RESTORATION OF GUN RIGHTS

When you are convicted of a felony, you lose your civil rights, which include your right to vote, serve as a member on a jury, run for political office, and become a notary public. Another important right that you lose is your right to possess or transport firearms. If you have been convicted of a felony, and your firearms (gun) rights have not already been restored, then it is a felony (punishable by a mandatory minimum prison sentence) for you to knowingly and intentionally possess or transport the following:

• any firearm

• ammunition for a firearm

• any stun weapon

• any explosive material

• concealed weapons

I Got a Letter from the Governor Restoring My Civil Rights. Are My Gun Rights Restored?

If you have petitioned the Governor of Virginia and received notice that your civil rights have been restored, then you must complete another step before you are allowed to carry a firearm or other prohibited weapon. The restoration from the Governor restores your rights to vote, serve on a jury, run for office, and serve as a notary public.

However, if you want to have your gun rights restored, you must petition the proper court where the Judge can issue the order to restore your gun rights. If you reside in Dinwiddie County, then we may be able to help you with this process.

Where Do I Start?

Before you can petition the court to have your gun rights restored, your civil rights must be restored. If you have the letter from the Governor of Virginia, then we will need that for your file. If you are unsure about your civil rights restoration status or no longer have the letter, then go to the website of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to check and print your restoration status: https://cov-ror.azurewebsites.net/Search. If your civil rights have not been restored, you can go to https://www.restore.virginia.gov/ for more information about that process.

We will also need information about your criminal record. You can order your own Virginia criminal record at https://vsp.virginia.gov/services/criminal-background/. National background checks are done through the FBI (https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks). There are some types of convictions that bar you from being able to restore your gun rights, such as a domestic violence conviction. There are also factors about your conviction history, such as the type of conviction and time since the last conviction, which we must consider when deciding how to present your case.

Contact our office for a consultation and to get started on filing the petition. Once we file the petition, we will schedule a hearing date. During the hearing, we will present your case to the judge and after hearing arguments from both our side and that of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, then he will decide whether to restore your gun rights.