“On April 18, 2025, Todd Blanche, Deputy Attorney General signed a filing for the Federal Register (Docket No. OAG192) regarding ‘relief from disabilities’ for “Federal firearm privileges,” attorney Stephen Stamboulieh wrote in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Justice filed on behalf of this correspondent. “In this filing, the Department of Justice identified ten (10) individuals for firearm restoration, and said that the ‘Attorney General has reviewed all the relevant facts for each individual listed below, including the materials that each individual submitted seeking either a pardon or relief from federal firearms disabilities…’”

Per the filing, the identified individuals are: Judy Broach, Danny Preston, Conrad  Timothy, Lyn Dunham, Mel Gibson, Jessica Lynn Jacobson, Joseph Klecko, Wayne L. Mertz, Charles E. Moehring, Jr., Patrick Lynn Morgan, and Ronald Joseph Willkomm

“The document provides no details about what led to the loss of gun rights for these ten individuals, though Gibson’s no contest plea to misdemeanor battery in 2011 is a well documented matter of public record,” Cam Edwards wrote on Bearing Arms. Edwards also notes that “Gun control activists like Brady’s Kris Brown have alleged that the restoration of rights process announced by Bondi amounts to an ‘at best… a pay-to-play system that could arm the highest bidder, or at worst, automating a process that could arm those with criminal histories and dangerous behaviors.’”

Like their crime arguments that never mention defensive gun uses (DGUs), leave it to professional violence monopolist  apparatchiks to always paint options in the most negative way possible for anyone dumb enough to turn to them for anything. In this case, Brown is committing a deliberate lie of omission by not conceding that these may, in fact, just be good citizens who once found themselves afoul of the law, now pose no danger, and would like all of their rights recognized, including the right to protect themselves. To the prohibitionists, though, none of us can be trusted, and lies about “commonsense gun safety laws that respect the Second Amendment” notwithstanding, their goal has always been to disarm their countrymen, a little at as time if that’s all they can get, but always with an eye on the prize.

Edwards is right, though; Mel Gibson’s is the only name that stands out. It’s probably not unfair to presume a media-savvy Donald Trump knows how a celebrity who enjoys enormous popularity with millions of voters can help warm the public up to the idea, and gun owners will benefit from that. Hopefully, the “A-list” actor/director will be able to use the bully pulpit afforded him by fame to take a stand for the Second Amendment, rather than vacillating that “I don’t even know whether I’ve made up my mind on this issue. It’s a prickly one.”

It’s really not, and it’s with an eye toward determining how these 10 choices were selected for DOJ’s initial offering that prompted this FOIA request, asking for:

• All records “reviewed” by the Attorney General for each individual listed in the filing;
• All records “that each individual submitted” to receive relief under 18 U.S.C. 925(c); and
• All other records not “submitted” by the list of individuals, but relied upon by the Attorney General in establishing that “each individual will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief to each individual would not be contrary to the public interest.”

This action can also help us see one other thing important to citizens serious about holding their government accountable: Under a Bondi DOJ that says it’s committed to “protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” will we see dutiful compliance and production of requested documents, or more of the trademark stonewalling the department has become notorious for in prior administrations?

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.