Trump Administration Moves to Revive Lawful Restoration of Gun Rights
On February 7, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine all federal laws to assess ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of Americans. The first concrete result of this order is now in place, as the Attorney General has issued an Interim Final Rule aimed at correcting a decades-old issue that has left many deserving Americans without a viable path to restore Second Amendment rights.
Since the original passage of the Gun Control Act in 1968, Section 925(c) of Title 18 of the United States Code has provided that a person who is prohibited from possession of a firearm under federal law can apply to the Attorney General’s office for relief from his or her Second Amendment disability. This is not a simple task for the applicant. It is an intense inquiry, and the applicant is an “open book” before the Attorney General: Any past crimes, protection from abuse orders, involuntary mental health treatment, illicit drug use, etc., will be considered by the Attorney General in determining whether the applicant “will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief would not be contrary to the public interest,” as the statute requires.
However, this form of relief has been unavailable since October 6, 1992, when Congress passed a bill that defunded this process. The bill prohibited the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) from using any appropriated funds for enactment of Section 925(c). Since the Attorney General’s office had previously delegated the task to the ATF, this procedure laid dormant for 32 years, leaving many Americans’ fundamental rights in legal limbo.
The result has been catastrophic for many individuals who need firearms rights for employment, hunting, and self-defense, but have been unjustly barred due to bureaucratic inaction. While certain Second Amendment prohibitions are curable under both state and federal law, some individuals are able to restore state rights only to discover that there is no available avenue to restore federal firearms rights. At Scaringi Law, we have encountered numerous such cases, including where a prohibition was based on information that has since been proven false, or an old criminal conviction that is no longer prohibiting to individuals who are convicted of the same crime today, or even based on an involuntary mental health commitment resulting from a temporary, accidental drug interaction rather than an ongoing mental health disability. Many of these unfortunate individuals were afforded no relief under federal law due to the 1992 Congressional appropriations bill.
Thankfully, Attorney General Pam Biondi has begun the process of restoring this avenue for firearm rights restoration. The newly-published Rule rescinds the delegation of power to the ATF, so now the Attorney General’s office may again accept applications directly. This opens a much-needed avenue for firearms rights restoration for individuals who have re-earned the right to possess firearms – or who should never have lost them in the first place.
Regulations are currently being drawn up to enact the decades-old and decades-dormant policy without the interference of highly-politicized Congressional spending bills. Although the application process under the Attorney General is still being finalized, Scaringi Law is closely monitoring developments and preparing to assist clients in navigating this new legal avenue. If you believe you may be eligible for firearms rights restoration, contact our office today to discuss your options.