Everytown Statement on Trump Administration Proposal to Make it Easier for Domestic Abusers, Violent Criminals to Rearm 

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Justice announced a new proposed rule to bypass a longstanding funding restriction that prevents ATF from restoring access to guns to prohibited persons by shifting that power back to DOJ. In response, Everytown and its grassroots arm, Moms Demand Action, released the following statements: 

“The Trump Administration is throwing out decades of bipartisan precedent and laying the groundwork to put guns back in the hands of domestic abusers and violent criminals,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “At a time when violent crime is down, this dangerous development could put law enforcement and our communities at greater risk by opening the floodgates to violent criminals rearming themselves.”

“Gun violence is already the number one cause of death for children and teens in this country, and the Trump Administration seems hellbent on making this deadly crisis even worse,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “Making it easier for domestic abusers and violent criminals to rearm is a death sentence waiting to happen. Our communities deserve better than this.”

Today’s announcement reverses more than 30 years of precedent, making it easier for violent criminals and domestic abusers to regain access to guns. With this Interim Final Rule, DOJ will take back the authority it had delegated to ATF decades ago to restore access to guns to prohibited persons to do the restoration itself. Since 1968, federal law — subject to certain standards and conditions — has allowed prohibited persons to petition the Attorney General to have their access to guns restored.