Agreed - it looks like it only applies to pistols and revolvers:
CT HB07223 | 2019 | General Assembly | LegiScan
I've used console safes in my vehicles for years for conceal carry purposes when a "gun free zone" forces me to leave my hand guns in my vehicle and/or to secure a back up in my vehicle to ensure it isn't access my kids, etc.
My current console safe has also survived a break in to my car untouched, so it confirmed for me that it's more bother than a smash and grab thief has time or desire to mess with.
Another less expensive option ($15-$30 compared to $250-$300) is to get a vehicle safe with a cable that can be secured to a seat frame and stored out of sight under the seat. The key here is to keep it stored out of sight.
A better option is one that slides into a frame or bracket that is bolted to the floor of the vehicle under the seat like the one sold by Bulldog for around $50.
The Hornady Rapid Safe is another option that I've considered, but I have mixed feelings about it. It uses an inflatable pad to hold it in place between console and seat, and then uses a cable to secure it to the seat frame. On one hand it allows quick access to the user, but on the other hand its in plain sight in the car and may prompt a break in just for exploratory purposes (i.e. to discover whether it's cabled to the seat or not. That'll cost you a window, and perhaps a door.
Reading the language of the bill, they failed to define "safe", so a car safe of these types should all be legal, or at least really hard to prosecute given the lack of definition of "safe".
In short, you have lots of options and if you shop around you can find one of the under the seat lock box cable variety for around $20.
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All that said, and fully acknowledging that it won't be popular to say it, I'll be blunt and honest about the legislation issue. I do indeed strongly oppose laws like this because it is a matter of responsible gun ownership and should be something a gun owner does on his or her own as a matter of personal responsibility.
However, we bring it on ourselves as the problem with the concept of responsible gun ownership in the real world is that an awful lot of us are not all that responsible, especially when it comes to gun storage.
You're from CT. Remember Sandy Hook? Sandy Hook occured in large part because a gun owner with a son who had known psychological problems left her guns unsecured in her home where her son could easily access them. That was farm animal stupid and incredibly irresponsible behavior by a single gun owner that still has negative effects on gun ownership 7 years later - like the passage of the bill you're upset about.
Gun owners, who should know better, leave unsecured handguns in cars all the time, and said hand guns then get stolen. Even worse is the percentage of handguns that are stolen from unlocked vehicles. IMHO that is stupid enough that it should be criminal. If you leave an unsecured handgun in a vehicle, in particular in plain sight, or even worse in an unlocked vehicle in or out of sight, you might as well hand out handguns to criminals on street corners as the net effect is the same.
We like to whine about our 2A rights, but rights also come with a responsibility to ensure our rights don't infringe on the rights or safety of others. Yeah I know, unpopular concept, but man up and adult a little. I live in the real world and the reality is that if a community can't responsibly self regulate its own behavior, laws will get passed to do it for the individuals in that community. That applies to the 2A and gun rights just as much as it does to anything else.
In short, a small percentage of us have brought laws like this down on the rest of us.
And yet somehow real criminals always manage to escape prosecution under these laws. Go figure. 
