Justice Dept. Official Says She Was Fired After Opposing Restoring Mel Gibsons Gun Rights

The Justice Department’s pardon attorney was dismissed a day after she refused to recommend that the actor Mel Gibson, a prominent supporter of President Trump’s, should have his gun rights restored, according to the attorney and others familiar with the situation.Elizabeth G.Oyer, the former pardon attorney, described the sequence of events as an alarming departure from longstanding practice, one that put public safety and the department’s integrity at risk.

Mr.Gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction.“This is dangerous.

This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,” Ms.Oyer said in an interview with The New York Times as she described the internal discussions about whether to give gun rights back to people with domestic violence convictions.Ms.

Oyer’s account of a series of Justice Department discussions about guns, domestic violence and star power was confirmed by two other people familiar with the events, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.She was one of a number of high-ranking Justice Department officials who were fired on Friday, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to remove or demote senior career lawyers who play critical roles in department decisions.She was not told why she was dismissed, but as events unfolded, she feared that they might lead to her firing.A Justice Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, said the disagreement over Mr.

Gibson played no role in the decision to dismiss the pardon attorney.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Su...