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A felony conviction usually means losing rights, like voting or serving on a jury or owning a gun. But for the first time in decades, the Justice Department is giving ex-felons a chance to get at least one of those rights back. It's gun ownership. NPR's Jaclyn Diaz has more.
JACLYN DIAZ, BYLINE: Getting your federal gun rights back after a felony conviction is really difficult. The Justice Department is looking to change that with a pardon program gun rights groups are celebrating. Adam Kraut is the executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation.
ADAM KRAUT: We're ecstatic that, for the first time since 1992, federal firearms relief determinations will be available to nonviolent offenders.
DIAZ: This idea isn't new. It's a revival of a program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Congress shut that program down in the early '90s. This time, the DOJ's pardon office is in charge. It says up to 25 million Americans could apply. Applicants have to provide details of their crime and conviction, character references and fingerprints. Violent offenders convicted of, say, rape or kidnapping won't be eligible. Liz Oyer, a former DOJ pardon attorney under President Biden, questions if this office is the best place for the program.
LIZ OYER: ATF has been considered the agency that has the expertise that would be relevant to vet these types of requests. And the Office of the Pardon Attorney does not have the same resources or expertise in examining requests for firearm rights reinstatement.
DIAZ: She is worried about whether this office can handle the rigorous vetting necessary. There's already a debate over how safe it actually is for ex-felons to get their guns back. That same concern helped tank the ATF program. The Violence Policy Center, which advocates for gun control, analyzed ATF data from 1985 through 1992. They found 69 convicted felons were rearrested for crimes that included kidnapping, child molestation and drug trafficking. That is out of the more than 2,000 who had their rights restored. New York University Law Professor Rachel Barkow says that's a low percentage. She says the DOJ seems to mandate a high bar for applicants.
RACHEL BARKOW: So presumably, if they do a good job in screening the materials that people submit and they stick to the criteria that they've announced, I would expect this recidivism rate to be quite low.
DIAZ: The DOJ acknowledges this will all be a heavy lift. It's asked Congress for more money to hire additional staff. Applications open next week.
Jaclyn Diaz, NPR News.
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