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A federal judge has ruled that John Hinckley Jr can be freed from all remaining restrictions next year if he continues to abide by current rules and proves to be mentally stable.

Hinckley, now 66, attempted to assassinate then-US president Ronald Reagan in March of 1981 as he exited a Washington hotel. Mr Reagan was wounded when a bullet ricocheted off his waiting limousine and lodged in his lung, a few inches from his heart.

He was released under a strict set of conditions in 2016 from a Washington psychiatric hospital where he had been held since the assassination attempt.

They included remaining within 80 kilometres of his mother's home in Virginia, and not traveling to any area where a current or former president, vice president or member of Congress is known to be.