Eligibility

Federal law lists nine categories of people who may not possess a firearm, and most states add their own. The categories turn on legal technicalities that surprise people who assume a clean recent record settles it.

An extreme risk protection order is a civil court order that temporarily removes firearm access from someone a judge finds dangerous. It exists only in states that have passed one, and the procedure is state law throughout.

Firearm rights are restored by an act of a court or an executive, not by the passage of time. Which route is open depends on who convicted you and what your state's relief order says.