Application for Relief From Disabilities Imposed by Federal Laws With Respect to the Acquisition, Receipt, Transfer, Shipment, Transportation, or Possession of Firearms
Key claim: The Justice Department is putting in place criteria ATF will use to decide when people legally barred from having firearms can have that ban lifted, unless they are likely to endanger public safety.
Abstract
(Rule · Justice Department, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau) The Department of Justice (“the Department”) is implementing criteria to guide determinations for granting relief from disabilities imposed by federal laws with respect to the acquisition, receipt, transfer, shipment, transportation, or possession of firearms. The criteria are designed to ensure that the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms is not unduly infringed, that those people granted relief are not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety, and that granting such relief would not be contrary to the public interest.
Why this matters
For people currently barred from possessing firearms under federal law—including some with old felony convictions, certain mental-health adjudications, and veterans flagged through VA reporting—this rule reopens a long-dormant statutory pathway to have that prohibition lifted individually rather than only through a pardon or expungement. The practical effect depends heavily on how ATF applies the ‘likely to endanger public safety’ standard, which will shape both access and equity in restoration outcomes. It also reintroduces an administrative burden and a set of due-process questions (evidence, review, judicial appeal) that were largely absent while Congress defunded the program.