Convicted domestic abusers are not being automatically excluded from a new federal program that restores gun rights, and a senior official said the department had to leave the door open because relief had to be granted to Mel Gibson. That account comes from a complaint filed by the government’s former top clemency lawyer against the Justice Department (DOJ).
Elizabeth Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney, filed the complaint with the department’s inspector general. It targets Associate Deputy Attorney General Paul Perkins.
Oyer says she pushed for a blanket exclusion barring people with domestic violence convictions from regaining firearms access while the restoration program was still being designed. The program is for Americans legally prohibited from owning guns. She alleges that she was overruled because of ties between Gibson, 70, the “Lethal Weapon” star, and President Donald Trump, and that the reason given was Gibson’s personal relationship with the president.
“Ms. Oyer was advised by Mr. Perkins that domestic violence offenders could not be excluded because it was necessary to grant relief to Mel Gibson,” the complaint states.
Perkins denied the allegation, calling it “categorically false.” Such a statement — that domestic violence offenders could not be excluded because relief had to be granted to Gibson — was never made to Oyer, he said.
What the Complaint Alleges
The eligibility question for people with domestic violence convictions surfaced at the inception of the project in February 2025, Oyer says. Her proposal was to cut them out altogether, or, if that failed, to consult the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women about the dangers involved.
Gibson figures in the government’s thinking from the very beginning of the program, according to the complaint — months before reports that the Justice Department had restored the actor’s gun rights.
The Rules Now in Effect
Final rules issued by Attorney General Todd Blanche have taken effect. Under them, people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence can still apply. The department says it will generally refuse to restore their rights for 10 years absent extraordinary circumstances.
The first stage of the federal gun-rights restoration program opened to invited candidates on Sept. 25, 2026, without the catch-all exclusion Oyer says she urged, and applications open to the public on Nov. 4. With that stage open and Blanche’s rules in force, the people Oyer wanted excluded can file applications.
The Fight Over Gibson
A no contest plea in 2011 to misdemeanor spousal battery involving his former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, cost Gibson his federal firearms rights. The actor’s gun rights were restored in 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Earlier, in January 2025, Gibson had been named an “ambassador” to Hollywood by Trump, 80, alongside fellow actors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.
A previously reported fight over Gibson’s individual application also figures in Oyer’s account. Oyer and her staff identified 95 people already extensively vetted through the presidential pardon process as possible candidates for firearms restoration. Department leadership cut that group down to nine, and a memo recommending those candidates went from Oyer to Perkins on March 6, 2025.
She says he responded by instructing her to add Gibson, who had not gone through the same vetting. In asking for the rights back, Gibson’s attorney cited the actor’s relationship with Trump as well as his career making famous movies, she says.
After she refused to recommend him, she alleges, a call came from Perkins asking whether her position was flexible and conveying that she would be wise to make the recommendation. A memo she filed the following morning contained information about Gibson but stopped short of recommending him. Hours later, Blanche fired her.
Lawsuit Still in Court
Oyer says she was fired in March 2025 for refusing to recommend restoring Gibson’s gun rights. Her firing is now the subject of a lawsuit she has brought against the department and Blanche.
Blanche has denied that Gibson played any role in the dismissal. He told senators at his confirmation hearing that he knew nothing about the Gibson matter when he removed her. Her lawsuit over the firing is still moving through the courts.
Advocates Warn of Deaths
Lives will be lost under the policy, domestic violence campaigners say. Tonia Moultry-Pace, interim president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), said that when a male abuser has access to a firearm, the risk he will shoot and kill a female partner rises by 1,000 percent.
“Removing guns from convicted domestic violence offenders is a lifesaving protection,” said Moultry-Pace, who warned that stripping away that safeguard shows disregard for survivors and will put thousands of victims in grave danger.
