An issue regarding purchasing a firearm.

[murrdog]

I was treated at a hospital for depression 14 years ago. I went there by my own free will. I was not a threat to myself or others and I did nothing to hurt anyone. It seems that a police officer went to the hospital and said I needed to be there and he wanted to make sure I was there for treatment.
It seems my hospital stay is seen as a "302" involuntary committed person to a mental institution. I was not arrested and I committed no crimes or broken any laws. I was given no hearing and I was not advised of the legal aspects of my hospital stay. A few years later I tried to purchase a firearm and was denied because of this.
I now serve in the Army and I am deployed to Afghanistan and I have been deployed to Iraq and Kuwait in the last 2 years. I carry a loaded M16A3 every day. I want to be able to legally purchase new firearms and enjoy the rights as everyone else in the USA for whom I put my life on the line for. I had to go through psychological evaluations in order to re enlist in the military and everything checked out fine and here I am today serving proudly.
I have never been arrested or charged of a crime. I don't want any trouble. How do I fix this problem?

[SigForLife]

There are specific provisions under the Uniform Firearms Act to obtain relief. I was just in court on Friday with a Vet and a similar situation. We were able to get him complete relief including expungement of the 302. The first step is determining if any records exist from your commitment and going from there.

[Mosinshooter762]

Best of luck! Please post when you finally cut through all the red tape, and are able to purchase your own firearm.

[yeager484]

While I am grateful for your service and wish you luck restoring your firearms rights, I am curious; did the challenge form from a denied pics say that it was because of a 302?

Eta: I'm asking if you were specifically told 302 from a challenge form because it'd give you a clear direction to begin restoring your rights..as opposed to not having the exact reason (if a challenge form hasn't been returned to you yet)

[Chazman321]

Thank you for your service. However, I was under the impression that if you had a 302 on record, the military wouldn't accept you in the first place...


-Chaz

[murrdog]

This all happened back in 1999. I was not given a challenge form of any kind. When I re enlisted in the military, I had to be completely honest of my past medical history and a full background investigation was conducted. I had to see a doctor and have a complete psychological evaluation after which the doctor gave his recommendation for me to serve in the military.
The PSP made a visit to my house and told me I would be charged with a felony because on the ATF form I answered the question to involuntary committed as a "NO". I was not arrested but I was given a summons to appear before the local magistrate.
The case was brought before the magistrate and all charges were dropped and the case was dismissed. I told the magistrate that I was unaware of the "302" and answered the question on the ATF form accordingly. At that time in my life, I never had the money to hire a good attorney to take care of this matter. There was a public defender that represented me at the hearing and the whole thing only lasted 5 minutes. The PSP officer began to explain how I was in violation and my attorney began to say that my 2nd amendment rights were being violated and the magistrate quickly ended the hearing as if he didn't want to open a can of worms.
I understand now that I will have to hire an attorney and have my records expunged if that is possible. If that is not an option then my biggest question is: If I'm not legally allowed to posses, purchase, sell, carry, handle or operate firearms and ammunition, then why am I a Non Commissioned Officer serving in the military for the past 8 years, sent to foreign lands with automatic weapons and training others how to use and qualify with these weapons?

[HiredGoon]

You need to see exactly how the original records show that you were committed... voluntarily or involuntarily. It seems there's some fusion there. Can you get a copy of those?
IANAL nor a mental health professional

[bluedog46]

This is part of the problem I see. Mental illness is a serious problem and the stigmatism causes many people not to get help. I think if you are not a threat to others or yourself you should be able to excercise your 2nd amendment rights. We let felons vote and people who live totally off the tax payer who have not paid into it. If they can vote I think people not convicted of felonies or adjudicated mentally dangerous should be able to have guns. hell in this day and age most people have one sort of depression at different times.

To the OP best of luck with the situation.

[yeager484]

I've heard the process of restoring your firearms rights is possible.

There are a few lawyers here who may chime in if they see this thread.

[GunLawyer001]

I've heard the process of restoring your firearms rights is possible.

There are a few lawyers here who may chime in if they see this thread.

There are 2 basic options (3, really). The first is if the 302 doesn't say that inpatient confinement was necessary; in that case, you aren't even prohibited, you just need to clear it up with PSP.

Second case, where it shouldn't have been done as a 302; you can go to court and have the records retroactively un-done. That's the hardest to do, because you have to prove that statements on official forms were untrue, based on facts that you mostly just have your word for. For this one, in the western part of the Commonwealth, I'd seek out attorney Jon Pushinsky out of Pittsburgh.

Third, if you can't use 1 or 2, you get a new psych evaluation, get a letter in the right format, prepare a petition making the right allegations, and you ask a judge to look you over and restore your rights.