If you’ve been waiting for the results of Attorney General Bondi’s review of gun laws in response to President Trump’s Second Amendment executive order, the first result dropped yesterday. The AG is proposing creation of a new process for non-violent felons and those convicted of some misdemeanors to petition for restoration of their gun rights. She’s instituted a new interim final rule that takes the process away from ATF where it’s been unfunded and dormant for the last three decades. The new rule goes into effect immediately, though the public can comment for the next 90 days.
Bondi published the change yesterday in the Federal Register . . .
ATF, which currently has regulatory authority to act on applications made under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), has been forbidden from utilizing any of its appropriated funds for staffing to process requests by individuals for over 30 years. The Department respects congressional appropriations prerogatives, and it expects its forthcoming plan under Executive Order 14206 to include legislative proposals to modify or rescind the rider. It is also undertaking a broader examination of how to address the drain on resources that caused Congress to impose the rider in the first instance, including by addressing any potential inefficiencies in the regulatory process created by 26 CFR 178.144. Although the specific contours of any new approach to the implementation of 18 U.S.C. 925(c) may be refined through future rulemaking, the Attorney General has determined, in an exercise of her discretion under the HSA and 28 U.S.C. 509-510, that the appropriate first step is to withdraw the delegation to ATF to administer section 925(c) and withdraw the moribund regulations governing individual applications to ATF for 18 U.S.C. 925(c) relief. Consistent with that rider, the process described under 27 CFR 178.144 will not be transferred to any other agency or Department. At the same time, the statute speaks clearly that the authority provided in 18 U.S.C. 925(c) is conferred on the Attorney General, and no applicable statute restricts the Attorney General’s authority in these circumstances to delegate that authority or withdraw a prior delegation or amend prior rules. 2 Thus, the Attorney General is withdrawing her delegation of authority to ATF to implement 18 U.S.C. 925(c) by revising a delegation of authority in 28 CFR 0.130 and removing 27 CFR 478.144.
To be clear, Bondi has taken responsibility for evaluating requests to restore rights away from ATF. Responsibility for applications for restoration of gun rights now falls directly on her. The plan is to propose a new permanent process and mechanism for restoration requests at some point in the future.
Revising 28 CFR 0.130 and removing 27 CFR 478.144 further provides the Department a clean slate on which to build a new approach to implementing 18 U.S.C. 925(c) without the baggage of no-longer-necessary procedures— e.g., a requirement to file an application “in triplicate,” 27 CFR 478.144(b). With such a clean slate, the Department anticipates future actions, including rulemaking consistent with applicable law, to give full effect to 18 U.S.C. 925(c) while simultaneously ensuring that violent or dangerous individuals remain disabled from lawfully acquiring firearms.
The restoration of gun rights has been in the news since the Bruen decision was handed down in 2022. A number of courts have ruled that gun rights can’t be denied to non-violent offenders. In December, the Third Circuit ruled that a man who was convicted of food stamp fraud 30 years ago can’t be deprived of his Second Amendment rights. And last week, a pardon attorney at the DOJ, Elizabeth Oyer, was fired after opposing restoration of actor (and Trump supporter) Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
The Justice Department’s pardon attorney was dismissed a day after she refused to recommend that the actor Mel Gibson, a prominent supporter of President Trump’s, should have his gun rights restored, according to the attorney and others familiar with the situation.
Elizabeth G. Oyer, the former pardon attorney, described the sequence of events as an alarming departure from longstanding practice, one that put public safety and the department’s integrity at risk. Mr. Gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction.
Bondi hasn’t laid out a timetable for proposing any new, more permanent process for evaluating rights restoration requests.
Is this all? Where’s the rest? PDT’s deadline for a report (and the requested extension of it) has come and gone.
There are tons of things the Biden ATF did administratively that need to and can be unwound ASAP. NSSF and others have itemized them for the new administration.
Why is Bondi dragging her feet?
“Where’s the rest? PDT’s deadline for a report (and the requested extension of it) has come and gone.”
Why were people expecting the Bondi report to be released publicly? There was never anything that said the report would be released publicly, it was only required to be ‘given’ to Trump.
“Why is Bondi dragging her feet?”
How do you know she is ‘dragging her feet’? There could be a lot in the works that’s not made public yet. She did form a 2A restoration working group for it before her first deadline came. Its probably not as easy as waving a magic wand to make it all go away. Everything will need to be evaluated, and some things need to be done by Congress. We don’t really know if shes dragging her feet or not. I would imagine trying to deal with an insane left-wing ‘judicial insurgency’, on top of going through everything the ATF does and looking at all the cases, then looking at all the non- ATF related cases, in progress then all the other things she needs to do in her capacity, takes some time to cross the ‘T’s and dot the ‘i’s to start putting things in place.
One thing that’s been slowing things down some is the lack of an ATF chief counsel. When Bondi was sworn into office one of the first things she did was terminate Pamela Hicks (the ATF chief counsel at the time). Hicks was responsible for, essentially, the ‘murder’ of Bryan Malinowski, an innocent man, and the raid on Manley, and a whole bunch of wrong and unconstitutional and terror by ATF during the Biden tyranny and was working in the background with anti-gun groups for even more.
But, just yesterday it was announced that Bondi has appointed a new ATF Chief Counsel and ATF Assistant Director – Prof. Robert Leider. He is on record as a very staunch supporter of the 2A.
Could This Huge Hire by the ATF Mean that Big Changes Are Coming?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty9if-QxPgI
“Is this all? Where’s the rest?”
By any chance is this what you’re looking for? :
h ttps://x.com/GunFoundation/status/1902749833909129662
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4S3e7eS_cQ
“Elizabeth G. Oyer, the former pardon attorney, described the sequence of events as an alarming departure from longstanding practice, one that put public safety and the department’s integrity at risk. Mr. Gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction.”
1. “described the sequence of events as an alarming departure from longstanding practice” > and there in lies the problem, the ATF had its own “longstanding practice” that allowed them to be legislature-judge-jury.
2,. Mel Gibson’s ‘conviction’ was set aside.
Basically: Gibsons ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, claimed Gibson punched her in the head and face more than once at the actor’s Malibu home in January 2010. The truth came out though, Oksana had lied. Oksana Grigorieva was trying to extort him for millions of $$$, and there was an argument and Oksana was enrage. During the argument Oksana Grigorieva was holding the baby (the child of Gibson and Grigorieva) and was screaming and violently shaking the baby, Gibson in an effort to bring her back to reality and keep the baby from being harmed so he could get the child away from her reached out and slapped Oksana lightly one time. Gibson, was sentenced to three years probation, a year of counseling and community service – and his conviction was set aside.
It’s is about time everything is a lame excuse too strip people even with a one time non violent misdemeanor’s of their gun rights for life .
Until AG Bondi actually makes an application available, to restore firearms rights thru a formal, approved petiton to the DOJ or the AG or a Federal District Court, nothing has changed. And her very detailed Press Release made no mention whatsoever that she intends to do so.
Any of you can say what you want but the truth is, Bondi has had a dead line to the order Trump gave her. Bondi didn’t make it, there is so much she could change very quickly but she is not a good 2nd amendment person, I still don’t know for the life of me why Trump picked such a week person for the roll she is in, I’m guessing because she is a big talker, but she not a big doer. Now bear with me, if you was a blue state that is getting sued by Bondi for not following an executive order for a blue state crap. What will Bondi say when the blue state says “why should we have to follow an executive order when Bondi doesn’t have to?