DieHardBrownsFan Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 US appeals court deems gun law unconstitutional Published December 19, 2014FoxNews.com Facebook0 Twitter0 livefyre2985 Email Print Jan. 4, 2013: Handguns are displayed in the sales area of Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range, in Sandy Springs, Ga. (AP) A federal appeals court in Cincinnati deemed a law unconstitutional that kept a Michigan man who was committed to a mental institution from owning a gun. The three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a federal ban on gun ownership for those who have been committed to a mental institution violated the Second Amendment rights of 73-year-old Clifford Charles Tyler. Tyler’s lawyer, Lucas McCarthy, hopes that the ruling would have a “significant impact on the jurisprudence in the area of gun rights.”Tyler attempted to buy a gun and was denied on the grounds that he had been committed to a mental institution in 1986 after suffering emotional problems stemming from a divorce. He was only in there for a month. The decision is the first by a federal appeals court to rule a federal gun law is unconstitutional since 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in D.C. vs. Heller struck down the Washington, D.C. ban on firearms ownership. Federal law bans gun ownership for convicted felons, people under 18, illegal immigrants, drug addicts and those ordered by a court to a mental institution. The law also syas that people must have a chance to prove that their disqualifying disabilities have ended in order to possess a firearm legally. Since 2008, states have been able to get federal grants to set up “relief from disabilities program,” which was defunded in 1992. Michigan has not set one up, which left Tyler without a way to prove that his so-called “disability” should no longer apply. “The government’s interest in keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill is not sufficiently related to depriving the mentally healthy, who had a distant episode of commitment, of their constitutional rights,” wrote Judge Danny Boggs, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, for the panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I don't agree. If you got committed, sorry, no guns for you sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I don't care when or why. No thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicIsForSquares Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I can see both sides of the argument. If you are sound of mind and had an issue, I could see why you wouldn't want to be punished for seeking medical help. However, I am not real keen on having people who have a history of mental health issues having access to firearms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLD Woody Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I don't agree with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Concerns me - he apparently didn't voluntarily go for help with whatever was bothering him... but "committed" ? I suppose that suicidal or something. If you are addicted to something...and go to a center for help... would that permanently disqualify you? eh.... don't know... for the entire rest of your life? Then folks who need a bit of help getting through stuff, even just counseling through divorce... could lose a right too...? Need more information, but offhand, I don't agree with the decision, except there should be an oversight judge or commission to figure it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballpeen Posted December 31, 2014 Report Share Posted December 31, 2014 Maybe the Judge did figure it out. Would not allowing a person with a past history but no demonstrated recent history of mental illness to own a gun be a profiling of sorts? Just saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted December 31, 2014 Report Share Posted December 31, 2014 Needing serious counseling for grief is obviously not the same thing as being found to have a mental illness.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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