Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Probably, a petition filed in the local circuit court for an expungement of the record of the misdemeanor conviction(assuming this is his only criminal conviction).

Problem #1: You cannot expunge a conviction in Virginia. Expungements are only available for people who were factually not guilty - so either they won at trial and had the charge dismissed, or it was not prosecuted at all (nolle prosequi).

There is such thing as a petition for restoration of civil rights which allows the governor to restore state firearms privileges to convicted felons, but that brings us to ...

Problem #2: The Federal Domestic Violence Gun Ban. Possession of firearms by persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence is a violation of federal law, not state. So even if the governor of Virginia says it's OK, the federal government will not. The only way around this prohibition is if the conviction is set aside or pardoned. Neither is likely.

One possible loophole: Did your friend have an attorney? If not, and there was not a valid waiver of the right to counsel, the federal ban would not apply.