Actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights to be restored by US Justice Department

Actor Mel Gibson was convicted in 2011 on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge. Photo: Reuters via The Straits Times

WASHINGTON – United States Justice Department officials will allow American actor Mel Gibson, a prominent supporter of US President Donald Trump, to own guns again, ending a once-contentious debate that had roiled the upper ranks of the department, according to people familiar with the decision.

Concerns over restoring Gibson’s gun rights led to a tense back-and-forth with Ms Elizabeth Oyer, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, shortly before she was fired by the Trump administration in March.

The decision, which also applies to nine others, was approved by US Attorney-General Pam Bondi, according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The specifics are expected to be published in The Federal Register, they added.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Oyer previously said she had refused to recommend that Gibson, 69, be included on a short list of people with criminal convictions who could have their gun rights restored, despite pressure to do so from her superiors.

She said in an interview with The New York Times after her firing that a department official had tried to persuade her to change her mind because Gibson “has a personal relationship with President Trump.”

Not long after that conversation, she and several other senior career lawyers at the Justice Department were abruptly terminated from their service. A senior department official has denied that her dismissal was related to the disagreement about the actor.

Ms Oyer had resisted because Gibson’s prior conviction was for a misdemeanor domestic violence matter. He pleaded no contest in 2011 to a battery charge involving his former girlfriend, Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva, and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Ms Oyer said in the interview that her concerns had nothing to do with politics, but with the safety risks of allowing someone with a record of domestic violence to own a gun.

A lawyer for Gibson had asked the Trump administration to restore the “Braveheart” (1995) actor’s gun rights, saying that in recent years, he had tried to buy a weapon in Nevada but been denied because of the conviction.

Even with a green light from the federal government, Gibson is not guaranteed to be able to own a gun again, since different states have their own restrictions on who can legally possess a firearm. Nevada state law prohibits felons from owning a gun, but Gibson pleaded to a misdemeanor, not a felony.

A spokesperson for Gibson did not immediately comment.

The Trump administration’s effort to restore gun rights to Gibson is part of a broader bid by conservatives to allow some people with criminal convictions to again own firearms.

In 2024, the Supreme Court upheld government rules restricting firearms access for people facing restraining orders for domestic violence, but Mr. Trump has since ordered a review of the federal government’s gun policies, with an eye toward loosening restrictions.

In that vein, the Justice Department recently published new regulations to restore gun rights to some people with criminal convictions. The department said it still wants to ensure that “violent and dangerous people” cannot lawfully acquire firearms, as long as there is “an appropriate avenue” to restore rights to people who have earned the chance to own guns again, according to an interim rule published in The Federal Register in March.

Determining whose gun rights should be restored depends on a number of factors, the notice says, including “a combination of the nature of their past criminal activity and their subsequent and current law-abiding behavior.”

Under a decades-old law, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can return gun rights to specific people. But starting in 1992, congressional spending bills barred the agency from doing so.

The interim rule effectively returns that authority to the Attorney-General, who may then delegate it to another Justice Department official or office.

Gun Owners of America, a lobbying group, called the interim rule “outstanding progress,” while Ms. Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun control advocacy group, said the change was “a blatant and dangerous power grab by the Trump administration, and a gift to his donors in the gun industry.” NYTIMES