(Alabama) can I [17M] once I turn 18 own a firearm even though I stayed in a psychiatric hospital for 8 days when I was 16?

"Protection" is delusional thinking I'm afraid. The average gun is something like 10 - 20 times more likely to injure you than protect you. Normally I'm fine with that as it's a civil liberty (I'm rabidly pro-gun) & acceptable risk associated with a hobby, but with a recent history of inpatient treatment for depression that number is going to shoot to over 1,000 times more likely to hurt you than protect you. Note that I rarely advise patients on the matter, but your rationale is suspect with an ego-syntonic condition like depression. I'm also worried about your impulse control & ability to cope with stress given your persistance with this question & what happened a year ago.

If you'd said you wanted to hunt or go to the range with friends I wouldn't worry, but "protection" is delusional (and indictive of uncontrolled anxiety, which implies poor control of depression) and "collecting" opens a whole other bag of worms. You can probably legally own firearms but it's an exceedingly bad idea until probably age 25 without an additional episode. Buy ammo & use your friend's weapons in the meantime.

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