RESTORING YOUR FIREARM RIGHTS IN OREGON

Take Back Your Second Amendment Rights

Restoring your Second Amendment Rights to own a firearm can be a difficult, complex process. Many states do not allow you to restore your firearm rights, or they do it so infrequently that it doesn’t really matter. Fortunately, that’s not Oregon! Oregon provides three different ways to restore your firearm rights, and they restore them often.

The preferred method of restoring your Second Amendment Rights in Oregon is to have a felony conviction set aside and then sealed. Setting aside your conviction typically restores your firearm rights, while also removing your criminal record from public view and most background checks. If you can’t set aside each of the convictions that are restricting your firearm rights, you may also be able to reduce a felony charge to a misdemeanor, or you may qualify to use Oregon’s firearm rights restoration process outlined in ORS 166.274.

Setting aside convictions is covered in detail on our Setting Aside Convictions in Oregon page, and felony reductions are discussed in detail on our Oregon Felony Reduction page, so we’re going to focus using Oregon’s other firearm rights restoration method here.

This Information Is For You

Since the majority of people reading this aren’t lawyers, we’ve tried to simplify the legal jargon on our website, so regular people may follow along and get the information needed to understand their rights. However, before we get started, we should be clear that some of this information can get complicated, and, in many cases, it’s best to seek the assistance of an experienced lawyer.

To help you understand your rights, our lawyers have developed a tool that can be helpful in figuring out your options. This tool can’t be perfectly accurate in every situation, but our lawyers have invested substantial time and resources working to make it as accurate as possible.

You can get started by using our Secure Eligibility Test, or you can give us a call at (844) 947-3732 to see if our legal staff is available for a free consultation. Be aware that our staff is often busy with current clients and a high volume of calls and appointments. If you’re serious about getting rid of your record, your best bet is to take our secure, confidential Eligibility Test and then schedule an appointment to discuss your results and options.

How Do You Restore Your Second Amendment Rights In Oregon

There are three ways to restore your firearm rights in Oregon, which include:

• Restore your Firearms by Setting Aside a Felony Conviction
• Restore your Firearms by Reducing a Felony Conviction
• Restore your Firearms rights through Oregon’s Firearm Rights Restoration Process under ORS 166.274.

• Setting Aside a Felony Conviction

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  Setting aside a felony conviction is typically the best way to restore your firearm rights, as it also seals your criminal record and helps in passing background checks. Unfortunately, not everyone qualifies to set their record aside. You can get more information about setting aside felony convictions on our Conviction Set Aside page.

• Reducing a Felony Conviction to a Misdemeanor

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  The next best option would be to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor, using Oregon’s felony reduction process under ORS 161.705. This method does not set aside and seal your felony charge, but it does reduce your felony to a misdemeanor. If that felony was the only reason, your firearm rights were restricted, this should restore your Second Amendment Rights. Since the passage of Senate Bill 420, you can reduce some marijuana-related Class A and B Felonies, but felony reduction is generally restricted to Class C Felonies. For more information on whether this is an option for you, please visit our Felony Reduction page.

• Restoring Your Firearm Rights

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  The rest of this page is going to focus on restoring your rights using the third method on the list above. Oregon law calls this process “Relief from prohibition against possessing or receiving firearm,” but we’re just going to call it Firearm Restoration to make things easier. This is the easiest method to qualify for, and if it is granted, it fully restores your Second Amendment Rights to own and possess a firearm.

• Do You Qualify to Restore Your Firearm Rights?

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  The basic requirements to restore your firearm rights using ORS 161.705 include:

  • You cannot currently be serving a felony sentence as defined in ORS 10.030, or served that type of sentence within the last year
  • You did not commit one of the person felonies listed below while using a firearm or deadly weapon as defined by ORS 161.015
  • You did not commit any of the violent crimes listed below which require a mandatory minimum sentence under ORS 137.700
  • You must currently reside in Oregon and
  • You can prove by clear and convincing evidence, that you do not pose a threat to the safety of the public or yourself.

  The first four requirements are pretty straightforward, but as you can see above, the last requirement is very subjective, and largely up to the judge’s discretion. Every county and judge are different, but our law firm has had good success in having our client’s firearm rights restored using this process.

• Your Rights Were Taken Away for One of These Crimes

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  An interesting requirement for restoring your firearm rights in Oregon is that you must have had your firearm rights taken away for either a felony conviction or a misdemeanor conviction involving violence. Because there are several options for firearm rights restoration in Oregon, it is important to consider which route is best for you. If you’re case is eligible for a conviction set aside or a felony reduction, that might be the best option. However, each case is different, and so an Oregon firearm rights petition may be a better option in some circumstances depending on your criminal records. For more information on that process, please visit our page on Setting Aside Oregon Convictions.

  Person Felony

  You will not qualify to restore your firearm rights under ORS 161.705 if you commit a “Person Felony” that involved the use of a firearm or a deadly weapon. These offenses include:

  • Burglary I as defined in Crime Categories 8 and 9
  • Robbery I, II, or III
  • Assault I, II, or III
  • Felony Domestic Assault
  • Arson I
  • Escape I
  • Supplying Contraband as defined in Crime Categories 6 and 7
  • Aggravated Murder, Murder, or Felony Murder
  • Manslaughter I or II
  • Negligent Homicide
  • Felony Strangulation
  • Criminal Mistreatment I
  • Female Genital Mutilation
  • Assaulting a Public Safety Officer
  • Use of Stun Gun, Tear Gas, Mace I
  • Kidnapping I or II
  • Trafficking in Persons
  • Coercion as defined in Crime Category 7
  • Rape I, II, or III
  • Sodomy I, II, or III
  • Sexual Penetration I or II
  • Sexual Abuse I or II
  • Felony Public Indecency
  • Unlawful Contact with a Child
  • Custodial Sexual Misconduct in the First Degree
  • Incest
  • Abandon Child
  • Buying/Selling Custody of a Minor
  • Child Neglect I
  • Child in Display of Sexual Conduct
  • Encouraging Child Sex Abuse I or II
  • Possession of Material Depicting Sexually Explicit Conduct of Child I or II
  • Stalking or Violation of Court's Stalking Order
  • Theft by Extortion as defined inCrime Category 7
  • Tree Spiking (Injury)
  • Aggravated Harassment
  • Abuse of Corpse I
  • Intimidation I
  • Use of a Weapon
  • Inmate In Possession of Weapon
  • Felony Possession of a Hoax Destructive Device
  • Unlawful Possession of Soft Body Armor as defined in Crime Category 6
  • Promoting Prostitution
  • Compelling Prostitution
  • Felony Animal Abuse I
  • Aggravated Animal Abuse I
  • Environmental Endangerment
  • Causing Another to Ingest a Controlled Substance as defined in Crime Categories 8 and 9
  • Unlawful Administration of a Controlled Substance as defined in Crime Categories 5, 8, 9
  • Maintaining Dangerous Dog
  • Hit and Run Vehicle (Injury)
  • Felony Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants
  • Hit and Run Boat
  • Purchase or Sale of a Body Part for Transplantation or Therapy
  • Alteration of a Document of Gift
  • Subjecting Another Person to Involuntary Servitude I, II
  • Aggravated Vehicular Homicide
  • Luring a Minor; Online Sexual Corruption of a Child I and II
  • Aggravated Driving While Suspended or Revoked
  • Manufacturing or Delivering a Schedule IV Controlled Substance Thereby Causing Death to a Person
  • Purchasing Sex with a Minor and
  • Attempts or solicitations to commit any Class A or Class B person felonies as defined herein.
  • Murder and Attempted Murder
  • Attempted Aggravated Murder
  • Assault I and II
  • Manslaughter I and II
  • Kidnapping I and II
  • Rape I and II
  • Sodomy I and II
  • Sexual Penetration I and II
  • Robbery I and II
  • Sexual Abuse I
  • Arson I
  • Compelling Prostitution
  • Use of Child in Display of Sex Act

• Federal Firearm Laws

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  The federal Gun Control Act contains an exception whereby a person whose civil rights have been fully restored, without any firearm restrictions, meets the federal exception. In other words, if the State of Oregon restores your firearm rights and other civil rights, your federal firearm rights should effectively be restored as well. Most states automatically restore other civil rights such as the right to vote, serve on a jury, or hold public office, upon completion of sentence.

  The Gun Control Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), makes it unlawful for certain categories of persons to ship, transport, receive, or possess firearms or ammunition, to include any person:

  • who is a fugitive from justice
  • who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act, codified at 21 U.S.C. § 802)
  • who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution
  • who is an illegal alien
  • who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions
  • who has renounced his or her United States citizenship
  • who is subject to a court order restraining the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of the intimate partner.
  • who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

  The Gun Control Act also prohibits anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from owning or purchasing a firearm. For your rights to be restored, Oregon must first take away your rights for this type of conviction (or any other), in order to have the ability to restore them. These scenarios can be complicated, especially for those that live in another state but have an Oregon criminal record. However, courts have uniformly looked to the law of the State where the conviction occurred to see whether the persons civil rights have been fully restored. For more information on these topics, it’s best to consult the advice of experienced professionals.

Legal Effect of Restoring Your Firearm Rights

If your petition for relief under ORS 166.274 is granted, your firearm rights should be restored under both Oregon and Federal law. There are many different ways to have your firearm rights restricted under federal or Oregon law, and it is very important to understand why your rights were taken away before beginning this process. It should be noted that you can almost never restore firearm rights based on federal convictions.

Restoring firearm rights involves both state and federal law that should be handled by an experienced lawyer. The lawyers in our firm regularly handle complex firearm rights restoration issues, so a good first step in exploring whether you can restore your firearm rights would be to take our Secure Eligibility Test, and then if appropriate, setting up a time to speak with our legal staff about how to proceed.

What You Need to Do to Get Rid of Your Record

If you are tired of having a criminal record hold you back, reach out to us by taking our Secure Eligibility Test or by giving us a call at (844) 947-3732. Our law firm has helped thousands of people with criminal records move on in life, leaving many of the negative effects of a criminal record behind. Our experienced attorneys and legal staff are here to help you figure out what criminal record clearing services best fit your needs, and then help you accomplish your goals. Using our secure, confidential Eligibility Test is the best way to get the process started.

We Are Here to Help

Each of Oregon's methods for dealing with your criminal record have different requirements and are meant for different circumstances. To move forward, it’s important to determine what Oregon criminal record services are available to you, and then select the services that will provide the greatest benefit. Eastman Meyler, PC is here to help you navigate this very specific area of Oregon criminal law, fight to protect your rights, and assist you in moving forward in life without the effects of a Oregon criminal record.

You can trust that you will get exceptional service from our law firm, as we have an A Rating from the Better Business Bureau, and prestigious attorney rating services such as Thompson Reuters and Avvo list our attorneys as Super Lawyers and Superb Attorneys. Our law firm has attorneys licensed to practice law in all Oregon state courts, provides low price guarantees, and is here to fight for you and put your criminal record behind you!