NATIONAL FIREARM RIGHTS ASSISTANCERestoring Rights. Rebuilding Trust.Call now!866-FFRR-NOWCongress has always allowed a federally prohibited person to apply to the Attorney General for relief. The rule is what finally puts that statute back to work.
Published at 91 FR 54054 on August 20, 2026 and effective September 21, 2026. It sets out who may apply, what the application must contain, and how DOJ decides.
Relief is granted only if DOJ concludes you are not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that granting relief would not be contrary to the public interest.
If you are federally prohibited from possessing or handling firearms for one or more of these reasons under 18 U.S.C. 922(g), you are eligible to apply.
Two limits worth knowing up front: federal relief does not restore state or tribal firearm rights, and corporations or entities that have lost their federal firearm rights are handled through a separate process DOJ has not opened yet.
DOJ's own simplified walk-through of the whole rule — who can apply, what has to be in the application, how it is reviewed, what the fee is, and every presumptive disqualifier. If you read one document on this page, read this one.
The nine federal prohibitions under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) that the program accepts applications for, plus what the program does not do — it does not restore state or tribal firearm rights, and business entities are handled separately.
The unofficial text of the final rule as the Attorney General signed it and sent it to the Federal Register. It carries the full preamble — the reasoning behind every decision in the rule and DOJ's answers to the public comments.
The legally operative text: 91 FR 54054, published August 20, 2026, creating 28 CFR part 107. This is the typeset Government Publishing Office copy — the version to cite.
The Federal Register text is the official version and the one to cite. The signed copy and the DOJ web pages are provided by the Department as unofficial aids. All four are reproduced here unchanged.
Being on one of these lists does not end your case — it means you have to show extraordinary circumstances to overcome the presumption. DOJ also looks at the conduct underneath an offense, not only what it was called.
Convictions for causing death; rape, sexual abuse, or sexual assault; human trafficking; kidnapping; intimate partner or domestic violence; burglary; robbery; extortion; carjacking; arson; racketeering involving violence; gang-related offenses; maiming, assault, or battery; stalking; escape or rescue of a person in custody; terrorism; witness tampering. Also any offense punishable by more than a year where a firearm was used or fired or an explosive was used — and any attempt, solicitation, conspiracy, or aiding and abetting of the above.
Controlled-substance manufacture, import, export, distribution, dispensing, or possession with that intent; threats of violence; manufacture, possession, transfer, or use of explosives; certain firearm- and ammunition-related conduct; possession or discharge of a weapon on school property; animal abuse. A misdemeanor domestic violence conviction carries its own ten-year clock, which resets if you become prohibited again or are arrested for a qualifying offense during it.
Any other offense punishable by more than one year that is not on the lists above, and any other assault, battery, stalking, or threatened act of violence.
Awaiting sentencing; incarcerated or still serving any part of a sentence; in a program to avoid conviction; a fugitive; an alien unlawfully present or here on a nonimmigrant visa; under a restraining order for harassment, stalking, or threatening; an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance other than marijuana alone; required to register as a sex offender for the offense that caused the prohibition.
Condensed from the plain-language version of the rule. Read § 107.50 in full before drawing conclusions about your own case, or see DOJ’s presumptive disqualifiers page.
DOJ’s complete list of what goes with an application, section by section: residential and arrest history, convictions, mental health, military, renunciation, domestic violence, and relief from disabilities.
See the Required DocumentsEvery applicant needs 25 years of state criminal history, from every state they have lived in or been arrested in. That is the piece that takes the longest to collect, so it is the piece to start today.
Get Your Records, State by StateThese documents are published by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the Federal Register and are reproduced here unchanged. National Firearm Rights Assistance is an independent service, is not a law firm, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Justice. The summaries on this page are plain-English descriptions, not legal advice, and the rule controls wherever they differ. For current program details, visit justice.gov/ffrr.
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