SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF A NON-VIOLENT FELONY OFFENDER TO APPLY FOR RESTORATION OF FEDERAL FIREARM PRIVILEGES UNDER 18 U.S.C.§ 925(c):: ANALYZING ... PROGRAM, RIPE FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW IN 2025

This publication relates to a current Second Amendment conflict of law issue regarding an individual's right to file an application for restoration of federal firearm privileges with the Attorney General of The United States, and the government's efforts to make application filing and/or processing impossible from 1997-2024. There are likely well over one million American citizens that would qualify for restoration of (federal) firearm privileges, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) that were convicted of non-violent federal offenses in the past. The Congress, in passing that law, recognized that there is no correlation, or empirical evidence to suggest that someone convicted of a non-violent federal felony years ago would be more dangerous to society than any other average citizen. The Application For Restoration Of Firearm Privileges, ATF Form 3210.1, was in used for many years prior to 1992, and the Congress funded ATF salaries for the purposes of processing applications filed, without exception. That all came to a screeching halt from 1992-1996 due to Congresses tough on crime stances taken during that period, where Congressional Committees specifically recommended that the rights restoration program not be funded by taxpayers for those years. From 1997 to the present date, Congress remained mute on funding the program, but the ATF took matters into its own hand to ensure that the program would not be funded. That law remains on the books and the ATF has a constitutional duty to request funding annually to implement that law that it is constitutionally obliged to administer. The ATF’s use of in-house, off-the-books, internal policies to stymie application processes look like violations of the Non-Delegation Clause, pursuant to Article 1 § 1 of the United States Constitution and Separation Of Powers. By all accounts, the ATF has no constitutional authority to unilaterally cancel out the statutory right of United States Citizens to file an Application For Restoration Of Firearm Privileges (AFT Form 3210.1) simply because the ATF does not believe that prior federal offenders deserve to ever again possess firearms. It appears that the ATF’s affirmative acts taken in the last 27 years to unilaterally quash this Congressional Program, should now be considered either: a.) a constructive application denial, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), because the ATF is no longer even making form applications available online in PDF format, ripe for judicial review; b.) a final agency action tantamount to a denial, because the ATF’s unilateral actions taken in the last 27 years (explained in detail below) have ensured that it will never have funding for application processing, as a constructive application denial, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), ripe for judicial review; or c.) as an arbitrary or capricious in-house, and off-the-books agency policy, unilaterally preventing funding of this Program without Congressional authority, pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706, also ripe for judicial review. The corroborating materials in support of the conclusions drawn below are contained in the many Appendices attached to this book, and the originals in PDF format are available online. Inasmuch as SCOTUS may be in a posture in 2025 to restore Second Amendment Rights to non-violent federal felony offenders in general, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) facial attacks, this also appears to be a good time to revisit Applications For Restoration Of Firearm Privileges, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) for that same non-violent federal felony offender seeking to possess a firearm for defense of his or her home and family. For further information please contact Attorney Ralph S. Behr directly by calling (561) 717-3000, or by emailing rb@lawbehr.com.