A Justice Department attorney was fired a day after she refused to recommend that Mel Gibson, a convicted domestic abuser and prominent supporter of Donald Trump, should have his gun rights restored, she told the New York Times.
Elizabeth G. Oyer, the former pardon attorney, said the action was an “alarming departure from longstanding practice,” the paper said, “one that put public safety and the department’s integrity at risk.” Gibson lost his gun rights after a 2011 misdemeanor domestic violence conviction.
The move has alarmed not just domestic- and gun-violence prevention advocates, but critics of the Trump administration who see naked political patronage at work. Federal law prohibits those convicted of crimes, including misdemeanor state domestic violence cases, from purchasing or owning a handgun.
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