Firearm rights after a mental-health commitment: the 922(g)(4) route, and the trap in it

If your federal prohibition comes from a mental-health commitment or an adjudication, this is 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4), and the rule treats it differently from a conviction.

You may apply

28 CFR 107.60(a): "Applicants currently subject to the disability in 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4) are eligible to apply for relief under this part."

But a state route usually comes first — and a refusal there does not clear the way

This is the part almost every other site states incorrectly, and getting it wrong could cost someone months.

28 CFR 107.60(b) presumptively denies an application where the prohibition was imposed by a state, territory or federal agency that runs a relief programme — in two situations, not one. The rule's wording is identical in all three of its paragraphs: where the applicant "is eligible to apply under the program and has not sought relief or has been denied relief".

So: not using your state's programme is a presumptive ground. Using it and being refused is also a presumptive ground.

The Department calls this an exhaustion requirement and explains its reasoning in the preamble: applications from people "who have exhausted the available state or alternative processes, but who have been denied the requested relief by those entities" are presumptively disqualified, because "The Department expects it would rarely overturn the state or other entity's decision after a full review of the facts before it". It adds that the rule "does not completely foreclose the applicant from raising arguments that would allow the applicant to overcome the presumption."

If your jurisdiction has no programme, none of this applies

The Department says that where a state or territory "does not offer relief at all, then you may apply for federal relief without having gone through your state first", and names the seven places with none:

Arkansas · Montana · New Hampshire · Wyoming · American Samoa · U.S. Virgin Islands · Northern Mariana Islands

It adds that "this list may be subject to change".

What your jurisdiction's route is called

The Department publishes a table for all 56 jurisdictions. The routes fall into four shapes: petition the relevant court (33 jurisdictions), a named agency programme (9 — including California's "Request a hearing for relief", Illinois's "Apply to Illinois State Police", Maryland's "Firearm Safety Act Relief Process" and Delaware's "Disabilities Board"), a pointer to a statute (7), and none (7).

Look up your jurisdiction's route →

One more route that can end the prohibition without any of this

The Department notes that a person is no longer prohibited under 922(g)(4) if they "received relief from a lawful state or federal authority under a relief from disabilities program that meets the requirements of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007". And if rights were already restored another way — the Department gives the VA's fiduciary programme as its example — "and [the person] has no other prohibitor, that person does not need to apply" here at all.

Extra documents

A mental-health application asks for the commitment or adjudication order, medical records stating the diagnosis, and a current certification from a licensed mental health professional stating either that you no longer suffer from the condition, or that it "has been successfully treated or is stably managed such that you are unlikely to be a danger to yourself or others".

This is a private website, not a government site. The official site is justice.gov/ffrr. Information with sources and check dates — not legal advice, and never a decision about you.