A high-ranking Justice Department pardon attorney says she was fired just a day after she noted her lack of a recommendation for Mel Gibson‘s restoration of his gun rights. The official, Elizabeth G. Oyer, alleged she was explicitly told the reinstatement should come due to Gibson’s status as a newly appointed special ambassador to Hollywood, alongside colleagues Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.
“This is dangerous. This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,” Oyer told the New York Times in an interview.
The two-time Oscar winner lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction against a former girlfriend. He pleaded no contest as part of a deal to avoid jail time, receiving three years of informal probation, community service, a year of domestic violence counseling and $570 in fines. Later, he described the events as “terribly humiliating and painful for my family,” adding that he has “never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality.”
Per federal law, those convicted of crimes — including felonies and some domestic violence misdemeanors — are generally prohibited from purchasing or owning firearms.
A Justice Department official said the disagreement over Gibson played no role in the dismissal, per the Gray Lady.
Oyer said she was put on a working group to restore firearm access to individuals convicted of crimes, eventually generating a list of 95 individuals for consideration, which was then whittled down to nine. Then came the request to add Gibson to the ledger, along with a letter from his lawyer arguing for his gun rights to be reinstated as a result of his special appointment and success in the film industry.
“Giving guns back to domestic abusers is a serious matter that, in my view, is not something that I could recommend lightly, because there are real consequences that flow from people who have a history of domestic violence being in possession of firearms,” Oyer said of the matter. According to studies, recidivism in domestic abusers is “common.”
When Oyer told her superiors at the department that she could not recommend the restoration, she got a call from the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, she said: “He then essentially explained to me that Mel Gibson has a personal relationship with President Trump and that should be sufficient basis for me to make a recommendation and that I would be wise to make the recommendation.”
After telling a colleague “I can’t believe this, but I really think Mel Gibson is going to be my downfall,” Oyer was fired the following day.
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