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The process launched by newly confirmed Attorney General Todd
Blanche is a victory for Second Amendment advocates who have
long pushed for nonviolent people with felony convictions to be
given a pathway to regain their legal right to own firearms.
“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the
federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a
constitutional right without regard to whether they pose a
danger to public safety,” Blanche said in a statement. The
attorney general said the new process will protect “public
safety while giving deserving Americans a real path to
restoration.”
It’s the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration
to ease firearms restrictions. The Justice Department moved
earlier this year to roll back and modify a slate of gun
regulations. Separately, the department recently decided against
challenging a court ruling that struck down regulations on
firearm suppressors and certain guns.
Federal law has long allowed people who've had their gun rights
stripped because of felony convictions to petition the
government for the ability to own firearms again, but Congress
since 1992 has effectively barred the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from processing applications.
The Trump administration's rule aims to circumvent that by
establishing a new application system using an online portal.
The Justice Department says restoration will be granted on a
case-by-case basis, weighing a person's record and reputation to
determine whether they pose a likely threat to public safety.
Officials say people who have been convicted of violent crimes,
registered sex offenders, people living in the country illegally
and others whom officials believe pose a danger to society will
be denied “absent extraordinary circumstances.”
Kris Brown, the president of Brady, which advocates for stronger
gun laws, said her group is still reviewing the administration’s
final rule but has stressed the need for a “robust and
thoughtful system that minimizes the risk to public safety."
“Yet the Trump administration has consistently shown us they
have no such discretion, including by restoring gun rights to
convicted domestic abusers and violent January 6
insurrectionists, and by tirelessly rolling back broad policies
proven to prevent crime and gun violence,” Brown said in a
statement.
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