The Justice Department (DOJ) is declining to automatically bar convicted domestic abusers from a new federal program that restores gun rights. Elizabeth Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney who once served as the government’s top clemency lawyer, filed a complaint saying that a senior official insisted Mel Gibson had to be granted relief.
Elizabeth Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney, made the complaint to the Justice Department inspector general about Associate Deputy Attorney General Paul Perkins. “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 says.
Perkins denied the allegation, calling it “categorically false.” No such conversation ever took place, he said: he never told Oyer that a carve-out for domestic violence offenders was impossible because Gibson had to receive relief.
Oyer says she pushed for a blanket exclusion barring people with domestic violence convictions from winning back firearms access while the restoration program, which is for Americans legally prohibited from owning guns, was still being designed. She alleges she was overruled because of ties between Mel Gibson, the 70-year-old “Lethal Weapon” star, and President Donald Trump.
What the Complaint Alleges
Eligibility for reinstatement among people with domestic violence convictions came up as an open question, according to Oyer, when the project was first taking shape in February 2025. Her own proposal was to cut them out altogether; if that failed, she suggested the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women be consulted about the dangers involved. The complaint states the reason given was Gibson’s personal relationship with the president.
The department opened the first stage of the program without the catch-all exclusion Oyer says she urged. Final rules issued by Attorney General Todd Blanche have now taken effect: people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence can still apply, and the department says it will generally refuse to restore their rights for 10 years absent extraordinary circumstances. The first stage is now open, and the people Oyer wanted excluded can file applications.
Gibson figured in the government’s deliberations from the program’s earliest days, the complaint indicates — long before reports surfaced that the Justice Department had restored his rights.
How Gibson Landed on the List
A no contest plea in 2011 to misdemeanor spousal battery involving his former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, cost Gibson his federal firearms rights. He had the conviction vacated in 2014 after completing the terms of his sentence. Pam Bondi, then attorney general, gave the actor his gun rights back in 2025. Trump, 80, had in January 2025 named Gibson an “ambassador” to Hollywood alongside fellow actors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.
Oyer and her staff identified 95 people already extensively vetted through the presidential pardon process as possible candidates for firearms restoration. Department leadership then trimmed that pool 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 invoked the actor’s ties to Trump as well as the famous movies he had made over his career, Oyer says.
She alleges that her refusal to recommend him prompted a phone call from Perkins, who asked whether her position was flexible and conveyed that she would be wise to make the recommendation. A memo she filed the following morning included information about Gibson but stopped short of recommending him. Hours later, Blanche fired her.
The Lawsuit Against Blanche
The Democracy Forward Foundation filed a lawsuit on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming Blanche and the Justice Department as defendants. The suit alleges violations of Oyer’s due process and First Amendment rights, the appointments clause, the Administrative Procedure Act and the due process protections of the Civil Service Reform Act.
The complaint states: “Shortly after President [Donald] Trump took office, Ms. Oyer was asked to disregard her duties and facilitate a political favor for the actor Mel Gibson, based on Mr. Gibson’s relationship with President Trump. Ms. Oyer was asked to make it seem like an independent review had concluded that Mr. Gibson, who was convicted of a domestic violence offense, should have his gun rights restored.”
Oyer served as pardon attorney from April 2022 to March 2025. Accounts of her firing differ: some reports place it in March 2025, while others say she maintains she was fired in May for refusing to return Gibson’s gun. In July 2026, she testified to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee urging that Blanche’s nomination as attorney general not be confirmed.
Any connection between Gibson and the dismissal has been denied by Blanche, who told senators at his confirmation hearing that he knew nothing about the Gibson matter when he removed her. Oyer’s lawsuit over her firing is still moving through the courts.
Advocates Warn of Deadly Risk
Campaigners who work on domestic violence say lives will be lost because of the policy. Tonia Moultry-Pace, interim president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), put the figure starkly: a male abuser with access to a firearm is 1,000 percent more likely to shoot and kill a female partner.
“Removing guns from convicted domestic violence offenders is a lifesaving protection,” Moultry-Pace said. She warned that stripping away that safeguard shows disregard for survivors and will put thousands of victims in grave danger.