MADISON (WKOW) — A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered the release of a Clinton man accused of having a gun after being banned from possessing firearms due to a past, mental health commitment.

A criminal complaint alleges that Austin Hedges, 23, knowing that he had previously been committed to a mental institution, possessed a .38 caliber pistol.

Conditions of his release prevent Hedges from possessing any weapons.

According to prosecutors, Hedges appeared on social media video with an AR-15 at a June gay rights counter protest in Detroit.

Authorities say Hedges is a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman says Hedges is “…embracing the violent persona of the movement.”

Altman says FBI agents Wednesday seized an AR-15 and nine other guns from Hedges’s Clinton home.

“He has politically unpopular views,” Hedges’s attorney Nathan Otis says. “He has made no threats to anybody.”

Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker says people have understandable “hypersensitivity” to the possibility of yet another mass shooting incident. “How do we know (Hedges) has not reached a tipping point?” Crocker said Friday during a detention hearing for Hedges.

Crocker said in the absence of an indictment against Hedges and no evidence of threats, Hedges’s release as his case pends is appropriate.

The judge told Hedges his possession of weapons “concern everybody,” and he is “trusting you to do the right thing.” Hedges says he understands.

Otis and Hedges’s father, William Hedges say Austin Hedges was contacted by law enforcement in 2014 over target-shooting without officers expressing concern over Hedges possessing guns. Otis says Hedges openly carrying firearms suggests he was unaware of the prohibition.

“This is America: does everyone have to wear the same shoes?” William Hedges says of his son’s neo-Nazi group affiliation. “It’s been non-violent.”

Sources with knowledge of Hedges’s six-month mental health commitment as a teenager in 2013 tell 27 News it followed threats to kill by Hedges.

A federal grand jury next week will consider Hedges’ case and decide on an indictment.

Tweets by galli_wkow