Mel Gibson to Have His Gun Rights Restored by Justice Department
The Justice Department has approved Mel Gibson's rights to own guns again after a 2011 domestic violence conviction.
Attorney General Pam Bondi approved the restoration of the actor's gun rights, along with nine other people, the New York Times reported.
More from Variety
Mel Gibson's 'Passion of the Christ' Sequel to Start Shooting This Summer at Rome's Cinecittà Studios
John Oliver: It's 'Frankly Incredible' Justice Department Lawyer Was Fired Because 'She Didn't Think Mel Gibson, Best Known for His Work in Screaming, Should Have Guns'
Justice Department Attorney Says She Was Fired After Balking at Effort to Restore Mel Gibson's Gun Rights
Gibson, who in January was named a 'special ambassador' to Hollywood by President Trump along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, would be permitted to own firearms again depending on state laws. Gibson is a resident of Nevada, which prohibits felons owning guns, but Gibson's conviction was a misdemeanor.
The debate over Gibson's gun rights caused considerable upheaval in the Justice Department, and the department's pardon attorney Elizabeth G. Oyer was fired by the Trump administration in March after expressing concern over letting the 'Passion of the Christ' director be able to possess firearms.
'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,' she said at the time.
A senior Justice Department official denied that her firing was related to the debate over Gibson's gun rights, the NYTimes reported.
New regulations were recently published by the Justice Department that restore gun rights to certain people with criminal convictions as long as they have 'earned the chance' to own guns again.
Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of battering a former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation as well as community service and counseling.
Variety has reached out to Gibson's representatives for comment.
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025
The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Elon is going to get decimated:' How Trump's feud with the world's richest man might end
WASHINGTON — If history is any guide, and there is a lot of history, the explosive new falling out between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk is not going to end well for the former White House advisor and world's richest man. The political battlefield is littered with the scorched remains of some of Trump's previous allies who picked a fight with him or were on the receiving end of one. Lawyer Michael Cohen. Political advisor Steve Bannon. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. John Bolton, John Kelly and Chris Christie, to name just a few. 'If what happened to me is any indication of how they handle these matters, then Elon is going to get decimated,' said Cohen, the former long-term Trump lawyer and fixer who once said he'd 'take a bullet' for his boss. Musk, he said, "just doesn't understand how to fight this type of political guerilla warfare." 'They're going to take his money, they're going to shutter his businesses and they're going to either incarcerate or deport him,' Cohen said of what he thinks Musk will suffer at the hands of Trump and his administration. 'He's probably got the White House working overtime already, as we speak, figuring out how to close his whole damn thing down.' Cohen had perhaps the most spectacular blow up, until now, with Trump. He served time in prison after Trump threw him under the bus by denying any knowledge of pre-election payments Cohen made to a porn actress to keep her alleged tryst with Trump quiet before the 2016 election. More: President Trump threatens Elon Musk's billions in government contracts as alliance craters Cohen felt so betrayed by Trump that he titled his memoir 'Disloyal,' but the Trump administration tried to block its publication. Cohen ultimately fought back, becoming a star witness for the government in the state 'hush money' case and helped get Trump convicted by a Manhattan jury. Some suffered similar legal attacks and other slings and arrows, including Trump taunts and his trademark nasty nicknames. Trump vilified others, casting them into the political wilderness with his MAGA base. When Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump savaged him, calling his appointment a 'mistake' and lobbing other epithets. Sessions resigned under pressure in 2018. When he tried to resurrect his political career by running for his old Senate seat in Alabama, Trump endorsed his opponent, who won the GOP primary. After firing Tillerson, Trump called the former ExxonMobil chief lazy and 'dumb as a rock.' Trump still taunts Christie, an early supporter and 2016 transition chief, especially about his weight. Trump also had a falling out with Bannon, who was instrumental in delivering his presidential victory in 2016 and then joined the White House as special advisor. 'Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency,' Trump said in 2018, a year after Bannon's ouster from the White House. 'When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.' Trump's Justice Department even indicted Bannon in 2020 for fraud, though the President pardoned him before leaving office. One of Trump's biggest feuds was with Bolton, whom he fired as his national security advisor in 2019. Trump used every means possible to prevent his book, 'The Room Where it Happened,' from being published, Bolton told USA TODAY on Thursday. That included having the U.S. government sue his publisher on the false premise that Bolton violated a nondisclosure agreement and was leaking classified information, Bolton said. Bolton said Musk is unlike most others who have crossed swords with Trump in that he has unlimited amounts of money and control of a powerful social media platform in X to help shape the narrative. Musk also has billions in government contracts that even a vindictive Trump will have a hard time killing, as he threatened to do on Thursday, without significant legal challenges. Even so, Bolton said, "It's going to end up like most mud fights do, with both of them worse off. The question is how much worse the country is going to be off." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why the Trump-Musk feud might not end well for the world's richest man
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Feds bust South Florida ring that collected $34 million in US loans during pandemic
At the peak of the pandemic, a ring of South Floridians jumped on the federal relief bandwagon and applied for more than $34 million in loans from the Small Business Administration to help them survive the public health crisis. Now, six ring members have been indicted on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges after the SBA guaranteed more than 90 of their bank-approved business loans between 2020 and 2021, federal prosecutors said Thursday. A grand jury indictment has charged the six defendants — Elaine A. Escoe, 40; Alfred L. Davis, 51; Gino J. Jourdan, 37; Cher L. Davis, 53; Latoya T. Clark, 39; and James G. McGhow, 69, — with scheming to obtain federal COVID-19 relief funds for their companies in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The indictment says their loan applications contained falsified employee numbers, payroll expenses and business revenues, along with fabricated tax documents and bank statements. As a result, the SBA authorized disbursements of about $29 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and millions in other federal relief funds that the defendants allegedly spent on themselves, according to prosecutor Jonathan Bailyn. If convicted, the defendants face several years in prison. Since the pandemic, federal prosecutors have brought fraud charges against more than 3,200 defendants nationwide — including over 250 in South Florida, the worst-hit region — for stealing over $1.7 billion from the approved pandemic loan programs, according to the Justice Department. Congress approved the emergency programs, with about $800 billion in loans, to help struggling businesses meet payroll and other expenses. Among the loan-fraud suspects that popped up on South Florida's radar was Andre Lorquet, whose case led federal investigators to the probe of the six recently charged ring members. Before the pandemic, Lorquet opened a business, Miami ENT, and after COVID-19 swept the nation in March 2020, he used the company to amass a small fortune by obtaining PPP and other federal loans totaling $4.4 million. He spent more than $600,000 on two Teslas, a Lamborghini Urus and a Porsche Panamera GTS, according to Homeland Security Investigations. At his sentencing last year, Bailyn, the prosecutor, described Lorquet as a greedy criminal who fleeced his country at one of its weakest moments in history. Lorquet was sentenced to six years. 'We were in the middle of a pandemic and a national crisis,' Bailyn said. 'There were many people who saw this as an opportunity for charity; this defendant saw it as an opportunity for exploitation and opportunism.'
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Wordle hint today: Clues for June 6 2025 NYT puzzle #1448
Wordle hint today: Clues for June 6 2025 NYT puzzle #1448 WARNING: THERE ARE WORDLE SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT THE JUNE 6, 2025 WORDLE ANSWER SPOILED FOR YOU. Ready? OK. We've seen some hard Wordle words over the years and if you're here, you're probably struggling with today's and are looking for some help. So let's run down a few clues with today's Wordle that could help you solve it: 1. It has two vowels. 2. It starts with one. 3. It's associated with improvement. And the answer to today's Wordle is below this photo: It's ... EDIFY. While you're here, some more Wordle advice: How do I play Wordle? Go to this link from the New York Times and start guessing words. What are the best Wordle starting words? That's a topic we've covered a bunch here. According to the Times' WordleBot, the best starting word is: CRANE. Others that I've seen include ADIEU, STARE and ROAST. Play more word games Looking for more word games?
