The Justice Department has built a new system that lets some convicted felons ask the federal government to get their gun rights back, using a law that sat unused for more than 30 years.
Story Snapshot
- The Justice Department is rolling out “Federal Firearm Rights Restoration” in stages during 2026, using authority Congress gave the Attorney General decades ago.
- Reviews happen case by case, weighing a person’s record and whether they pose a public safety risk.
- Violent felons, registered sex offenders, and people in the country illegally are presumed ineligible unless extraordinary circumstances apply.
- The proposed rule set waiting periods of 10 years for serious offenses and 5 years for other offenses before someone can apply.
A Long-Dormant Law Gets New Life
Federal law has allowed the Attorney General to restore gun rights to people barred from owning firearms since the Gun Control Act passed decades ago. But Congress stopped funding the review process for individual applicants back in 1993, effectively freezing it. Only corporations could apply for relief during that time. The Justice Department is now reviving that dormant power under 18 U.S.C. 925(c).
On July 18, 2025, the department sent a proposed rule to the Federal Register laying out how the restored process would work. The Justice Department’s website now says the program will launch in stages through 2026, starting with invitations to certain candidates 30 days after the rule is published, followed by a wider public application window 75 days later.
Who Qualifies And Who Does Not
The review is not automatic. The Justice Department said each case will be judged individually, weighing the applicant’s record, reputation, and whether restoring their gun rights would create a public safety risk. That means a felony conviction alone does not guarantee approval or denial under the new framework.
Certain groups face a much higher bar. The Justice Department said violent felons, registered sex offenders, and people in the country illegally will remain “presumptively ineligible” for relief unless extraordinary circumstances exist. The proposed rule also set waiting periods: 10 years after completing a sentence for serious offenses, and 5 years for less serious ones, before someone can even apply.
Courts And Congress Are Watching
The program’s rollout carries weight beyond the paperwork. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court the felon gun-rights issue would be “sufficiently resolved” through this new case-by-case process, according to Bloomberg. The justices had been weighing whether to take up a related appeal over nonviolent felons and gun rights before that representation was made.
The Justice Department’s April 2026 rule package tied the restoration effort to a broader executive order on gun regulation, saying both final and proposed rules were being released together. That connects this program to a wider push by the department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to revisit firearms rules issued under prior administrations.
The DOJ Rule That Could Restore Gun Rights to a Million Felons
Attorney General Todd Blanche just finalized a new federal process allowing eligible prohibited persons (mainly non-violent offenders) to apply for restoration of their Second Amendment rights after more than 30 years…— 🇺🇲Nevada Liberty 1864🇺🇲 (@NevadaLiberty64) August 18, 2026
Questions remain about how the process will run day to day, including the full list of disqualifying factors and how many applications have moved through the system so far. The Justice Department’s restoration webpage says an online application will be available soon, but the department has not released a complete rubric explaining exactly how caseworkers will weigh each applicant’s history.
Why This Debate Cuts Across Party Lines
This story lands at a place where gun-rights supporters and public-safety advocates both have a stake. Second Amendment groups have pushed for years to revive the 925(c) process, arguing that people who served their time deserve a path back to full citizenship rights. Meanwhile, some victim-advocacy groups and prosecutors are likely to scrutinize every approved case, especially any tied to serious crimes.
That tension reflects a broader frustration many Americans share, regardless of politics: a sense that big decisions affecting millions of people get made through agency rulemaking rather than open debate in Congress. Whether this program expands access to a constitutional right or opens the door to loosely defined discretion will depend on how the Justice Department applies its own standards once applications start flowing in.
Sources:
washingtontimes.com, gunsandgadgetsdaily.com, adn.com, justice.gov, congress.gov, npr.org, bloomberg.com
