The new process is not automatic, and it will not immediately put guns in the hands of people with criminal records. Applicants must persuade the Justice Department that their record, reputation, and conduct since the disqualifying event show they are not likely to endanger public safety and that relief would serve the public interest.

Who can apply for restoration?

The program is broader than a pathway only for people convicted of nonviolent felonies. Federal law allows people prohibited from possessing firearms under several categories to apply, including felons, fugitives, unlawful drug users, people with certain mental-health-related disabilities, some noncitizens, people dishonorably discharged from the military, people who renounced U.S. citizenship, and people subject to certain domestic violence restrictions.

That does not mean every applicant has a realistic chance of approval. The clearest potential beneficiaries are people with older, nonviolent felony convictions who have completed their sentences, remained law-abiding, and can document a record of rehabilitation.

U.S. Pardon Attorney Edward Martin said the rule could create a pathway for the “30 million Americans who have lost their Second Amendment rights,” calling it an “unprecedented restoration of firearms rights.”

Matthew Cavedon, director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice, praised the administration’s move while arguing the process does not go far enough.

“Federal law bans anyone who has ever been convicted of any crime punishable by more than a year in prison from ever having a firearm again,” Cavedon told the Washington Examiner. “Even if their crime had nothing to do with violence, even if they were not sentenced to prison time at all, and even if they pick up someone else’s gun only in order to confront would-be home intruders.”

Who is unlikely to qualify?

The rule creates strong presumptions against relief for people convicted of violent offenses. Absent “extraordinary circumstances,” the DOJ says it will deny applicants with convictions involving homicide, rape or sexual assault, human trafficking, kidnapping, domestic violence, burglary, robbery, extortion, carjacking, arson, gang-related crime, assault, stalking, terrorism, witness tampering, or brandishing or discharging a firearm.

Registered sex offenders, people in the country illegally, fugitives, and people currently incarcerated, awaiting sentencing, or serving another part of a sentence are also presumptively disqualified.

The rule further blocks applications for a period of time after certain crimes. Most other felony convictions create a five-year presumption against relief, while domestic violence misdemeanors, drug trafficking, firearm-related offenses, threats of violence, and animal abuse can trigger a 10-year presumption. Marijuana-only users are excluded from the rule’s definition of an unlawful drug user.

What applicants must show

Applicants will have to submit records concerning their convictions and sentences, criminal-history records, fingerprints, and character references. People seeking relief from a mental-health-related prohibition must provide a current certification from a licensed mental-health professional that they no longer pose a danger.

The rule takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. DOJ plans to open the application portal in stages, initially for 5,000 applicants, and eventually charge a $30 fee, though indigent applicants may seek a waiver.

In a recent video announcing the program, U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin said his office is working to establish an online portal that balances public safety with applicants’ Second Amendment rights. “The launch date of the firearms restoration application is just around the corner,” he said.

Any grant restores only federal firearm rights. It does not override separate state or tribal prohibitions.

Part of Trump administration’s broader gun-rights push

The restoration program is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to ease federal firearms restrictions.

DOJ LETS TEXAS GUN RULING TAKE EFFECT, LEAVING SECOND AMENDMENT ACTIVISTS HOPEFUL AND ANXIOUS

It also follows the department’s decision not to seek an immediate appeal of a Texas federal ruling striking down certain National Firearms Act registration requirements for suppressors and other firearms, a move that has been championed by pro-gun enthusiasts, despite uncertainty about whether the DOJ will continue that litigation in the future or instead dismiss the case sometime in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, more courtroom developments happened on Tuesday in the world of Second Amendment litigation after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, struck down an ATF rule that required unassembled ghost guns and ghost gun kits to be legally treated as firearms. The move came after the Supreme Court upheld the rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok in March last year.