Contesting 302 Wrongly Identified?

**JenniferG** · February 28th, 2021, 05:49 PM

If this is a problem it is best to use a good lawyer like Gun Lawyer to sort things out and get to the bottom of the discrepancy and file the proper paperwork in the courts. The legal system is driven by paperwork and only people that are experienced dealing with that maze can help you.

**eagleclaw** · February 28th, 2021, 09:05 PM

As I mentioned in post #2, I already thought of this scenario and had the same question. I think it is a valid question. Just because the OP asked this question doesn't mean the OP is involved this situation.

**CherokeeChief** · March 2nd, 2021, 05:27 PM

I can say for a fact that this does happen. I received a denial and spoke to the chief of this department at the PA State Police. After telling him I was never 302'd he told me it is possible for someone with even a "similar" name to be applied to you.

**chrispa** · March 14th, 2021, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by CherokeeChief

I can say for a fact that this does happen. I received a denial and spoke to the chief of this department at the PA State Police. After telling him I was never 302'd he told me it is possible for someone with even a "similar" name to be applied to you.

Just saw this. Thanks for the post...out of curiosity what was the result? Did you manage to get it cleared up? Was it easy to fix?

**CherokeeChief** · May 6th, 2021, 08:53 PM

HELL NO it is not easy or fixed yet, lol. I laugh to keep from pulling my hair out tbh...

**MartinBrody** · May 8th, 2021, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by eagleclaw

As I mentioned in post #2, I already thought of this scenario and had the same question. I think it is a valid question. Just because the OP asked this question doesn't mean the OP is involved this situation.

Yeah I have been concerned about this too. My father has the exact same name as me and there is a very good chance of this happening to him. He lives in PA but has no PA drivers license, so I hope like hell DOB could sort any problems out quickly. But dealing with lawyers and courts and the system recently I don’t have much faith.

**chrispa** · May 11th, 2021, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by CherokeeChief

HELL NO it is not easy or fixed yet, lol. I laugh to keep from pulling my hair out tbh...

Thanks for the update, sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you can get it straightened out with eventually.

**chrispa** · May 11th, 2021, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by MartinBrody

Yeah I have been concerned about this too. My father has the exact same name as me and there is a very good chance of this happening to him. He lives in PA but has no PA drivers license, so I hope like hell DOB could sort any problems out quickly. But dealing with lawyers and courts and the system recently I don*t have much faith.

I can't imagine you have much to worry about there...even if he lied and pretended to be you I'm sure the doctors aren't going to believe that he is 20+ years younger then he looks if he tries gives your date of birth instead of his. I'm mostly concerned because it seems easy enough for an old classmate or co-worker or whatnot that's around your age and who has a similar appearance to pretend to be you, although I'd imagine that's pretty rare. I feel like they should at least take like a thumb print at a minimum so if it does happen it can be easily straightened out, but I'm sure that will never happen because they don't mind denying people rights.

**CherokeeChief** · May 12th, 2021, 10:45 AM

The issue wouldn't be a current one. Meaning, today, in this era....we have the internet and numerous agencies communicating with each other all fairly instantaneously. Or within 24 hours of a server refresh/update of their in house information which are all using a biometric of data to correctly identify a person (birthdate, ssn, insurance I'd #, etc) . Where the issue lies is people that were allegedly 302'd decades ago. I have read post after post and court case after case of people who were supposedly 302'd, the hospital sent their info to the local behavioral health system, who then in turn at some point sent that info to the PSP (Pennsylvania State Police) BUT....no records exist anywhere to prove that it was actually them or that they were 302'ed. And instead of it being a simple process for people to be removed from a lifetime ban list for an event which there is no evidence for, one must now go to court and jump through hurdles to prove "innocence". The laws/court systems are severely flawed in this respect because as it stands it is truly a guilty until proven innocent scenario. Josh Prince and his lawfirm have been taking many cases and winning several benchmark lawsuits in PA in the past several years though. Which is helping pave the way, but the laws themselves have not caught up yet....unfortunately.

**GeneralRaptor2002** · May 12th, 2021, 08:32 PM

Oh yeah. Many nights I've just read case after case after case that went something like this:

Person attempts to purchase a firearm. Gets denied due to 302 that happened x number of years ago. X is greater than the medical record retention law. Especially before 2019 they would try getting it expunged under 6111.1 (g)(2) (before then a 6105 f 1 relief order wasn't good enough for federal relief).

The petitioner tries to argue that there isn't enough evidence to support that the 302 occurred since the records aren't there. The PSP chief counsel counters by saying that the Notification of Mental Health Commitment form is enough. If not that they use any other documents they can find like police reports despite the MH-783 not being there.

Usually the PSP would win.

A good instance of this is PSP v Slaughter.

Pro tip from me: If you want to find cases related to 302s or any other PA UFA case law, go to google advanced search and use the following terms:

50 PS 7302 on the PA superior court website. The only limitation is that the text search only goes back a certain number of years.

7302 or 6105 + (insert name of PSP Chief Counsel, Andrew J. Lovette, John J. Herman, Nolan B. Meeks, Joanna N. Reynolds, these attorneys are the ones who usually represented the PSP in these cases)

You will probably be boarded out by hours of reading complicated legal opinions that go into deep depth. But if that's your thing, go ahead.

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I have read too many firearms law cases in PA and at the federal level. I am disgusted by what I read and change is needed.