Expert: Robert P. Firriolo - 5/13/2010

Question
Can I still buy a gun if I was discharged from the Marines for havinga a "personality disorder"? The discharge was Honorable and I was never ruled to be mentally incompetant or involuntarily confined to a mental institution. I am not currently being treated or medicated, and have no problems that I can see and the person that made the diagnosis was not a phsychiatrist, just a psych nurse or something. frankly I think the whole thing was BS. So does that disqualify me from buying a gun or is it irrelevant?

Answer
Under federal law, one is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition if he has been adjudicated as a mental defective or was committed to a mental institution. From your question, I do not have enough information to fully evaluate your circumstances. However, here are the relevant definitions so you can confirm for yourself whether your history falls within this definition in any way:

27 CFR 178.11 Adjudicated a mental defective

(a) A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority, that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease:
(1) is a danger to himself or others; or
(2) Lacks the mental capacity to manage his own affairs.

(b) The term shall include –
(1) a finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case; and
(2) Those persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 850a, 876(b).


27 CFR 178.11 Committed to a mental institution

A formal commitment of a person to a mental institution by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority. The term includes a commitment to a mental institution involuntarily. The term includes a commitment for mental defectiveness or mental illness. It also includes commitments for other reasons, such as for drug use. The term does not include a person in a mental institution for observation or a voluntary admission to a mental institution.

27 CFR 178.11 Mental institution

Includes mental health facilities, mental hospitals, sanitariums, psychiatric facilities, and other facilities that provide diagnoses by licensed professionals of mental retardation or mental illness, including a psychiatric ward in a general hospital.


Also, a dishonorable discharge makes one prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law. There is no such prohibition for honorable discharges regardless of the reason.