Law360 (August 17, 2026, 11:24 PM EDT) -- U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday the U.S. Department of Justice has finalized a rule that will give convicted felons and others a pathway to have their rights to legally possess firearms reinstated, a process that circumvents a de facto prohibition by Congress.

Blanche said the DOJ has promulgated a final rule, following the requisite notice and comment period, which establishes a process for felons, primarily those convicted of nonviolent offenses, to possess firearms, upon the successful competition of a lengthy application process administered by the agency.

In a statement, Blanche — who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 8 as the nation's top law enforcement official — said the final rule implements "a vigorous, commonsense process" that ensures public safety while granting "deserving Americans a real path to restoration."

"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.

Absent "extraordinary circumstances," the final rule says anyone convicted of a number of mostly violent felonies will be considered to be permanently ineligible to have their right to possess guns restored, that list includes felonies involving the death of another person, sex crimes, human trafficking, domestic violence, robbery, carjacking, gang-related offenses, stalking kidnapping, extortion, assault, witness tampering, racketeering, terrorism and a number of other offenses.

The final rule allows the Justice Department to revive a discretionary process under the Gun Control Act of 1968 — which prohibits gun possession for anyone convicted of a crime punishable for a term over one year — that allows affected individuals to apply to the attorney general for relief from the act's exclusionary provisions.

The authority to grant such relief was originally delegated to what is now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. However, there were problems with that setup, and in 1992, Congress engineered a workaround that effectively terminated the act's allowance for relief from its other provisions by prohibiting ATF from using federally appropriated funds to process applications.

The DOJ now expects that a significant portion of the funds needed to operate the gun rights restoration program will come from application fees. The agency said it estimates that it will receive 330,000 applications during the first year of the initiative.

Pro-gun control nonprofit Brady: United Against Gun Violence said Monday it was reviewing the final rule closely, but expressed wariness about the Trump administration's judgment.

Previously, the group has said it supports "fair and lawful pathways" for eligible individuals to seek to have their right to own a firearm restored, but that any system for gun rights restoration "must involve 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," Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement. "And by tirelessly rolling back broad policies proven to prevent crime and gun violence."

Generally, there will be a five-year, across-the-board waiting period from a conviction or the completion of a sentence before an eligible felon can apply to have their firearm rights restored, as well as anyone convicted of misdemeanor assault, battery, stalking or a threatened act of violence.

And there will be a 10-year waiting period from the date of conviction or the completion of sentence for those guilty of drug trafficking, several other drug crimes, certain gun crimes, offenses involving explosives, animal abuses and misdemeanor domestic violence offenses.

Each applicant will be required to obtain sworn affidavits from three character references — relatives are excluded — that must attest that a series of criteria that the applicant must meet, primarily that several disqualifying facts do not apply, such as drug or alcohol addiction, severe mental health issues or that the person is a threat to public safety, among other requirements.

For the most part, if a person's application for restoration of their gun rights is denied, they will be ineligible for a period of five years following that denial, absent extraordinary circumstances.

--Editing by Jay Jackson Jr.

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