Kiriakou's gun rights appeal
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Kiriakou lost the right to carry a firearm on conviction of a felony, and is pursuing its restoration by two routes at once.

The position

He states the underlying view knowing it will cost him with his own audience, "What I'm going to say is probably going to be a little controversial. And if you want to hate on me in the comments, go ahead and hate on me", and does not soften it: "I've always considered myself to be a progressive, a leftist. But I feel very, very strongly about my right to carry a gun." The occasion was a shooting at a fast-food restaurant in Idaho, which he argues was contained because an armed bystander was present. His argument is from circumstance rather than principle: it would be "wonderful if there were no guns for anybody" and America could be "like, I don't know, Sweden or whatever", "But we're not like Sweden. That's not the reality," and what protects people from criminals, since the police cannot always do it, is "honest citizens with their own weapons."

The suit

On his second inauguration Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to begin restoring the gun rights of felons whose cases involved no violence, no drugs and no organised crime, a description Kiriakou applies to himself: "That's me." In April 2025 the department announced the order, promised a website with a form, and undertook that the ATF would investigate each application. "They have not updated that since the day that they posted that message." His response is litigation, justified with a phrase borrowed from an attorney who once opposed him: "I'm a litigious prick. And so, I'm going to file a suit against the Department of Justice to get my gun rights back."

The pardon

A presidential pardon would restore the rights directly, and he has applied for one, reporting "both broad and deep support" for it. He does not expect it to be enough: "I can't count on a pardon. The CIA doesn't want me to be pardoned institutionally."

See also

- John Kiriakou
- Mark Warner
