Everytown Expresses Concerns with DOJ Plans to Establish Process to Restore Firearms Access for Felons and Domestic Abusers

WASHINGTON — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety submitted a comment letter expressing deep concerns with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) hazardous effort to allow thousands of convicted felons and domestic abusers who have been legally prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms since their conviction to obtain firearms once again.

In March, DOJ issued an Interim Final Rule that marked a “first step” toward the Department reestablishing a federal program to allow felons, domestic abusers, and others currently prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms to apply to regain the ability to buy and possess guns. DOJ has already recently awarded relief to a prohibited domestic abuser — Mel Gibson — without a meaningful review process and over the objection of DOJ’s Pardon Attorney who had raised serious concerns. The Pardon Attorney was later fired after her objection. b

“The past is prologue, and the last time the federal government put guns back in the hands of dangerous people, many went on to commit violent crimes,” said Nick Suplina, SVP of Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “If our most basic gun laws are undermined, our communities and law enforcement will pay the price — and DOJ must ensure firearms continue to stay out of the hands of domestic abusers and violent criminals.”

Read the full comment here.

Key Points

• There are significant risks inherent in any process of restoring firearm rights to those who have lost them because of felony convictions, domestic violence offenses, or other conduct prohibited by federal law.

• When ATF reviewed federal petitions seeking relief from firearm prohibitions prior to 1992 using a far more thorough and diligent vetting process, there were still many dangerous individuals who slipped through the cracks and endangered public safety after regaining the ability to possess guns.

• In 1992, after reports showed that individuals awarded relief had gone on to be arrested for offenses such as attempted murder, sexual assault, and drug trafficking, Congress halted the use of federal funds for ATF to review relief applications. 

• If DOJ restarts the so-called 925(c) program and awards firearms relief using a haphazard and cursory review process — as DOJ already now has done in the case of at least one convicted domestic abuser — then public safety will be put at risk and DOJ will own the consequences of any harm that results.