The § 925(c) Final Rule Is Here: What It Says, and What to Do Before September 21

By Dan Parker, Practice Leader · Bluegrass Gun Rights, a practice of Clark + Harris, PLLC · August 20, 2026

This morning the Department of Justice published the final rule reviving federal firearms rights restoration under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) — the remedy Congress defunded in 1992 and that has been dead in practice for thirty-four years. We have read it. Here is what Kentuckians need to know, in plain English.

The three facts that matter

1. Applications open September 21, 2026. The rule takes effect thirty days after publication, and DOJ says it will begin accepting applications that day. The online form (OMB No. 1123-0017) is being stood up now at the Department's program page.
2. The filing fee is $30 — up from the $20 in the proposed rule — with waivers and reductions available for those who can't afford it.
3. The paperwork requirements survived. Certified court records for every conviction, criminal-history reports from every state you've lived in, fingerprints (submitted electronically), three sworn character affidavits from people not related to you, your own sworn personal statement, and notice to your local chief law-enforcement officer. The form may be simple. The record behind it is not.

What changed from the proposed rule

The core structure held: presumptive denial — absent extraordinary circumstances — for violent crimes, felony firearms offenses, drug distribution within ten years, current sex-offender registrants, misdemeanor domestic violence within ten years, anyone within five years of completing a felony sentence, and anyone under supervision or another active prohibitor. The final rule added several categories: felony hate crimes, aggravated domestic-violence offenses, and recent alcohol-related offenses now also carry presumptions, and military-justice (UCMJ) convictions are expressly covered. If your history touches any of these, the honest answer is that your path is harder — not necessarily closed, but harder, and it turns on the record you can build.

Why this matters double in Kentucky

Kentucky's felon-in-possession statute, KRS 527.040, contains an express exception for people granted relief under the federal Gun Control Act. For most Kentuckians, one federal grant addresses both the federal and the state prohibition. A governor's pardon or a certificate of relief often does not do that. This program does.

Your 32-day plan

DOJ has projected roughly one million applications in the program's first year, and the Attorney General's office says about thirty million Americans carry a federal prohibition. The line will be long. What you control is whether your application is complete on day one:

• This week: order certified copies of the charging document, judgment, and sentencing order for every conviction — from the circuit court clerk in the county of conviction. Decades-old files are often archived; this is the slow step.
• This week: request your criminal-history report from Kentucky State Police and from every other state you've lived in.
• Next week: choose your three character references — people who are not family, have known you for years, and can speak to specifics. Start those conversations now.
• Next two weeks: get fingerprinted (electronic live-scan), and draft your sworn personal statement — honestly, carefully, and consistently with the record.
• September 21: file.

Our free Document Checklist covers every item with Kentucky-specific retrieval notes. If you'd rather have it done for you — and reviewed by a Kentucky attorney before it's sworn and filed — that's exactly what our flat-fee application packages are for.

Sources: Final rule, Fed. Reg. Doc. 2026-16981 (Aug. 20, 2026); DOJ Federal Firearm Rights Restoration program page; DOJ Office of Public Affairs release (Aug. 20, 2026). This article is general information, not legal advice.