Court: State Trooper Can’t Carry Gun While Off-Duty Due to Mental Health Record

 By Kit Daniels
Yet officer is allowed to carry while on-duty, granting him special concession he is not afforded as a private citizen

A Pennsylvania court has declared that a state trooper who was previously hospitalized for depression should be banned from possessing firearms while off-duty, but should still be allowed to carry a gun while on-duty, granting him special concession while serving the state which he is not afforded as a private citizen.

Unfortunately courts routinely grant special status to government officials over private citizens. Credit: jonathunder via Wikimedia

The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that State Trooper Michael L. Keyes’ involuntary mental health treatment in 2006 bars him from possessing any firearms privately, but he should still be allowed to carry a gun while on official police business, according to Penn Live.
“The dangers inherent in the possession of firearms by the mentally ill are manifest,” Jude Fort Elliott declared. “A present clean bill of health is no guarantee that a relapse is not possible.”
Yet Elliott also stated that Keyes should still be allowed to have a firearm while on-duty as a state trooper, implying that public officials have special status over private citizens.
Keyes was serving as a state trooper when he was ordered into mental health treatment for an alleged depressive episode which led to a suicide attempt.

Even though his mental health provider later cleared him for duty after successful treatment, Keyes fought an uphill legal battle to be reinstated into law enforcement, which he finally won in 2010.
This case reveals how agents of the state, particularly police officers, are allowed to do things that are considered unlawful for private citizens to do.

Police officers routinely give out citations for driving while texting yet their patrol cars are commonly equipped with laptops and other electronic devices which these officers use while driving.
In New York and California, police officers are confiscating firearms from peaceful Americans yet they are more than happy to receive surplus military firepower from the Department of Homeland Security for police use.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” George Orwell stated in his book Animal Farm, which is unfortunately an accurate assessment of anyone wearing a government uniform.