A White House spokesman on Monday said the Obama administration has no position on restoring gun ownership rights to former felons, even though it has been pushing for the reintegration of people who have served time back into society, including by restoring their voting rights.
“I’m not aware of a position that we’ve taken on this question relating to firearms,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said after emphasizing the administration’s support for allowing former convicts to vote.
“It is the policy of the administration that we strongly support that those who have paid their debt to society be given access to their constitutional rights again,” Earnest said.
Last week, President Obama commuted the sentences of 58 non-violent drug offenders as part of his push to overhaul the nation’s criminal justice system.
Earnest said the White House has a rigorous system for determining commutations and pardons and isn’t avoiding out-right pardons because of concerns over all the rights restorations they entail.
Requests are decided case-by-case so “it’s hard to make grand pronouncements” of the use of clemency granting versus pardons, Earnest said. However, the administration has put a better review system into place that will make it easier for his successors to consider requests.
