The Trace and the NRA are pretty much never on the same page over anything. The NRA is a pro-gun organization that, while some people think is too soft, is still the big boy when it comes to defending gun rights. The Trace is an anti-gun organization masquerading as an unbiased journalism group that simply follows gun stories.
And I'm not about to tell you that something strange happened and they suddenly agreed on something.
What I'm going to tell you is that they're on opposite sides once again over what's meant to be a pro-gun move, and it's not the side we would all expect.
The issue is the Trump administration's move to create a process to restore gun rights. Cam talked a bit about that earlier this week and the NRA's concerns.
Benjamin Owen, writing at The Reload, also discussed it.
In a Monday message to its supporters, the NRA said comments advocating for changes to the DOJ plan are “urgently needed.” It wants the DOJ to ensure some groups of people who are currently prohibited from owning guns under federal law aren’t automatically denied restoration under the new process, and do more to protect the restorations it does issue. It also wants the department ot streamline the application process and remove the associated fee.
“This rulemaking, however, would codify a very restrictive paradigm that would limit the discretion of future DOJ officials in taking a more wholistic (SIC) approach,” the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action wrote in a message to members. “And future anti-gun administrations could revoke, under the rule’s terms, relief granted by prior pro-gun administrations.”
“There are [a] number of areas where we believe this initial proposal could be improved, and thoughtful comments can help steer the process in a positive direction,” it wrote.
That's a fair point, and it's really evidence that something needs to be addressed to prevent these issues from cropping up. The easiest way is for the legislature to step in and strip that authority. Trump could do it, too, but a future anti-gun administration could undo Trump's efforts. The legislature is a little harder to get around.
Meanwhile, over at The Trace, they ran a piece touting the new rule as potentially saving a bit of gun control legislation.
In a Stanford Law Review article this year, two law school professors urged Congress to revive a long-dormant process that would let some people with felony convictions apply to legally own guns again. Restoring a path to gun access, the co-authors argued, would help prevent the felony gun ban from being struck down as unconstitutional — a growing possibility since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen expanded gun rights.
The Trump administration is now moving to adopt their idea. On July 18, the Department of Justice published a proposed rule that would reestablish a gun rights restoration process. After a 90-day public comment period, the proposal is likely to become federal policy.
We spoke with one of those professors, Ian Ayres of Yale Law School, to understand why they believe this process is needed, how the Justice Department’s proposal would work, and their own expert analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Now, I'm not saying The Trace is now supporting the move, or the NRA is opposing it outright. However, it's weird that we're looking at something that will restore rights to a lot of people, and it seems people are coming down on the opposite side of where you'd expect them to fall.
I do see where Ayres and company are coming from on this. If there's a pathway to restore gun rights to felons, then the courts can argue that the prohibition is generally temporary, and thus doesn't necessarily have the same issues as it might have otherwise. I'm not entirely sure that would hold up under Bruen, but it's got a better chance than the status quo.
Meanwhile, the NRA is making a valid point regarding how this might cause problems down the road, as things are currently appearing to be structured.
It's weird that we've got these two entities on the opposite side of what you expect, yet both of them are still pretty on-brand with their comments. The Trace isn't suddenly pro-gun, and the NRA isn't suddenly anti-gun.
That doesn't make this any less weird at first blush, though.
Editor’s Note: The DOJ's proposed language is a good start, but there's still a need for improvement.
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