Pam Bondi says that the proposed change will give discretion about who can possess firearms, in an opposite movement by weapons control groups.
Washington, DC – The United States Attorney General, PAM Bondi, has begun a process to facilitate people with criminal convictions to possess weapons.
The measure of Friday is produced in the midst of a broader impulse by the administration of President Donald Trump to comply with the promises of the campaign to the weapon rights groups, which criticizes the restrictions on the property of firearms as violations of the second amendment of the Constitution. Trump ordered a review of the government's weapons policies in February.
Meanwhile, arms control defenders have expressed concerns about the ability of the administration to properly evaluate which convicted persons would not represent a risk of public security.
In a statement published on Friday, Bondi said that people with serious criminal convictions have been “deprived of their rights by exercising the right to maintain and support weapons, a right as constitutionally enshrined as the right to vote, the right to freedom of expression and the right to free exercise of religion, regardless of whether they really represent a threat.”
“Not anymore,” he added.
According to the plan, Bondi seeks to return power to determine which people convicted of crimes can possess firearms directly to their office.
This exemption process has been currently supervised by the alcohol, tobacco office, firearms and explosives. However, Congress has used, for decades, its powers of approval of expenses to stop the processing of exemption applications.
The Department of Justice said that the proposed change “will provide citizens whose firearms are currently under legal disability with a way to restore those rights, while keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous penalties and illegal foreigners.”
The United States Attorney General would have “final discretion to grant relief,” according to the department.
He added that, “absent extraordinary circumstances”, certain people would be “allegedly inelegable” for the restoration of their weapons rights. Include “Violent criminals, registered sexual criminals and illegal foreigners. ”
The plan was described in a “proposed rule” presented to the Federal Registry on Friday. It will undergo a final period of public comments before it is adopted.
In Friday's statement, American forgiveness lawyer Edward Martin JR said his team was already developing a “destination page with a sophisticated and easy -to -use platform for Americans who request the return of their weapons rights, which will facilitate the process.”
When the details of the Bondi plan initially emerged in March, the Brady weapons control group was among those who expressed opposition.
“If and when weapons are restored to an individual, it must be through a robust and reflective system that minimizes the risk for public safety,” said Group President Kris Brown, in a statement.
He added that Trump's restoration of weapons rights to those who were convicted, and then forgiven, for their role in the assault of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, raised concerns about how the administration would exercise its discretion.
“This would be a unilateral system to return weapons rights to those who are dangerous and high risk, and we will all have a greater risk of armed violence,” he said.
