Restoration of Gun Rights

For many people, losing their right to own or posses firearms is a huge loss. Whether it's because they are an avid hunter, a collector, or they enjoy practicing their marksmanship at the shooting range.

In Washington, getting these rights restored is based on a specific statute. Although for most people, you either qualify or you don't, the process can still be daunting. You should decide whether you want to try this on your own or save yourself a lot of time, energy, and headache and hire an experienced attorney to do it all for you.

Once hired, our firm handles everything for you, including preparing the necessary motions, contacting the prosecutor's office, and going to court for the hearing to have the judge sign off on the order.

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ALWAYS SPEAK WITH AN ATTORNEY ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE A FIREARM

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If you are interested in getting your firearm rights restored give us a call at 253-383-3328 or email us at Office@Williamawhitelaw.com and we can get started right away.

Restoring State Firearm Rights

First, let's look at how state firearm rights are lost:

A criminal conviction for any Felony offense
Conviction for most Domestic Violence (DV) misdemeanor offense: Assault in the fourth degree, coercion, stalking, reckless endangerment, criminal trespass in the first degree, or violation of a protection order or no-contact order. Note: Not all DV convictions will result in the loss of firearm rights.

How to restore state firearm rights:

For Felonies: Any consecutive 5 year crime free period (begins at date of offense not conviction date) if no previous felonies that count as part of the offender score.
For Misdemeanors: Any consecutive 3 year crime free period, if no previous felonies that count as part of the offender score AND completed all conditions of the sentence.
NOTE: You CANNOT restore firearm rights for a Class A felony or any sex offense. Unless, it was committed as a juvenile and the records have been sealed.

The relevant restoration of gun rights portion of RCW 9.41.040 is subsection (4):

(4)(a) Notwithstanding subsection (1) or (2) of this section, a person convicted or found not guilty by reason of insanity of an offense prohibiting the possession of a firearm under this section other than murder, manslaughter, robbery, rape, indecent liberties, arson, assault, kidnapping, extortion, burglary, or violations with respect to controlled substances under RCW 69.50.401 and 69.50.410, who received a probationary sentence under RCW 9.95.200, and who received a dismissal of the charge under RCW 9.95.240, shall not be precluded from possession of a firearm as a result of the conviction or finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, if a person is prohibited from possession of a firearm under subsection (1) or (2) of this section and has not previously been convicted or found not guilty by reason of insanity of a sex offense prohibiting firearm ownership under subsection (1) or (2) of this section and/or any felony defined under any law as a class A felony or with a maximum sentence of at least twenty years, or both, the individual may petition a court of record to have his or her right to possess a firearm restored:

(i) Under RCW 9.41.047; and/or

(ii)(A) If the conviction or finding of not guilty by reason of insanity was for a felony offense, after five or more consecutive years in the community without being convicted or found not guilty by reason of insanity or currently charged with any felony, gross misdemeanor, or misdemeanor crimes, if the individual has no prior felony convictions that prohibit the possession of a firearm counted as part of the offender score under RCW 9.94A.525; or

(B) If the conviction or finding of not guilty by reason of insanity was for a nonfelony offense, after three or more consecutive years in the community without being convicted or found not guilty by reason of insanity or currently charged with any felony, gross misdemeanor, or misdemeanor crimes, if the individual has no prior felony convictions that prohibit the possession of a firearm counted as part of the offender score under RCW 9.94A.525 and the individual has completed all conditions of the sentence.

(b) An individual may petition a court of record to have his or her right to possess a firearm restored under (a) of this subsection (4) only at:

(i) The court of record that ordered the petitioner's prohibition on possession of a firearm; or

(ii) The superior court in the county in which the petitioner resides.

Restoring Federal Firearm Rights

Federal Firearm Rights are an incredibly tricky area with lots of confusion and grey areas. Even attempting to purchase a firearm when you are prohibited can open you up to criminal charges.

Thus...

ALWAYS SPEAK WITH AN ATTORNEY ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUES BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE A FIREARM

The most common offenses that trigger a federal prohibition on your gun rights under the Federal statute 18 U.S.C. 921, regardless whether these offenses were in violation of a state or federal law, are:

Commission of a felony
A finding of mental incapacity or competency issue indicating a danger to self or others
Issuance of a protective order against you
Misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence (MCDV)

Technically, there is a procedure to restore your federal firearm rights, however, since the 1990's Congress has chosen not to provide funding for the appropriate agencies to allow persons to petition to have their rights restored. Therefore, in practice, there is no way to restore your firearm rights at a federal level.

If you were convicted of a Federal law which triggered the loss of your firearm rights, you lose your firearm rights for life, unless or until the federal procedures are funded.

However, if you lost your gun rights based on a state law, specifically a felony conviction, restoring your rights at a state level will often remove the federal prohibition. Often this requires having your civil rights restored, a certificate of discharge issued, and having your state firearm rights restored. In general, the best practice is to vacate the state felony conviction, so that the conviction is completely undone, and you no longer have the felony conviction on your record. As noted, above, if you have ever lost your firearm rights at the state or federal level it's always best to speak with an attorney before attempting to purchase a firearm.

If you lost your firearm rights due to a state misdemeanor domestic violence conviction or due to the issuance of a protection order, restoring your federal firearm rights becomes even more tricky. As of the writing of this information, there currently is no good answer as to whether you can restore your federal gun rights based on a state domestic violence misdemeanor. This is due to the fact that a conviction for a state law domestic violence offense triggers a loss of firearms under a federal law. Thus, even if the domestic violence conviction stems from a state law the individual loses their federal gun rights based on a federal law. Because there is no procedure to restore your federal firearm rights, it creates a tricky situation. Not every state has procedures to restore gun rights for misdemeanors as they do for felonies.

Even if your state has a procedure to restore your firearm rights at the state level for misdemeanor convictions, as Washington does, there is no clear answer whether restoring your state rights also restores your federal firearm rights. The federal government has not issued a definitive statement on this issue. Some attorney's believe that restoration at the state level results in the restoration at the federal level, similar to felonies. However, without an explicit answer, from the courts of the federal government, our firm cautions all of our clients when they get their state firearm rights restored from a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction because we cannot provide them with definitive advice as to their federal firearm rights. This means that they take a huge risk if they go hunting on federal land, if they possess a gun on federal land, or similar criminal violations. This risk opens them up to possible criminal consequences. Unfortunately, that is the state of affairs at this time. Not happy? Call your Senator and/or State Representative and tell them to fund the ATF to restore federal firearm rights.

***ALWAYS SPEAK WITH AN ATTORNEY ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE A FIREARM***

How can I check my status?

As mentioned above, attempting to purchase a firearm while you are prohibited, can result in a criminal charge. Thus, attempting to purchase a gun is not the way to find out. The best course of action is hiring an attorney to look into everything for you. A qualified attorney will know what to ask, whom to ask, and more importantly, what information, facts, statements, to ask and what information not to divulge unless absolutely necessary.

The other option is to submit to the FBI a Voluntary Appeals File (VAF). A VAF essentially requests the FBI for a determination as to whether you would be denied, should you attempt to purchase a gun. Again, hiring an attorney to do this is always the preferred option.

In general, the FBI will return one of three responses.

Nothing in the record to prohibit the person from purchasing a firearm
The person is prohibited from purchasing a firearm
A finding in the NICS system, that would inappropriately trigger a denial to purchase if you attempted. This could be as simple as a prohibited person with the same name and date of birth as you. If this occurs, often the FBI will assign you a Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN) which you would then provide whenever you purchased a firearm.

***ALWAYS SPEAK WITH AN ATTORNEY ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE A FIREARM***

If you are interested in getting your firearm rights restored give us a call at 253-383-3328 or email us at Office@Williamawhitelaw.com and we can get started right away.