Second Amendment rights violated over long past mental-health issue, Hillsdale man says

GRAND RAPIDS, MI A Hillsdale man says the government has violated his Second Amendment rights by prohibiting him from obtaining a firearm because of a three-decades-old involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital.

Clifford Tyler, who says his mental-health issue was only temporary, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids against local, state and federal agencies alleging that they are violating his constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

As a consequence of this overbroad ban, sane, trustworthy, competent individuals that are not a threat to themselves or others and are not in any way mentally ill are forever prohibited from exercising their Second Amendment rights by the bare fact of a one-time involuntary commitment without consideration of individual present circumstances, Grand Rapids attorney Lucas McCarthy wrote in the complaint.

Tyler, 70, was involuntarily hospitalized on Jan. 2, 1986, over concerns he might commit suicide in response to an emotionally devastating divorce, McCarthy wrote.

Recent psychiatric evaluations showed that Tyler, who has no criminal record, isnt a risk to himself or others, and has no substance-abuse issues. The examination, including statements of his physician, showed no evidence of mental illness, records showed.

The evaluation noted that records of the 1986 hospitalization at now-closed Ypsilanti State Hospital no longer exist, and that there were few mental-health services available at the time in the rural area other than hospitalization.

Tyler filed the lawsuit after he tried to buy a firearm and obtain a concealed-pistol license. He enjoys shooting pistols competitively, and has always had firearms, reports said.

The Hillsdale County Sheriffs Department said he was prohibited from obtaining a firearm, the lawsuit said.

The Sheriffs Department provided Tyler a pamphlet, Guide for Appealing a Firearm Transfer Denial, which said the National Instant Criminal Background Check System showed this criteria prevented his obtaining a gun: Persons adjudicated as a mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or incompetent to handle their own affairs, court records showed.

Tyler then provided additional information about his situation to the FBI, which responded by confirming he was federally prohibited from owning a firearm, the lawsuit said.

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Second Amendment rights violated over long past mental-health issue, Hillsdale man says