Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire State trooper can't have gun while off duty

Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael L. Keyes is in an odd situation.

When on duty, he can carry a gun.

Yet while off duty, he is barred by law from possessing any firearms, because seven years ago he suffered from deep depression, repeatedly tried to kill himself by taking drugs and was involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

Keyes' latest attempt to be allowed to have a gun all the time was rejected this week by the state Superior Court.

That court upheld an earlier ruling by Perry County Senior Judge Keith B. Quigley that Keyes' involuntary mental health commitment constitutes an unsurmountable legal barrier to his ability to possess a gun while off duty.

An attempt to reach Keyes' attorney, Joshua Prince, for comment on the case wasn't successful Thursday. Keyes has been involved in legal battles ever since completing his mental health treatment. He also had to fight to be reinstated to the state police.

He was serving as a state trooper in Newport, when he was placed on temporary leave and ordered into mental health treatment in 2006. He finished treatment in less than a year and had to battle to get his job back, even after his doctor cleared him to go back to work.

An arbitrator's decision ordering his return to limited duty was fought by the state police, but ultimately was upheld by Commonwealth Court. The state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that ruling, and he was placed back on duty in 2010. In 2012, Commonwealth Court also ordered that Keyes be awarded nearly $16,000 in back pay.

Keyes began battling for full reinstatement of his ability to carry firearms in 2008. The problem, according to court filings, is that the federal Gun Control Act bars those who have been subject to involuntary mental health commitments from possessing guns.

In its ruling issued Tuesday, the Superior Court found there is no way for Keyes to have the record of his involuntary mental health commitment expunged. That means Keyes cannot surmount the federal ban on his having a gun off-duty, President Judge Emeritus Kate Ford Elliott wrote in the state court's opinion.

That prohibition does not amount to a breach of Keyes' rights under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Ford Elliott found, because it applies only to an "extremely small" class of citizens and has a solid public safety basis.

"The dangers inherent in the possession of firearms by the mentally ill are manifest," the judge wrote. And while Keyes argued that he is no longer mentally ill, "a present clean bill of health is no guarantee that a relapse is not possible," Ford Eliiott noted.

"Given the extreme potential harm attendant to the possession of deadly weapons by the mentally ill, and the risk of relapse," the judge wrote, "we see an important government interest in controlling the availability of firearms for those who have ever been adjudged mentally defective or have ever been committed to a mental institution but are now deemed to be cured."

It is "rational" for Keyes to still be allowed to have a gun on-duty because then he is under the supervision and observation of superior officers and his fellow troopers, Ford Elliott concluded.

"Were [Keyes] to again fall into a depressive state with suicidal ideation, it would be much more likely to be discovered while he is on-duty and his superiors could then restrict his access to state police firearms," she wrote.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/12/state_trooper_cant_have_gun_wh.html

That's about a crock of Sheet.

Who wants that ratchetass taking complaints?

Who would want him to even be answering a phone when you call for a Trooper.

The boy needs to find another line of work where he doesn't suffer so much stress.

Pretty weird stuff right there

I am sorry for this officer, but he needs to NOT be an officer of the law anymore. If it is illegal for him to possess a firearm due to previous mental illness then why the hell are people paying him to uphold the law in an enforcement position. The lawyers of this world are amazing..........

Hokey schit! I feel bad for the guy but Pennsylvania needs to get their head out of their ass!


That's one of the most irrational statements I have ever read.

I feel sorry for our state..

WTF over?

That can't end well.

If he was a succesful candidate for a 302 evaluation, which the article says he was. Then he should not have his job anymore.

However I disagree with the non ability to expunge his record, and while the court may not see it as a violation of the IS constitution it sure as hell is a violation of our state constitution.

And his attorney is one of the Top 2A lawyers in the state and I believe nation.

IMO there is alot more at stake here than just a "bad cop", which this thread will invariably turn in to.

You think?. . . . .lol

that new york state chit is rubbing off.

dave

What a crock of chit. If he is sane enough to carry a gun on duty he is sane enough to carry one off duty.

Problem is. . . . . . .he probably ain't good for either one.

In the federal bureau of prisons...if you couldn't legally possess a firearm then you couldn't work for them. That simple.

Should be equally as simple for the pa. state police. I feel for the guy but those should be the breaks.

Dan

He probably will make the headlines very soon after he shoots somebody for a two MPH over speeding violation.

No, PSP fought to not bring this guy back. He maybhave returned tonduty but I bet he is running the radio.

Recipe for disaster.

My take is there is a movement to restrict everyone's rights. Look at the list of things that are felonies now. As for depression, supposedly, things can be cured. The new guidelines say that grieving over a death is depression; maybe we are supposed to be giddy all the time, and just fight over the estate.

How many of us will never admit to having the "blues" nowadays. As for suicide, guns work very well, but don't think for a minute that there are not other ways to pull off job, including some that are hard to prove as such.

If this Guy can carry a Gun while wearing a Badge, then he should be able to carry when off duty , he is actually more dangerous when on duty and he has the Badge covering his ass. We live in a pucked up society .