By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Fifteen states have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for allowing the return and resumed sale of forced reset triggers (FRTs), which enable modern semiautomatic rifles to fire more rapidly.
However, the devices do not convert semiautomatic rifles to fire full auto, as alleged in a news release from Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, which alleges the Trump administration is planning to “distribute thousands of machinegun conversion devices to communities across the United States.”
In addition to Washington, states involved in the lawsuit are Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada, Rhode Island and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia. All have one thing in common: Democrat attorneys general.
According to the Associated Press, the Biden administration “had previously argued the triggers qualify as machine guns under federal law because constant finger pressure on the triggers will keep a rifle firing, essentially creating an illegal machine gun.”
But Rare Breed Triggers contended this was incorrect and legal action ensued. However, “The Justice Department reached a deal announced last month with Rare Breed Triggers to allow the sale of forced-reset triggers,” the AP reported.
Forced reset triggers are explained in this YouTube video, posted by Alyssa Seymour.
The Spokane Spokesman-Review is reporting the new lawsuit was filed because the DOJ, under Attorney General Pamela Bondi, announced it had resolved the case. An estimated 100,000 FRTs have been sold in the U.S.
The newspaper quotes Jeremy Ball, second generation owner of Sharpshooting Indoor Range in Spokane, who explained, “A forced reset trigger does not change the mechanical makeup of a gun; all it does is assist the shooter in resetting the trigger.”
But AG Brown’s news release disagrees.
“Communities are less safe with these mass-shooting devices in circulation,” Brown says in his news release. “Essentially deregulating them is another example of this administration being driven by extreme ideology rather than commonsense.”
The news release asserts, “In recent years, machinegun conversion devices like forced reset triggers, which dramatically increase a firearm’s rate of fire, have been frequently used in violent crimes and mass shootings, worsening the gun violence epidemic in the United States. Firearms equipped with machinegun conversion devices are able to exceed the rate of fire of many military machine guns, firing up to 20 bullets in one second. ATF has noted a significant rise in the use of these devices, leading to increasing incidents of machine-gun fire – up 1,400% from 2019 through 2021.”
However, the lawsuit inadvertently makes an admission about the effectiveness of current gun control laws when it states, on Page 4, “This epidemic of gun violence has been fueled in recent years by the growing use of machinegun conversion devices (MCDs), which are used to turn semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic machineguns that can unleash massive carnage in mere seconds. One such MCD— the forced reset trigger, or FRT—has become especially popular, including among individuals who are prohibited from possessing any firearms under federal law.” (Emphasis added.)
In its coverage of the controversial shift in firearm policy under the Trump administration, the New York Times describes it as “an expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment.” The newspaper says the Biden administration policy was an “effort to curb the spread of devices that turn semiautomatic rifles into makeshift machine guns.”
“During the Biden administration, the Justice Department fought an uphill battle to make progress toward banning the devices,” the NY Times said. “When Mr. Trump returned to the White House, the government was still in the process of fighting in court for the ban on forced-reset triggers.”
But when the agreement was announced in May, Bondi stated, “This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.”
Attorneys general in the Democrat-controlled states disagree, ergo the federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
