Gun rights advocates challenged the 2022 ATF rule, which casts several rapid launch trigger devices as machine gun parts.
The Department of Justice has agreed to resolve a lawsuit challenging the classification of several rapid fire trigger devices known as forced reset triggers as machine gun parts.
On May 16, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department agreed to suspend a legal battle with rare breed triggers, a company that produces some of these forced reset trigger products.
“The Justice Department believes that the second amendment is not a second-rate right,” Bondy said at a press conference Friday. “And we are delighted to end an unnecessary litigation cycle with a settlement that will increase public safety.”
Existing federal law defines machine guns as “it is designed to shoot, or can be easily restored to shoot, or can be easily restored to shoot, without manual reloading, by a single function of triggers.” Machine guns are strictly regulated, and those convicted of owning an unregistered machine gun could face up to 10 years in prison sentences.
Forced Reset Trigger is one of several firearm products that have emerged in recent years and is designed to create a rapid fire effect without users meeting the legal definition of machine guns.
A common civilian legal semi-automatic trigger allows the user to push down the trigger and fire a single shot. The user then releases the trigger so that it can mechanically reset to its rude position, and then the user can push the trigger down again for subsequent shots. A forced reset trigger is designed so when you get depressed, the user returns to their underdeveloped position without releasing, and the user is again suppressed faster for subsequent shots.
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Second, the triggers of rare breeds and various aid gun rights advocates challenged the classification, claiming that the bureau’s classification decision was flawed. These challenges have progressed through several separate federal courts.
The Justice Department said the settlement decision would resolve the case before the Second and Fifth Circuits and before Utah’s U.S. District Court.
Announcement of the settlement decision, the Department of Justice took note of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cargill v. Garland. This case relates to other rapid fire firearm devices known as bump stocks, and by aiding users with a technology known as bump fire, it can utilize firearm recoil to fire faster.
The Supreme Court majority agreed with plaintiffs who challenged the ATF rules that treat bump stocks as machine guns. Writing the majority opinion in the bump stock case, Judge Clarence Thomas concluded, “Bump stock simply reduces the time that elapses between the individual ‘functions’ of triggers.”
Gun rights advocates cite the Supreme Court decision in Cargill v. Garland seeking a similar ruling protecting the forced set trigger.
By settlement, the Department of Justice agreed to return the seized forced reset trigger products. Similarly, the Department of Justice has agreed that the rare breed of triggers will not develop forced reset trigger products for the pistols and that “patents will be enforced to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.”
Lawrence Demonico, president of Rare Breed Triggers, celebrated the settlement decision in a video statement Friday. Demonico also pledged to resume production of forced re-set trigger products that his company had suspended during a legal battle.
Demonico has confirmed the Justice Department’s decision to settle the administration from Biden to Trump.
“Their commitment to refocusing justice and fixing the weaponization of the DOJ under the Biden administration has finally been able to secure a deal that will end this fight,” he said.
“The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns, and his actions will kill his life,” said Vanessa Gonzalez, Vice President of Government and Political Affairs at Giffords. “This is a very dangerous move that allows the shooter to do some horrible damage.”
