Frequently asked questions

Yes — anyone prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) may apply. The Department of Justice says so plainly: "Anyone who is federally prohibited from handling firearms under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) can apply for FFRR relief." Applying is not the same as succeeding. The Department has published lists of convictions and situations where an application "will therefore be denied, absent extraordinary circumstances" — those are presumptions, not bars. Our tier checker tells you which presumption the Department has published about situations like yours. It never tells you that you are eligible, because only the Department decides that.

Not yet, if you are a member of the public. The rule takes effect on 21 September 2026, but the Department's programme page opens the application to invited candidates only on 25 September 2026. The public stage opens on 4 November 2026 and is capped at the first 5,000 people to apply, "on a first come, first served basis". A further 500 may apply from 4 January 2027, when the $30 fee begins. A general opening has been announced; the Department's FAQ gives no date for it. When we last checked on 8 October 2026, the online application was still marked "Coming soon".

The application fee is $30, and it does not begin until 4 January 2027 — applications in the 4 November 2026 stage are before the fee starts. The fee is non-refundable and is paid through Pay.gov by bank transfer, card or PayPal. The Department says there will be other costs it does not set: fingerprints and certified criminal records, which "may vary by jurisdiction". You can ask for the fee to be waived or reduced, and must state why; the Department says relief "may be waived or reduced because of indigency" and that more information about the waiver process "will be made available soon".

The Department does not require one, and its programme pages do not mention attorneys at all (read October 8, 2026). Whether you need one is a judgement about your own record. The parts where people most often get advice are: working out whether a presumption applies to your conviction, working out whether any part of your sentence is still outstanding, and — the hardest question on this site — whether your state's own remedy does anything about your federal bar. We do not answer that last question for anyone. It turns on your facts and on federal case law, and it is the question to take to an attorney who handles this work.

No. The Department is explicit: "The FFRR application process does not automatically restore state or tribal firearm rights." These are two separate questions with two separate answers, and you may need both. Our state pages set out a state's own route, who decides it, how long it takes, what it costs and what it restores — each with its statute and the day we checked it. Twelve states are checked so far; the rest say so plainly.

Sometimes, and we will not guess for you. The federal test is at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20): a conviction that has been expunged, set aside, pardoned, or for which civil rights have been restored is not counted "unless such pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms". ATF's own regulation at 27 CFR 478.11 adds a further condition the statute does not state on its face: it also fails if the person "is prohibited by the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held from receiving or possessing any firearms". And a state remedy never reaches a federal conviction — that is the whole reason 18 U.S.C. 925(c) exists. Whether your particular remedy passes that test is a legal question about your own facts.

The Department publishes five kinds of presumptive disqualifier: a permanent list of serious convictions; a 10-year list; a 5-year list; a current status list about your situation today; and a reapplication rule if a previous application was refused. There is a sixth provision for prohibitions arising from a mental-health commitment. Every one of them is a presumption — the rule's words are "will therefore be denied, absent extraordinary circumstances" — and none of them stops you applying. Two traps people miss: unpaid fines, costs or restitution can mean you are still serving a sentence; and after a domestic-violence misdemeanor, a qualifying arrest or another federal firearm disability during the following ten years can restart that period. This is not a general arrest bar. The rule excepts an arrest supported by a judicial finding of no misconduct or dismissal on the merits.

The Department's final rule says that it "declines to commit itself to particular timeframes for the issuance of decisions", and that "timeframes during the initial launch of the application may be somewhat lengthier" (91 FR 54054, pages 54078 and 54079; read October 8, 2026). Its FAQ and its page on the final decision give no timeframe, and we will not invent one. What it has published is the shape of the process: you submit the first part of the application, receive a QR code by email, then obtain fingerprints through a participating United States Post Office. Once you start the online application you have 30 days to finish it, or you start again. There are four possible outcomes — Grant, Deny, Indeterminate and No Action — and a grant may come with an RPIN, a number you use when buying a firearm, after the FBI updates NICS.

Yes. The Department says: "Under 18 USC 925(c), the Department is required to publish the names of those who have received relief in the Federal Register." That requirement is repeated in the rule at 28 CFR 107.20(c). This website does not republish those names and never will, and we do not index, mirror or make them searchable.

No. This is a private website. It is not affiliated with the Department of Justice, the Office of the Pardon Attorney or ATF. The official site is justice.gov/ffrr. Everything here is information with its source and the day we checked it — it is not legal advice, and nothing on this site is a decision about you.