Court Says Mental Illness History Won’t Bar Gun Ownership

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A federal appeals court concluded that a history of mental illness shouldn’t bar citizens from owning a weapon in a first such ruling that may expand the rights of millions of U.S. gun owners.

A federal law barring a Michigan man in 2011 from owning a gun because he was committed to a mental institution more than 20 years earlier is unconstitutional, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based court ruled Dec. 18.