Commitment and Gun Rights Restrictions

Facts of the Case

A decade prior to the case, Robert Earl Tucker, Jr., was involuntary transported to a local emergency department under an order of protective custody issued by local law enforcement. At the hospital, a physician issued an emergency certificate on the basis that he presented a danger to himself and others. Mr. Tucker was involuntary hospitalized for up to 15 days. Two weeks after release, a new order for protective custody was issued at the request of Mr. Tucker’s mother to “determine if [Mr. Tucker] should be voluntarily admitted, admitted by emergency certificate, admitted as a noncontested admission, or discharged” (Tucker, p 259). Once again, an emergency physician saw Mr. Tucker and determined that he was a danger to himself or others and issued a physician emergency certificate. Mr. Tucker was subsequently hospitalized for 13 days. During this hospitalization, paranoid schizophrenia was diagnosed, and medications were prescribed.

In 2019, Mr. Tucker purchased a pistol from a firearms dealer. On the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) form, he stated that he had neither been adjudicated as a “mental defective” nor “committed to a mental institution.”

A short time later, Mr. Tucker was identified as a suspect in an active-shooter investigation. Law enforcement detained him and discovered that he had a loaded firearm and an extra magazine in his possession. During the interrogation, in which ATF was also present, Mr. Tucker reported he had been hospitalized and held for a 72-hour observation period. He later admitted to lying about the length of his prior hospitalizations because of fear of losing his right to carry a firearm.

One year later, Mr. Tucker again tried to purchase a firearm and noted that he had never been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution on the ATF form. An ATF agent served a warning to Mr. Tucker that he was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he had been “admitted into a mental institution for a lengthy period of time” (Tucker, p 260). After being served, Mr. Tucker called the agent to ask if he could rent guns to shoot at a range and if he could purchase a firearm if he stated he was adjudicated as a mental defective. The agent answered “no” to both questions. Later that week, Mr. Tucker texted the ATF agent that he was “buying a weapon this week.” He told the ATF agent that “I am not prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm” (Tucker, p 260). He proceeded to purchase a firearm and once more completed the ATF form indicating that he had never been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution.

Mr. Tucker was arrested and later indicted for three counts of false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer for representing “that he had not been adjudicated as a mental defective” (Tucker, p 260) in violation of § 922(a)(6) and two counts of possession in violation of § 922(g)(4). Mr. Tucker appealed.

Ruling and Reasoning

The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s convictions, and the sentence was vacated. Using de novo judicial review, the court of appeals found that his convictions were not supported by sufficient evidence. The court of appeals defined adjudicate as commonly meaning “[t]o rule on judicially.” The records did not demonstrate that Mr. Tucker underwent a judicial process, like a civil commitment hearing, during his hospitalizations. They further stated that the physician emergency certificate process does not constitute an adjudication. Physician opinions regarding emergency hospitalization are ex parte and do not involve due process. Therefore, Mr. Tucker’s convictions for possession and false statements were reversed and his sentence was vacated.