Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a new Justice Department process allowing eligible Americans who lost federal firearm rights, including some with criminal convictions, to seek restoration through the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Justice Department is reviving a long-dormant federal process that allows certain Americans who lost their firearm rights because of felony convictions or other disqualifying circumstances to apply to have those rights restored.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the new system Monday, describing it as a way to balance public safety with constitutional protections under the Second Amendment.
“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 the Justice Department announcement. “This rule establishes a rigorous, commonsense process that protects the public while giving deserving Americans a real path to restoration.”
Federal law already contains a mechanism allowing people prohibited from possessing firearms to seek relief from those restrictions. The relevant federal statute permits applications for restoration under certain circumstances.
For decades, however, that process was effectively unavailable through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Beginning in 1992, Congress repeatedly barred ATF from using appropriated funds to investigate or act on applications seeking restoration of federal firearm rights.
The newly announced Justice Department rule changes how those applications will be handled by moving responsibility away from ATF and placing the restoration process within the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
The rule is scheduled to take effect in 30 days.
U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin said the department has spent recent months creating the new program under Blanche’s direction and estimated that approximately 30 million Americans have lost Second Amendment rights.
“Over the past months, we have worked at the direction of Attorney General Todd Blanche to build a program to give a pathway for restoration for the 30 million Americans who have lost their Second Amendment rights,” Martin said. “We are proud to serve and defend our great Second Amendment.”
The initiative follows a broader Second Amendment review ordered by President Donald Trump shortly after returning to office.
Trump signed a February 2025 executive order directing the Justice Department to examine federal policies that could infringe on the right to keep and bear arms and to identify actions the administration could take to protect Second Amendment rights.
Gun-rights organizations welcomed Monday’s announcement, particularly because the new process could provide relief for people convicted of nonviolent crimes who have otherwise completed their sentences and regained other civil rights.
William Sack, senior director of litigation for the Second Amendment Foundation, said the organization has pursued constitutional challenges to lifetime firearm prohibitions imposed on nonviolent felons.
“The DOJ has released its final regulation re-establishing a formal pathway for non-violent felons to seek restoration of their Second Amendment rights. The DOJ’s press release explains, ‘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. This rule establishes a rigorous, commonsense process that protects the public while giving deserving Americans a real path to restoration,’” Sack told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The Second Amendment Foundation led the way on this important issue, bringing multiple constitutional challenges to the lifetime prohibition for even non-violent felons.”
Sack said the group was continuing to review the details of the final regulation.
“Today’s development is an exciting next step in the process of ensuring the civil rights of all Americans are respected while only those proven dangerous to society are disarmed,” Sack continued. “Our review of the final regulation is ongoing, and if any other details require comment, those will be forthcoming.”
Gun Owners of America also praised the administration’s decision, arguing that the funding restrictions imposed on ATF had unfairly prevented people convicted of nonviolent offenses from seeking restoration of their firearm rights.
“President Trump, AG Blanche, and this administration are correcting a nearly 3 decade old injustice created by Senator Schumer and his funding amendment that has prohibited ATF from restoring federal firearm rights,” Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said. “American citizens who committed nonviolent crimes and have had the rest of their constitutional rights restored have been unfairly discriminated against when it comes to their right to keep and bear arms.”
Pratt said the new process places Second Amendment protections on the same footing as other constitutional rights.
“Gun Owners of America is thankful that President Trump and AG Blanche are restoring the Second Amendment and ensuring that it is not a Second class right when compared to the other Constitutional rights,” Pratt continued.
The Justice Department characterized the new system as an individualized process rather than an automatic restoration of firearm rights. Blanche emphasized that applicants would be evaluated under standards intended to determine whether restoration would be consistent with public safety.
The change effectively revives a relief mechanism that remained in federal law but was largely unusable for more than three decades because ATF was prohibited from spending federal money to administer it.
By transferring responsibility to the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the Trump administration is establishing a new route for eligible applicants to seek restoration without relying on the ATF process that Congress had effectively frozen since 1992.
Gun-control organizations Everytown and Giffords had not immediately responded to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation concerning the new process.
Once the rule takes effect in 30 days, the Office of the Pardon Attorney will assume responsibility for administering applications from people seeking restoration of federal firearm rights, implementing one of the most significant policy changes resulting from Trump’s 2025 directive to review federal restrictions affecting the Second Amendment.
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