Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Returns

The Justice Department just finalized a rule that gives prohibited persons a real federal path to getting their gun rights back — something Congress quietly killed off in 1992 and never revived.

Catch up quick:

• Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 925(c)) has always authorized the Attorney General to restore firearm rights case by case. Congress defunded the ATF program that ran it starting in 1992, leaving the statute on the books but operationally dead.
• DOJ pulled the delegation from ATF in March 2025, published a proposed rule in July 2025, received over 15,500 comments — 91% in favor of a workable process — and finalized the rule.
• The program now runs through the Office of the Pardon Attorney, not ATF. The Attorney General makes the final call.

What's next: The rule takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication. DOJ is rolling out applications in stages:

• Day 30 — DOJ begins inviting selected candidates
• Day 75 — Public applications open, first 5,000 applicants only
• Day 120 — Another 500 accepted; application fee kicks in

Prospective applicants should monitor justice.gov/ffrr for eligibility details and the eventual online application.

The disqualifiers: Relief is discretionary. Some offenses are presumptively permanent bars — homicide, kidnapping, terrorism, stalking, sex offenses triggering SORNA registration, and felony-level domestic violence. Others carry time-limited waiting periods: drug trafficking and misdemeanor domestic violence convictions require at least 10 years post-sentence; other felonies require at least 5 years.

The marijuana carve-out is the most eyebrow-raising piece. In response to the Supreme Court's recent Hemani decision — which held that regular marijuana use alone can't support a categorical federal firearms ban — DOJ explicitly excluded marijuana from the rule's drug-related presumption of ineligibility. Marijuana use or addiction won't trigger the extraordinary-circumstances bar that applies to other controlled substances.

"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." — Attorney General Todd Blanche

Yes, but: Excluding marijuana doesn't restore anyone's rights automatically. Section 922(g)(3) is still federal law. What it means is that an applicant whose only drug issue is marijuana can apply without fighting the presumption — DOJ still weighs their individual circumstances. And for every other controlled substance, the presumption of ineligibility stands until the unlawful use stops.

The bottom line: For the first time in three decades, there's a functioning federal process to restore firearm rights. It's discretionary, it's staged, and it won't help everyone — but it's real, and it's open.