Trump admin proposes major change to gun laws
Story by Mandy Taheri, Newsweek, 7/18/25
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday it has proposed a new rule that could grant gun rights to potentially thousands of Americans who are currently barred from owning firearms.
Newsweek has reached out to gun control and gun rights groups as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for comment via email on Friday.
Why It Matters
The proposed rule comes as the Trump administration continues efforts to roll back regulations on guns, including reductions to the National Firearms Act (NFA) tax on certain firearms.
The proposal leverages and amplifies an existing legal process that has lacked notable enforcement and use and could restore thousands of Americans gun rights.
Several people have already had their gun rights restored under Trump’s second term, including actor Mel Gibson, who was barred due to his misdemeanor domestic violence conviction in 2011.
What To Know
Under federal law, people “convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,” are ineligible to own a firearm.
The Gun Control Act outlines other federal restrictions on gun ownership, such as certain misdemeanors related to domestic violence, immigration status, controlled substance addicts and people who have been involuntarily committed to mental health facilities, among others.
The DOJ-proposed rule would create a pathway for individuals with criminal convictions to have their gun rights restored, with final discretion left to the attorney general on a case-by-case basis. Exceptions would apply to undocumented immigrants, violent felons and registered sex offenders.
The proposed rule essentially reinstates federal relief under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), which essentially remained dormant since the early 1990s when Congress cut off funding for its implementation. The statute allows individuals barred from firearm possession to apply to the attorney general for relief, provided they can show they are not a danger to public safety or contrary to the public interest.
The unofficial text of the proposed bill states: “The criteria are designed to ensure the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms is not unduly infringed, that those 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.”
What People Are Saying
Amy Bellantoni, a gun rights attorney, said in an email statement to Newsweek on Friday, “For decades, the federal Certificate of Relief program once available to individuals who forfeited the loss of their rights to possess firearms and ammunition as a result of a conviction of a felony or qualifying misdemeanor under federal law remained unfunded and unavailable. Removing that authority from the ATF and reinstating a path toward restoration of rights through the Attorney General’s Office is warranted, commendable, and long overdue.”
Second Amendment Foundation Executive Director Adam Kraut told Newsweek in an email statement: “Having litigated as-applied challenges for a number of disenfranchised individuals, it’s good to see that this proposed rule provides a pathway to restore their rights. For years, the only mechanisms available for relief from a federal firearms disability were the all but impossible pardon, seemingly illusory expungement that did not satisfy federal requirements, or an expensive and uncertain route of litigation. The reestablishment of a federal firearms relief determination program will enable millions of Americans to regain their ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
President of the Second Amendment Law Center, Chuck Michel, told Newsweek in an email statement Friday: “Refunding a process for restoring Second Amendment rights for certain qualifying people is long overdue and a welcome recognition that many nonviolent individuals have for years been deprived of their fundamental rights without constitutional justification. Nationally, thousands of people could take advantage of this process and regain their right to use a firearm for sport or to defend their families.”
Giffords, a gun violence prevention and advocacy group, wrote in a Friday X post: “In his first six months back in office, Trump has made America less safe. He rolled back proven safeguards, effectively legalized machine guns, and slashed critical violence prevention & mental health funding. Gun crime will increase and people will die.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the Friday press release: “For too long, countless Americans with criminal histories have been permanently disenfranchised from exercising the right to keep and bear arms—a right every bit as constitutionally enshrined as the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right to free exercise of religion—irrespective of whether they actually pose a threat. No longer.”
U.S. Pardon Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. said in the Friday press release: “General Bondi’s support of the rebooted 925(c) program is consistent with President Donald J. Trump’s promise to the American people to support the beautiful Second Amendment. My team and I are developing a 925(c) program landing page with a sophisticated, user-friendly platform for Americans petitioning for the return of their gun rights, which will make the process easier for them.”