Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. Galioto

We noted probable jurisdiction to decide whether Congress may, consistent with the Fifth Amendment, forbid all involuntarily committed former mental patients to purchase firearms while permitting some felons to do so.

In 1982 appellee attempted to purchase a firearm at Ray’s Sport Shop in North Plainfield, New Jersey. The Sport Shop gave appellee a standard questionnaire, which asked, inter alia: “Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?” Appellee had been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for a period of several days…