been convicted of (A) a felony, (B) a misdemeanor violation of § 21a-279 on or after October 1, 2015, or (C) a misdemeanor violation of § 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; (3) has been convicted as delinquent for the commission of a serious juvenile offense, as defined in § 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 § 53a-13; (5) has been confined in a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities, as defined in § 17a-495, within the preceding sixty months by order of a probate court; (6) has been voluntarily admitted to a hospital for persons with psychiatric disabilities, as defined in § 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 § 17a-680; (7) 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 § 46b-15 or 46b-16a; (8) is subject to a firearms seizure order issued prior to June 1, 2022, pursuant to § 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 § 29-38c; (9) is prohibited from shipping, transporting, possessing or receiving a firearm pursuant to 18 USC 922(g)(4); or (10) is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States.