Scope: the Department of Justice's published FFRR process and Pennsylvania firearm-disability law, current as of August 29, 2026. The application system was not yet open when this guide was published. Program dates, instructions, forms, and legal interpretations may change. For the constitutional and case-law backdrop, read The Second Amendment in 2026: What Pennsylvania Gun Owners Need to Know.
The short version
After more than three decades without a usable federal administrative process, the Department of Justice has established a system for applications under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c). DOJ announced the final rule on August 17, 2026; it was published on August 20, becomes effective September 21, and begins accepting applications in stages on September 25, 2026. The Attorney General must determine that the applicant is not likely to endanger public safety and that relief would not be contrary to the public interest.
Three points matter before anyone invests time or money in an application:
- The early stages are limited. September 25 is only for invited candidates. The first public window begins November 4 and is capped. Preparing the records that can be collected now is how an applicant makes a short window useful.
- The presumptive disqualifiers are demanding. Specified current statuses and prior conduct create presumptions of denial. The permanent category covers felony conduct including burglary, robbery, and assault or battery, not every misdemeanor that shares a similar label.
- A federal grant does not remove a Pennsylvania prohibition. DOJ expressly warns that FFRR cannot remove a state firearm-rights prohibition. A person barred by 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105 must resolve that separate disability before possessing or acquiring a firearm.
What FFRR is
18 U.S.C. § 922(g) creates nine principal federal firearm prohibitions for individuals: convictions for crimes punishable by more than one year, subject to the exceptions in § 921(a)(20); fugitive status; unlawful controlled-substance use; specified mental-health adjudications or commitments; certain immigration statuses; dishonorable discharge; renunciation of United States citizenship; qualifying domestic-violence restraining orders; and misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. Section 925(c) authorizes relief from a federal firearm disability on application.
DOJ's published eligibility page says an individual prohibited under any of the nine § 922(g) categories may apply. That means eligible to submit an application—not likely to receive relief. Corporations and other entities are to use a separate process that DOJ has not yet published.
The staged calendar
| Date | Who may apply | What DOJ has said |
|---|---|---|
| September 25, 2026 | Invited candidates | DOJ says it will begin with people who have shown a known interest in the program. It has not published more specific selection criteria or an invitation-delivery procedure. |
| November 4, 2026 | Public applicants | The first 5,000 people may apply, first come and first served. |
| January 4, 2027 | 500 additional public applicants | This smaller tranche is intended to test the online payment process, and the application fee begins at this stage. Waiver or reduction requests are available. |
| Later | Public at large | DOJ plans broader access after it is satisfied with the process, but it has not announced a date. |
The caps make advance preparation useful, but do not start the application merely to hold a place. DOJ's current FAQ says an applicant has 30 days after initiating the electronic application to complete it.
The presumptive disqualifiers
DOJ groups its presumptive disqualifiers into five categories. A person with a presumption ordinarily will be denied unless extraordinary circumstances overcome it. A presumption is not the same as a statutory bar to filing, but it is a serious merits problem.
Current-status presumptions
The current-status category includes awaiting sentence; incarceration or any other uncompleted part of a sentence, including probation or parole; participation in a program that diverts or substitutes for conviction; fugitive status; specified unlawful controlled-substance use; certain immigration statuses; a covered restraining order involving an intimate partner or that partner's child; sex-offender registration for an offense that prohibits firearm possession; and specified mental-health cases in which another qualifying relief program remains available, pending, or has denied relief.
An open Pennsylvania ARD placement appears to fall within DOJ's diversion-program category. DOJ does not name ARD specifically, so this is an application of its published wording, not an ARD-specific agency ruling.
Permanent presumptions
The permanent category applies to a felony conviction for committing, attempting, soliciting, conspiring to commit, or aiding or abetting conduct involving death, rape or sexual abuse, human trafficking, kidnapping, intimate-partner violence, burglary, robbery, extortion, carjacking, arson, certain racketeering or gang offenses, assault or battery, stalking, escape, terrorism, witness tampering, brandishing or discharging a firearm, use of explosives, or similar conduct. A decades-old felony burglary or felony assault therefore remains in the permanent category; a misdemeanor assault is not permanent merely because it is called an assault.
Ten-year, five-year, and reapplication presumptions
The ten-year category covers a person who, during the last ten years, was convicted of—or served any part of a sentence for—a felony involving the specified drug-trafficking, threat, explosive, firearm, school-weapon, or animal-abuse conduct, or a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. The rule contains an additional ten-year provision for certain later disabilities or arrests following a domestic-violence misdemeanor, so the entire record and timeline matter.
The five-year category covers a person who, during the last five years, was convicted of—or served any part of a sentence for—another felony or a misdemeanor involving assault, battery, stalking, or threatened violence. Separate reapplication presumptions apply after particular prior FFRR denials.
Realistic candidates may include people with older, nonviolent felony convictions outside the permanent category and applicable lookback periods, certain mental-health cases after available state relief has been pursued, and others whose prohibiting event does not fall within the listed conduct. Waiting out a time period does not guarantee relief; the Attorney General still applies the statutory public-safety and public-interest standards.
What to gather now
DOJ's required-document instructions call for state criminal-history reports covering the shorter of the last 25 years or the period since age 18 from every jurisdiction where the applicant lived, plus records for other arrests. Disability-specific materials may include:
- Conviction cases: charging documents, the judgment, sentencing records, and proof that every part of the sentence was completed.
- Mental-health cases: the commitment or adjudication order, medical records including the diagnosis, records from an available relief program, and a current certification from a licensed mental-health professional.
- Domestic-violence misdemeanors: charging documents, investigative reports, relationship documentation, the judgment, and proof of sentence completion.
- Character references: identify three people who are not related to the applicant by blood or marriage, have known the applicant for at least three years, and are not themselves prohibited under § 922(g). Review DOJ's reference requirements before asking them to participate.
Documents must be legible digital copies. A document in another language must include an English translation and the translator's certificate of completeness and accuracy. If a required record is unavailable for reasons outside the applicant's control, DOJ directs the applicant to submit a sworn statement describing the record's contents, the efforts made to obtain it, and why it is unavailable.
The decision—and what a grant does
Restoration specialists may request more information during the investigation. A grant means the Attorney General or a designee has determined, based on the application and investigation, that restoration meets the statutory public-safety and public-interest standard. DOJ says the FBI will update NICS, the applicant may receive an RPIN for use in future purchase checks, and the applicant's name and grant date will be published in the Federal Register.
After a denial, the applicant may seek judicial review in the United States district court where the applicant resides. Reapplication timing depends on the reason for denial; a permanent-ground denial remains a permanent presumption, time-limited grounds ordinarily must expire, and some other denials create a new five-year presumption. DOJ also recognizes indeterminate and administrative no-action outcomes. See its decision and next-steps page.
The Pennsylvania half of the problem
Pennsylvania's § 6105 has its own disabling convictions and statuses. Federal relief and state relief are separate locks, and a person must resolve both before possession. The available state-side routes depend on the source of the Pennsylvania disability.
- Vacatur or full Governor's pardon. Section 6105(d)(1)–(2) directs the court of common pleas to grant relief when the disabling conviction has been vacated after appellate rights are exhausted or has received a full pardon from the Governor. A pardon application through the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons is a separate, typically lengthy process.
- The ten-year route and the revived federal process. Section 6105(d)(3) is not a general ten-year reset. For applicants and convictions covered by that paragraph, it requires both federal relief from an applicable conviction-based disability and ten years—excluding incarceration—since the applicant's most recent § 6105(b) offense, felony Pennsylvania controlled-substance offense, or offense producing a § 922(g)(9) prohibition. The statute permits the state court to waive the federal-relief condition when Congress has not appropriated enough money to process eligible federal applications.
- Mental-health commitments. Section 6105(f)(1) permits a court to grant appropriate relief from a § 6105(c)(4) disability if the applicant may possess a firearm without risk to the applicant or anyone else. DOJ identifies Pennsylvania as having an available state relief program and generally expects an eligible applicant to pursue it first. A qualifying state grant may itself remove the federal § 922(g)(4) disability; if it does not, FFRR may remain relevant.
- Juvenile adjudications. Section 6105(c)(8) provides that its specified delinquency prohibition ends 15 years after the last applicable adjudication or at age 30, whichever is earlier. Section 6105(c)(7) covers a narrower offense group and contains no comparable automatic expiration, although other statutory relief may be available. The exact subsection matters.
The 2026 sequencing issue is unresolved. While applications were unavailable because Congress barred ATF from spending appropriated funds on them, Pennsylvania courts could use § 6105(d)(3)'s express funding-based waiver. DOJ's 2026 rule says that ATF funding restriction remains, but the Attorney General is proceeding under authority vested in that office. The Pennsylvania text still names the Secretary of the Treasury, while federal § 925(c) authority is now exercised by the Attorney General; 1 Pa.C.S. § 1938 provides a successor-officer rule. As of August 29, 2026, no reported Pennsylvania appellate decision had resolved whether an Attorney General grant satisfies the state condition or how the new process affects the funding-based waiver.
The practical consequence is important but should not be overstated: for some applicants, federal relief first and a § 6105(d)(3) petition second may be a prudent strategy, not a statutory rule. Others may need a pardon, mental-health relief, record correction, or a different sequence. The governing record—not the label attached to the old case—should drive the plan.
How Madsen Law Offices can help
Madsen Law Offices handles firearm-rights matters across Northampton and Lehigh Counties, including record evaluation against the FFRR presumptions, Pennsylvania § 6105 analysis, pardon groundwork, PICS matters, and related record-clearing work. We can map the federal and Pennsylvania issues together and recommend a realistic order of operations.
Frequently asked questions
When can I actually file an FFRR application?
DOJ's staged calendar is September 25, 2026 for invited candidates; November 4 for the first 5,000 public applicants, first come and first served; and January 4, 2027 for 500 additional public applicants while the payment system is tested. DOJ has not announced the later public-at-large date.
I finished ARD. Does that disqualify me?
An open Pennsylvania ARD placement appears to fit DOJ's current-status category for a program that diverts or substitutes for conviction, but only an independent federal disability creates a need for FFRR. Completion ends that current-status presumption. It does not remove the underlying conduct from DOJ's review, and later conduct resolved through diversion may be treated as conviction-like for certain time-limited presumptions. ARD ordinarily is not a conviction, including DUI ARD, although DUI ARD may count as a prior offense under separate Pennsylvania DUI statutes.
I have a decades-old burglary or assault conviction. Is FFRR open to me?
A felony involving burglary, assault, or battery is within DOJ's permanent presumptive-disqualifier category regardless of age, although the rule permits extraordinary circumstances to overcome a presumption. A misdemeanor assault is not permanent merely because it carries the same label. The exact offense, grading, conduct, and available Pennsylvania pardon or other relief must be reviewed.
If FFRR restores my federal rights, can I buy a gun in Pennsylvania?
Not automatically. DOJ states that FFRR cannot remove a state firearm-rights prohibition. If 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105 or another Pennsylvania restriction applies, that disability must be resolved separately before Pennsylvania law permits possession or acquisition.
Does a Pennsylvania pardon or expungement fix the federal problem?
For a federal prohibition based on a qualifying conviction under § 922(g)(1), a pardon, expungement, set-aside, or qualifying restoration of civil rights can remove the conviction as a federal predicate, subject to 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20)'s firearms-restriction exception. Other federal prohibitions, including mental-health and certain domestic-violence disabilities, require separate analysis.
What does the application cost?
DOJ's current rollout page states that no application fee applies in the 2026 launch stages and that the application fee begins with the January 2027 stage. A waiver or reduction may be requested. Fingerprints, criminal-history reports, certified records, translations, and similar supporting materials may involve separate charges.
This guide is general information, not legal advice for a particular person or record, and it does not promise eligibility, restoration, or any outcome. A federal application or grant does not authorize possession while an independent federal, Pennsylvania, court-order, bail, probation, parole, or licensing restriction remains in force. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.