Justice Department creates a new pathway to restore gun rights for some convicted of felonies

• The process launched by newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche is a victory for Second Amendment advocates who have long pushed for nonviolent residents with felony convictions to be given a pathway to regain their legal right to own firearms.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department finalized a rule Monday that will pave the way for people who’ve been barred from owning firearms as of criminal convictions to apply to have their gun rights reinstated.

“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 an official note. The attorney general said the new process will protect “public safety while giving deserving Americans a real path to restoration.”

It’s the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to ease firearms restrictions. The Justice Department moved earlier this year to roll back and modify a slate of gun regulations. Separately, the department recently decided against challenging a court ruling that struck down regulations on firearm suppressors and certain guns.

Federal law has long allowed residents who’ve had their gun rights stripped because of felony convictions to petition the administration for the ability to own firearms again, but Congress since 1992 has effectively barred the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from processing applications.

The Trump administration’s rule aims to circumvent that by establishing a new application system using an online portal.

The Justice Department states restoration will be granted on a case-by-case basis, weighing a person’s record and reputation to determine whether they pose a likely threat to public safety. Officials say residents who have been convicted of violent crimes, registered sex offenders, people living in the country illegally and others whom office-holders believe pose a danger to society will be denied “absent extraordinary circumstances.”

Kris Brown, the president of Brady. It advocates for stronger gun laws, said her group is still reviewing the administration’s final rule but has stressed the need for a “robust and thoughtful system that minimizes the risk to public safety.”

“Yet the Trump administration has consistently shown us they have no such discretion, including by restoring gun rights to convicted domestic abusers and violent January 6 insurrectionists, and by tirelessly rolling back broad policies proven to prevent crime and gun violence,” Brown noted in an official note.