The Trump Administration is reviving the federal “relief from disability” guns-for-felons program. Under this program, convicted felons could apply to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for “relief” from the “disability” of not being able to buy or possess a gun. From 1985 to 1991, thousands of felons received “relief,” at a cost to taxpayers of more than $21 million. (In 1986, as the result of the National Rifle Association’s flagship bill the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act, the program was expanded to include felons convicted of gun crimes.) In 1992, after Violence Policy Center research revealed details regarding the program (including crimes later committed by those granted “relief”), it was defunded by Congress. Two relevant VPC studies detailing the public safety threat and waste of taxpayer dollars engendered by the program are below.
The 2000 Violence Policy Center study Guns for Felons: How the NRA Works to Rearm Criminals offers a history of the program and details the ways in which the NRA has helped make guns available to convicted felons through the federal “relief from disability” program.
The 1992 Violence Policy Center study Putting Guns Back Into Criminals’ Hands: 100 Case Studies of Felons Granted Relief From Disability Under Federal Firearms Laws details 100 cases obtained by the Violence Policy Center from ATF under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Crimes committed for which relief was granted include: the illegal sale of machine guns to an undercover ATF agent; manslaughter involving a shotgun; the sexual abuse of a child; armed robbery involving a handgun; burglary; drunk driving resulting in a homicide; and, drug distribution.
