Justice Dept. Official Says She Was Fired for Not Letting Mel Gibson Have a Gun

Elizabeth Oyer, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, was fired on March 7, which Oyer believes is because she refused to recommend that Mel Gibson should get the right to purchase a gun back, per the New York Times. Gibson lost his gun rights in 2011 after being convicted for a domestic-violence misdemeanor. Oyer was one of multiple Justice Department officials fired that day, and an anonymous Justice Department official told the Times that Gibson’s case did not affect the choice to fire Oyer.

Two weeks ago, Oyer’s office was assigned the job of putting together a list of people who should have their right to purchase or own a handgun restored following various convictions that stripped them of that right. Her office produced a list of 95 people, she recalls in the Times report, which was then whittled down to nine, and at no point was Gibson on the memo. “They sent it back to me saying, ‘We would like you to add Mel Gibson to this memo,’” she tells the Times. Oyer did not wish to do so, she says, partially because Gibson’s conviction was for domestic violence and partially because she did not have enough information about his case. “Giving guns back to domestic abusers is a serious matter that, in my view, is not something that I could recommend lightly,” she says.

She recalls sending an email saying she could not recommend Gibson get his gun rights back, then receiving a phone call from a senior Justice Department official. “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,” she says. She remembers then telling a colleague, “I can’t believe this, but I really think Mel Gibson is going to be my downfall.” Oyer says she then drafted a memo stating that she did not have the information to recommend Gibson get his rights back and acknowledging that it was the attorney general’s decision. Hours later, she says, she was fired.

Gibson is working closely with President Trump as one of three “special envoys” to Hollywood, which Trump revealed on January 16, alongside Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone. And, yes, those are all actors who should stick to holding fake guns instead of real ones.

• [New York Times]

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