The Department submitted the proposed rule "regarding the exercise of the Attorney General's authority under 18 U.S.C. 925(c) to grant relief to individuals who are otherwise precluded from possessing firearms," to the Federal Register on Friday.

Federal law rescinds the firearms rights of convicted felons regardless of whether or not they were convicted of a violent crime. The law also empowers the attorney general to restore Second Amendment rights to individuals who are not "likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety."

No applications have been processed since 1992, when funding for that was blocked by House Democrats.

A July 18 press release from the Justice Department states that President Donald Trump directed the department to "address the ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens—all of them."

According to the press release, an official copy of the rule will be published on the Federal Register website the week of July 21.

"For too long, countless Americans with criminal histories have been permanently disenfranchised from exercising the right to keep and bear arms—a right every bit as constitutionally enshrined as the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right to free exercise of religion—irrespective of whether they actually pose a threat," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

A Second Amendment advocacy group praised the new rule.

"This proposed rule to grant relief to certain individuals convicted of non-violent crimes is long overdue," Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. "The Second Amendment Foundation has been fighting for decades in courts to restore rights to people that are no threat to society."

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, echoed those sentiments. He said his organization will continue to support the expansion and preservation of gun rights in America.