September 15, 2016
This morning’s 10-to-6 decision by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in Tyler v. Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department, concludes that people who were committed because of mental illness many years ago might regain their Second Amendment rights. Like last week’s 3rd Circuit decision related to the Second Amendment rights of people who had felony convictions decades ago, this is a narrow decision, but an important one.

1. Clifford Tyler, now age 74, “was involuntarily committed thirty years ago following an emotional divorce,” and stayed at the mental hospital for two to four weeks. He has since then apparently not had any mental-health problems. But federal law bans gun possession by anyone “who has been committed to a mental institution,” and Tyler remains covered by that.

From 1986 to 1992, such people could apply to the Justice Department for relief from such a disability, but in 1992 Congress “defunded this program, noting that reviewing applications was a ‘very difficult and subjective task which could have devastating consequences for innocent citizens if the wrong decision is made.'” In 2008, Congress did give states a financial incentive to create state rights-restoration systems, and a state restoration would lift the federal disability. But while about 30 states have implemented such systems, Michigan, where Clifford Tyler lives, lacks such a system.