The Trump administration plans to review up to 1 million applications for gun rights relief from convicted felons.
Justice Department employee fired over Mel Gibson’s gun rights
Justice Department attorney Elizabeth G. Oyer was fired for refusing to add Mel Gibson to the list of people considered for gun rights restoration.
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- Up to 1 million convicted felons can apply to the Justice Department to have their gun rights restored.
- The program would disqualify people convicted of violent felonies and domestic violence.
- Gun control groups oppose the move.
The Trump administration has quietly restored gun rights to 22 people who lost their guns due to felonies, indictments or other convictions this year as it prepares to revive a long-dormant program that is expected to generate a tsunami of applications.
Justice Department officials listed nearly 20 names in the Federal Register in late February. Their crimes ranged from non-violent drug crimes to bribery and fraud. Among them are many who have previously applied for pardons or reductions, and others who have recently sued the department.
In one notable case, the Justice Department restored the rights of Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, who was accused of a 2020 sham election scheme in that state to keep President Trump in the White House. Trump has already pardoned Hoffman on federal charges, but he faces state charges in Arizona and is barred from purchasing new firearms by the federal government. Hoffman declined to comment when contacted by USA TODAY.
Federal law generally prohibits felons from possessing firearms. It would also block the sale of guns to anyone convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense. The Trump administration is currently strengthening a relief process that has been dormant since 1992 to make it easier for nonviolent felons to regain their gun rights. Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, said firearms organizations are eager to get the program started.
“Millions of people have been disenfranchised from nonviolent crimes for years,” Kraut said. “We have supported a series of lawsuits showing that lifetime bans are unconstitutional.”
The slow drip-in of gun rights restoration is a preview of what the department says could result in as many as 1 million applications a year under a new protocol proposed last summer. Last February, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding gun rights, and in July, the Justice Department proposed a process for felons and other prohibited purchasers to petition to have their gun rights restored.
The move is supported by gun rights groups such as the National Rifle Association and the National Gun Rights Association. Gun violence prevention groups like Everytown and the Risk-Based Firearms Policy Consortium condemn this.
“Who are these people and why should their right to purchase a firearm be restored? The Trump administration, once again believing itself to be above the law, is sloppily restoring people’s gun rights without completing the rulemaking process,” said Chris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady. “It means public comment about what this new restorative process entails – potentially arming domestic abusers and harming communities – is being blatantly ignored.”
Comments that generally agree with the proposal
Justice Department officials are still reviewing more than 3,400 comments they received on a proposal to hire more staff, open an online portal and restore gun rights more broadly. The agency plans to issue a final rule soon, but declined to answer questions about it.
Last summer, the department outlined plans to allocate up to 50 full-time employees to review the high volume of applications that cost applicants $20 each.
The department said a stronger system was needed following the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, which led to further challenges to laws banning felons from owning guns. A landmark 2022 case ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to carry a loaded handgun in public, opening the door to challenges to laws banning certain firearms, prohibiting individuals, and restricting gun possession in sensitive areas.
The proposed rule outlines several “presumptive disqualifying crimes,” including felony sex crimes and other violent crimes. The report proposed a 10-year waiting period after the end of a sentence for serious crimes and a five-year waiting period for all other crimes.
USA TODAY analyzed 3,400 comments and found that roughly 90% were in favor of the proposal. Some comments argued for fewer limits, no waiting period, and called for an appeals process.
A small number of comments, including those by survivors of the violence, were directly opposed to the restoration.
One woman wrote, “I was a victim of domestic violence and am deeply concerned that my abuser would regain ownership of a gun.” “If you leave things like this, women will die. Their blood will be on your hands.”
Lawsuits help felons get their guns back
Of the 22 people appointed by the attorney general in February, the majority had their rights restored after applying for full pardons from the ministry.
These amnesty applications are still pending for 14 people who are currently able to possess firearms. A man named James Michael Cross was pardoned by President Trump in 2005 for possessing an unregistered firearm.
Another route to quicker recovery of rights appears to be litigation. That’s the path taken by at least two people on the list announced in February.
George Manousis, 63, a Philadelphia real estate developer, sued the Justice Department and ATF in 2023 for gun rights. He was convicted in 2005 of bribery charges in what his lawyer called a “low-level pay-to-play scheme” involving a local building inspector.
After President Trump’s executive order, Justice Department officials contacted Manousis about the remediation process.
Manosis previously owned a .380 Colt Mustang and plans to replace it with a modern model. He said he was taking responsibility for his crimes and giving people who were convicted of being landlords a second chance.
“As a real estate developer, I go into dangerous neighborhoods in Philadelphia to improve them, so I want them to be protected,” Manousis said, adding that he has no ties to the Trump administration.
John Mastrangelo, 45, of Parkland, Florida, obtained his gun rights in February. He was invited to sue the Department of Justice in 2024 and apply for the recovery process.
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Mr. Mastrangelo was convicted in 2001 of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute narcotics and sentenced to 47 months in prison.
“He is the perfect candidate to have come back and built a business, and he should not be permanently prohibited from owning a firearm,” said attorney Pat Wilson, who is representing Mr. Mastrangelo. “He was into hunting even before he was disarmed. That was his main motivation.”
Nick Sabatine, 74, an attorney from Wind Gap, Pennsylvania, has had his firearms privileges restored. He was indicted in 2013 on tax evasion charges for filing false returns in connection with a Ponzi scheme run by another man.
Mr. Sabatine remained a licensed attorney after his indictment and cooperated with federal authorities regarding the case. He said he filed the restitution petition to regain possession of the firearms he surrendered in 2014.
“It’s unfortunate. I made a mistake. I regret it. It’s my fault. But I never thought this was a just punishment for people who don’t pose a threat to society,” Sabatine said, adding that she wanted to protect her two schnauzers from the black bears that roamed her yard.
Sabatine said he had no ties to the Trump administration but ran for Congress on the Reform Party ticket in 1996. He is active in the conservative rock band “The Patriot All Stars” and sings the song “Don’t Blame Me (I Voted for Trump).”
Gibson is a freak, pardon lawyers still fighting
The issue became a flashpoint in the early days of the Trump administration, and nine people, including Academy Award-winning director and actor Mel Gibson, had their gun rights restored in April 2025.
Liz Oyer, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, refused to add Mr. Gibson to the pilot program because he had a 2011 domestic violence conviction that differed from other nonviolent crimes reviewed in the FBI’s background process.
In January 2025, President Trump appointed Gibson a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, along with fellow conservative actors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.
Mr. Oyer was fired on March 7 and was greeted by security guards with a termination memorandum signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. She was not given a formal reason for her termination and appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Meanwhile, Oyer is seeking documents related to his termination in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. So far, no pre-termination documents from Blanche and others have been released.
Mr. Oyer’s lawyer argued that it was impossible for Mr. Blanche to order his dismissal without any written documentation. While the FOIA case is ongoing, internal chatter about Gibson is occurring among pardon attorneys.
“He is exactly the kind of person I would not recommend for this type of remedy,” Oyer told his attorney, Kira Gillespie.
“I very much agree. I wouldn’t say no to someone with a history of (domestic violence), but I think it’s very rare,” Gillespie said, according to records released in the FOIA lawsuit.
USA TODAY’s John Heasly contributed to this report.
