By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New—Attorney General’s Grant of Relief from Federal Firearms Disabilities; Michigan: HB6284 and HB6285, repealing Michigan’s version of the federal ban on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns; Minnesota: State Fair Poll: Assault-weapons proposal remains a live political and legislative fault line, but no new enactment; Remaining Primary Elections Sept. 8 & 9 primary election results with listing of winning candidates; Next week watchlist.
Attorney General’s Grant of Relief from Federal Firearms Disabilities
An Aug. 27 Federal Register notice records the Attorney General’s grant of relief from federal firearms disabilities to the first identified recipients under a newly revived administrative process. It is significant not because it creates a new constitutional entitlement, but because it marks the first operational use in decades of Congress’s statutory restoration mechanism in 18 U.S.C. § 925(c).
How the restoration occurred
Federal law, principally 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), bars defined categories of people from possessing, receiving, shipping, or transporting firearms and ammunition. Those categories include many people with felony convictions, certain misdemeanor domestic-violence convictions, qualifying mental-health adjudications or commitments, dishonorable military discharges, and other specified statuses.
Section 925(c), however, authorizes the Attorney General to grant an individual “relief from the disabilities” imposed by federal firearms law. The applicant must establish that “the circumstances regarding the disability” and the applicant’s “record and reputation” indicate that he or she is not likely to act dangerously and that granting relief would not be contrary to the public interest.
For most of the past three decades, that statutory avenue was largely unavailable in practice. Beginning in fiscal year 1992, Congress repeatedly barred ATF from using appropriated funds to investigate or act on § 925(c) applications. The provision remained on the books, but ATF could not administer it, leaving many federally prohibited individuals without a functioning federal application route.
DOJ’s new approach
In 2025–26, DOJ moved administration of the process to the Attorney General rather than relying on ATF appropriations. Its final rule establishes a formal, discretionary application procedure for federal relief. The system requires substantial documentation: records establishing the source of the disability, criminal and sentencing materials where relevant, proof of sentence completion, fingerprints, background-record releases, and three character references. DOJ may evaluate the applicant’s criminal history, underlying conduct, rehabilitation, compliance with court obligations, substance-use history, public-safety evidence, and other individualized circumstances.
The Aug. 27 notice therefore makes public grants made through DOJ’s initial implementation of that authority—before the broadly phased public application process. DOJ says public access will begin with invited candidates on Sept. 25, followed by an initial public intake of 5,000 candidates on Nov. 4 and another 500 on Jan. 4, 2027; a $30 fee is scheduled to begin with the latter stage, subject to waiver or reduction.
Legal limits
The relief is individualized, not automatic. A grant removes the relevant federal firearms disability; it does not erase a conviction, expunge a record, restore other civil rights, or supersede an independent state-law firearm prohibition. Nor does it prevent a later federal prohibition from arising. The notice thus signals a meaningful reopening of a long-dormant statutory remedy, while preserving DOJ’s case-specific public-safety discretion and the continuing force of state firearms law.
State Legislatures:
Michigan:
HB6284 and HB6285.A two-bill package to repeal Michigan’s separate state criminal restrictions on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, largely aligning state law with the federal regulatory framework for those items. The bills have been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Second Amendment significance
For Second Amendment analysis, the proposal is best understood as a state-law preemption/alignment measure, rather than a broad restoration-of-rights bill. It does not address ordinary firearm possession by people prohibited under Michigan or federal law, nor does it directly alter Michigan’s restoration procedures for people with felony convictions. Rather, it removes Michigan-specific restrictions that operate alongside federal firearm regulation.
Minnesota:
Assault-weapons proposal remains a live political and legislative fault line, but no new enactment
A State Fair poll reported that 75.2% of respondents favored banning possession of semiautomatic “military-style assault weapons,” with 20.5% opposed and 4.3% undecided. The same account reports that a House DFL gun-violence-prevention package containing such a ban became a major late-session dispute and that the 2026 session ended without resolution
Why it matters: This is not bill movement or an enacted law, and it should not be treated as one. It is nevertheless relevant as a marker of continued legislative salience for a category of regulation that is among the most consequential unresolved post-Bruen issues: whether commonly owned semiautomatic rifles and related firearms may be prohibited, and how legislatures will frame the issue in anticipation of litigation.
Politics-2026
50 days to go to the midterms
Primaries – September 8, 2026 and September 9, 2026
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts: Suffolk District 19: NRA endorsed Jeffrey Rosario Turco (D) won his primary.
New Hampshire: (Sept. 8)
U.S. Senate: This seat is important for the Republicans to hold the U.S. Senate in 2026. Among 12 candidates only John E. Sununu (R) received an A from the NRA-PVF and Won the nomination, with about 68.4% of the vote (roughly 75,400 votes), Sununu will face Democrat Chris Pappas in November..
JOHN SUNUNU is the son of former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and the brother of former Governor Chris Sununu. He served as a Republican former U.S. representative and senator from New Hampshire. Sununu was elected in 1996 to represent New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House, where he served three terms from 1997 to 2003. In 2002, he won election to the U.S. Senate, serving from 2003 through 2009; at age 38, he was the Senate’s youngest member throughout his term. He lost his 2008 reelection race to former Governor Jeanne Shaheen, who has decided not to run for re-election.
The Democrat nominee, Representative Chris Pappas, has long record on Second Amendment issues—all bad. Supporting:
- Assault weapons bans
- Universal/background-check-related measures.
- Extreme-risk-protection-order legislation (“red flag” orders).
- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
- The Protecting Our Kids Act, alongside his support for the assault-weapons-ban legislation.
In a debate on Sept. 4, carried by WMUR Pappas again addressed what Congress should do regarding AR-15-style firearms, and reminded everyone of his past vote and sponsorship record that indicated his support of assault-weapons bans. Unfortunately, WMUR does not have a complete copy of that debate available to the public. However, this is what is on his Congressional web page as of Sept. 11.
July 29, 2022
Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) helped pass H.R.1808, the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2021, which would ban the sale, import, manufacture or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons.
“Reinstating a ban on the sale of assault weapons is an important step to save lives and promote public safety,” said Congressman Chris Pappas. “We are not powerless to do something about the senseless gun violence and mass shootings we see all across our country, and this legislation to keep dangerous, military-style weapons off our streets is a common sense measure that received bipartisan support today. Keeping our children and communities safe must be our top priority.”
Background:
In June, Pappas voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first significant federal gun safety bill in nearly 30 years to expand background check, close loopholes in gun ownership, and fund mental health services.
In June, Pappas also helped pass The Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2022, which safely removes firearms from those who should not have them while preserving an individual’s due process rights, and creates a new grant program to assist states and local governments to implement and carry out similar legislation, known as “red flag” laws.
Governor: Endorsed current Governor Kelly Ayotte won renomination by 91% of the vote; Executive Council: Seat 4: Endorsed John Stephen: A
U.S. Congress: Trump endorsed District Anthony DiLorenzo: with an NRA rating of A won the Republican primary.
Here are the endorsed state legislative candidates who won:
State Senate: District 16: Keith Murphy
State House: Belknap 2: Scott Walker; Belknap 4: Kevin M. Nugent, Jr.; Belknap 6: Rep. Glen Aldrich; Carroll 3 (pick 2): Richard R. Brown; Karel A. Crawford; Carroll 7: Dale Fincher; Carroll 8: Tammy Garthwaite; Cheshire 17: Jennifer Rhodes; Hillsborough 1 Deborah Kruzel; Tom Mannion; Hillsborough 13 : Dillon Dumont, Cathy Kenny, Bob Wherry; Hillsborough 38 Adam Havestock, Ted Trost; Merrimack 2: Gregory Hill: Merrimack 4: Jose Eduardo Cambrils, Michael Moffett; Merrimack 8 Natalie Wells; Merrimack 14: Gary Matteson; Rockingham 1 : James Guzofski, Paul Tudor; Rockingham 4 Michael Drago, Brian Nadeau; Rockingham 7: Laurence A. Miner; Rockingham 15: Lilli Walsh; Rockingham 16 : Ron Dunn, David Lundgren, Wayne D. MacDonald; Gregory G. Carson; Rockingham 17: Bob Lynn, Chales E. McMahon, Daniel Popovici-Muller; Rockingham 25: John Janigan, Dennis Mannion, Valerie McDonnell, Joe Sweeney, Susan J. Vandecasteele; Rockingham 30 Aboul B. Khan, Rockingham 34: Mark A. Pearson; Strafford1: Sue DeLemus, Andy Dow; Sillivan 8: Catherine Peschke, Jonathan F. Stone.
Watchlist
- Illinois follow-on activity in Beavers. Obtain the complete Rule 23 order, assess the governing source of the firearm-purchase condition, and monitor for rehearing or further review. Its nonprecedential status does not eliminate case-specific consequences.
- Supreme Court orders list and certiorari docket. Watch for any firearms-related petitions reaching conference or generating a call for response, especially in cases involving semiautomatic-firearm bans, magazine limits, sensitive places, carry licensing, and § 922(g) disarmament categories.
- Federal appellate opinions and emergency motions. Continue monitoring decisions for Bruen historical-tradition analysis, particularly challenges to categorical possession prohibitions and location-based carry restrictions.
- Congressional calendars and appropriations vehicles. Watch for firearms-related riders, ATF oversight actions, or amendment activity that may move outside a stand-alone gun-policy bill.
