302 stories

[joshcogar]

LBaker - Tried to Message you but your inbox is full... Here is my story below.

I understand based on the forum, you were looking for stories of persons who are trying to restore their rights to own firearms. Let me begin first by stating that my situation is rather unique. When I was 15 years old, my mother from whom I've been estranged for the past 15 years, had filed a 302 commitment on me. After the 302 (120 hours) expired I was released and sent back home. Since this incident I've not had any other subsequent run-ins with the law and/or any related mental health problems, and I firmly believe that my mother committed me under false pretenses. I am now the Vice President of Information Technology for a billion dollar bank and have been with my wife for 13 years with two wonderful daughters. As you can imagine, I was quite surprised when the PICS search came back with a denial. I don't recall from memory all the details that surrounded this 302 since it occurred back in 1997 and I was fairly young. I have begun to work on getting this expunged from my medial records, however this has proven to be a huge undertaking since most, if not all, hospitals destroy their records after 10 years. Thus far, each hospital that "may" have a copy of said records is telling me that they've been destroyed.

I've been made to feel like a criminal for something that transpired 20 years ago when I was just a kid with a bad attitude. I've always considered myself a "model citizen", but this flag on my record has made me feel as if I am now a second class citizen in the eyes of the law. I can no longer hunt (which I loved to do) or for that matter own a gun. What do I do next? I'm forever banned.

This is my story in a nutshell, I hope it helps show that these cases, especially when the said person was a minor, need to be evaluated individually. I do understand why the law is there, but there are situations where cases need to be heard individually.

You can reach me at josh@cogar.org.

Thanks

[LBaker]

Josh, I got your email. Thank you. Gonna hit this hard again when they get back to work...

[Still Trying]

I tried to email you as well, I do not think it went through so I am posting my story here as well.

Hello,

If there is anything else I can do, or anything else you need from me please let me know.

Early on in 1996 (Jan/Feb) my sister accused my mothers boyfriend of raping her. CYS removed my sister from the home and placed her in foster care until my father could take custody of her and move her to Colorado to live with him. I was left in the home by the state with no help or support from anyone, the next 6 months were hell for me as I had to take my mothers wrath and hatred of my father and the situation my sister caused. During the rape investigation in late Feb. my mothers boyfriend attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a .22 rifle. My mother woke me the day of the attempted suicide because she couldn't find her boyfriend and his truck was still at the house. I brushed this off and said he was probably out somewhere; my mother told me he left a note and I couldn't read it until I went to look for him, when I opened the shed by the driveway I realized why she wouldn't let me read the note first. After a few months in the hospital my moms boyfriend went to a psych ward since he attempted suicide, this is where my mom learned of the 302 process.

When I was 14 years old (6-12-1996) my mother had a 302 issued against me, this 302 has been a stress and burden on my life ever since. Prior to the 302 being issued my mother and I were arguing because I wanted to go live with my father and sister in Colorado, not wanting to "lose" to my father again my mother refused and verbally and emotionally lashed out at me to the point of abuse. I was broken down by my mother and in tears; all I wanted was to be with my father and sister again, I told my mother that living with her was like stabbing myself in the stomach. After my statement my mother told me that if I wanted to act crazy she would treat me as such and "teach me a lesson by having me 302'd". My mother took me to an ER and told the Dr everything he needed to hear to have the 302 issued, I never got to speak with the Dr and I never refused to go or do what I was told. If given the opportunity to voice my side, the truth of the situation would have come out and at the very least a 302 would not have been issued. I had no rights in this process; no ability to use the phone to call my father for help, no explanation or options for my rights, everything was controlled by my mother and the ER Dr. On my 302 paperwork it states I was frequently smoking marijuana, yet my drug tests came back negative from the hospital.
When I was transferred from the ER to the mental health ward my mother was gone and I finally was able to speak for myself, when offered the option I signed myself into the facility voluntarily, sadly the damage was already done. At that time I did not know the 302 had been filed since no one spoke with me at the ER and since I signed in voluntarily, I found out about the 302 when I was denied the purchase of a hunting rifle and charged for the crime of filling out the paperwork. This charge nearly took everything from me, I was just starting college on my own and if fully convicted all of my tuition aide would've been lost.

Since the 302 incident in 1996 I have had no mental health issues, put myself through college at Penn State, started a successful business, own my home, and I am married with a daughter. The only thing I cannot do is remove this flag that hangs over my head, a constant reminder of the hardships I endured as a child and the negative connotation society has for those deemed "mentally defective".


Again thank you for the time and effort you are putting into this, this is truly an area that needs to be fixed.

Thank you

[scottvelocity]

Hate to be negative but if you've been 302'd, and it was a valid 302 with all the proper paperwork, then you have no chance of overturning it anytime soon. Maybe never unless a miracle happens.
I was 302'd 15 years ago and I've done everything that I could to overturn it with the help of a well known firearms law attorney and lots of money. No luck.
302's should have a time limit. They should not ban someone for life because of one incident.

[joshcogar]

Hate to be negative but if you've been 302'd, and it was a valid 302 with all the proper paperwork, then you have no chance of overturning it anytime soon. Maybe never unless a miracle happens.
I was 302'd 15 years ago and I've done everything that I could to overturn it with the help of a well known firearms law attorney and lots of money. No luck.
302's should have a time limit. They should not ban someone for life because of one incident.

It's certainly strange that no one has the paperwork. Scratching my heard trying to figure this one out.

[scottvelocity]

I had the same issue. I could not find any paperwork stating that I was 302'd.
The hospital that I was admitted to only keeps records for 10 years and they had no record of me being there. I called the crisis center for my county and they told me they didn't have any records.
After my attorney contacted the state police suddenly the 302 paperwork was found. Cambria County crisis had all the paperwork and sent it to the state police. Why they couldn't locate it for me after two calls is a mystery to me.

So if there is a 302 on you, your county crisis center most likely has the info.

[GunLawyer001]

I had the same issue. I could not find any paperwork stating that I was 302'd.
The hospital that I was admitted to only keeps records for 10 years and they had no record of me being there. I called the crisis center for my county and they told me they didn't have any records.
After my attorney contacted the state police suddenly the 302 paperwork was found. Cambria County crisis had all the paperwork and sent it to the state police. Why they couldn't locate it for me after two calls is a mystery to me.

So if there is a 302 on you, your county crisis center most likely has the info.

This is a familiar story, the flunkies at the hospitals and the county realize that the quickest way to make you go away is to lie, and tell you that there are no records. It's a plausible lie, because retention policies vary from place to place, and 7 or 10 years is a reasonable time for them to destroy the records. Except, they often have the records.

[Still Trying]

Not sure how many folks watched President Obamas speech today, but I did. What bothered me was that he stated "no ones rights have ever been violated by extended background checks", well Mr. President you're wrong my rights are violated by the extended background check and the improper 302 the state of Pennsylvania put on my record with no recourse for removal. Now that I live in another state I am still haunted by the state issued flag from when I was 14, and forever barred from regaining my rights.

[Love2Hunt]

I'm not in Senator Aument's jurisdiction. Will my story be of any benefit? Does this Senator have any allies in Northeast PA? Also the quote: " Pennsylvania Code Title 50 - Mental Health 7102. Statement of policy.

Treatment on a voluntary basis shall be preferred to involuntary
treatment; and in every case, the least restrictions
consistent with adequate treatment shall be employed." seems to leave room for interpretation... Must a 201 be offered to ALL people under threat of 302 or just those who are not within the 30 days of harm to self or others?

[ME16510]

Does anyone have any updates on this or any other news for those of us with 302s on our records?

I saw Joshua Prince got a ruling last year that a 302 wasn't a disqualifier under Federal Law. Along with the horrible news that a judge threw a 6-year statute of limitation on getting a 302 expunged. The latter of which is basically a back breaker for my hopes of ever owning firearms in this state again.