A simple assault charge in Pennsylvania does not, by itself, bar you from owning a gun, and even a conviction leaves your Pennsylvania firearm rights intact unless the case involved a domestic partner. Simple assault is not on the state’s list of offenses that strip gun rights. The real risk sits in federal law: if the person you assaulted was a spouse, ex, co-parent, cohabitant, or dating partner, the conviction almost certainly counts as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” and triggers a lifetime federal firearms ban. The relationship, more than the charge itself, decides whether you keep your guns.
Why Pennsylvania Alone Does Not Disqualify You
Pennsylvania’s Uniform Firearms Act lists the specific convictions that cost a person the right to possess firearms. That list, in 18 Pa. C.S. § 6105(b), includes aggravated assault, murder, robbery, burglary, stalking, and dozens of other serious offenses. Simple assault is not on it.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 6105 – Persons Not to Possess, Use, Manufacture, Control, Sell or Transfer Firearms
The statute also lists conduct-based disqualifiers in subsection (c): fugitive status, involuntary mental health commitments, certain drug convictions, three or more DUIs within five years, and being subject to an active protection from abuse order. Simple assault doesn’t appear there either.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 6105 – Persons Not to Possess, Use, Manufacture, Control, Sell or Transfer Firearms
So a standalone simple assault conviction, with no domestic relationship and no PFA attached, leaves your Pennsylvania gun rights untouched. The grading of the offense (M1, M2, or M3) changes your sentencing exposure but doesn’t change the firearms analysis under state law.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 2701 – Simple Assault
The Federal Domestic Violence Ban Is Where People Lose Their Rights
Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), anyone convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” is prohibited from possessing any firearm or ammunition anywhere in the country.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922 – Unlawful Acts
Two things have to be true for the ban to apply. The offense must involve the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon — a bar Pennsylvania’s simple assault statute meets, because it requires bodily injury or physical menace. And the victim must have had a qualifying domestic relationship with you. Federal law defines those relationships as:
- A current or former spouse, including someone separated or divorced from you
- A person with whom you share a child
- A person you live with, or previously lived with, as a spouse, parent, or guardian
- A current or recent former dating partner
If the person named in your case fits any of those categories, the federal ban applies regardless of what Pennsylvania allows.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 921 – Definitions
The ban is not softened by a lenient sentence. Probation with no jail time still triggers it. The conviction and the relationship are what matter, and the prohibition lasts indefinitely unless the conviction is expunged, pardoned, or your civil rights are restored.
One Narrower Path Out for Dating Convictions
For convictions involving a dating partner specifically — not a spouse or co-parent — the ban lifts automatically five years after the later of your conviction date or the completion of your sentence, provided you have no more than one such conviction, you are not otherwise prohibited, and you have not been convicted of another offense involving physical force during that window.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 921 – Definitions
What a Pending Charge Means for Your Guns Right Now
A charge is not a conviction, and a pending simple assault case does not automatically disqualify you from possessing a firearm. The court process, though, can impose restrictions that act the same way.
A judge may set bail conditions prohibiting firearm possession while the case is pending. In cases with any domestic element, that condition is common. Violating it can lead to revocation of bail and pretrial detention.
A temporary protection from abuse order is the other common pressure point. If the alleged victim petitions for a temporary PFA and the court grants it, you have to surrender your firearms immediately, before any full hearing on the merits. A hearing on a final PFA typically follows within about ten days.
ARD Keeps a Conviction Off Your Record
Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition is a pretrial diversion program. If a county accepts you into ARD, you complete a period of supervision and any conditions the court imposes — community service, counseling, restitution — and on successful completion the charges are dismissed and the record is automatically expunged.
For firearm purposes, the point is that ARD is not a conviction. Without a conviction, the federal domestic violence ban does not attach, and there is no criminal record to disrupt future purchases. Eligibility turns on your criminal history, the facts of the offense, and the district attorney’s discretion, and the rules vary by county.
If gun rights are on the line in a pending case, pursuing ARD where it is available is often the single most consequential decision in the file. It avoids the conviction rather than trying to clean up after one.
Protection From Abuse Orders as a Separate Trigger
Even without any conviction, an active final PFA order independently costs you the right to possess firearms. Pennsylvania requires a person subject to a final PFA to turn in all firearms, ammunition, and firearm licenses to the sheriff or local law enforcement. Keeping a firearm in violation of the order is itself a second-degree misdemeanor.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 6105 – Persons Not to Possess, Use, Manufacture, Control, Sell or Transfer Firearms
Federal law adds its own layer. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), you cannot possess a firearm while subject to a court order restraining you from threatening or harassing an intimate partner or that partner’s child, so long as the order was issued after a hearing you had notice of and an opportunity to attend, and either contains a finding that you pose a credible threat or expressly prohibits the use of physical force.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922 – Unlawful Acts
PFA-based prohibitions are temporary. They end when the order expires or is vacated.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 6105 – Persons Not to Possess, Use, Manufacture, Control, Sell or Transfer Firearms A conviction for violating one by keeping guns is not temporary at all.
Getting Firearm Rights Back After a Domestic Simple Assault Conviction
If a domestic simple assault conviction has already stripped your federal firearm rights, three paths exist, and none of them is easy.
Expungement removes the conviction from federal consideration for firearms purposes. Pennsylvania allows expungement of a misdemeanor conviction in limited circumstances, most reliably once you turn 70 and have been free of arrest or prosecution for ten years. Earlier expungements are uncommon.
A governor’s pardon also removes the conviction for federal firearms purposes, as long as the pardon doesn’t itself prohibit firearm possession. The Pennsylvania Board of Pardons has to recommend the pardon to the governor, and the process usually runs a year or more.
Restoration of civil rights is the third route under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(B)(ii), but Pennsylvania lacks a clean procedure for restoring civil rights after a misdemeanor, which makes this path less practical than pardon or expungement.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 921 – Definitions
For a dating-partner conviction, the automatic five-year restoration described above is usually the most accessible option.