Washington sues federal government to block distribution of forced reset triggers
Jun. 9—Washington has joined 14 other states and the District of Columbia in challenging a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives plan to return seized "forced reset triggers," a device the Washington Attorney General's office says allows novice shooters to "achieve the firepower of a military machine gun."
"Communities are less safe with these mass-shooting devices in circulation," Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement Monday. "Essentially deregulating them is another example of (the Trump Administration) being driven by extreme ideology rather than commonsense."
The lawsuit follows a settlement by the Department of Justice, which announced in May it would resolve a case that challenged the ATF designation of the device as "machine guns."
"This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the settlement. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety."
The device allows an operator to fire their weapon in quicker succession by mechanically resetting the trigger after each shot. Washington law bans machine guns, as well as any "mechanism or instrument" that does not require the trigger to be pulled for each shot.
Federal law similarly bans the possession of machine guns.
According to the complaint, at least 100,000 of the devices have been sold throughout the country.
"A forced reset trigger uses a spring assist in shoving the trigger shoe back forward, resetting the trigger," said Jeremy Ball, owner of Sharpshooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop. "A forced reset trigger does not change the mechanical makeup of a gun; all it does is assist the shooter in resetting the trigger."
Ball added that while the device still requires the user to pull the trigger, it takes less effort and skill to fire the weapon more quickly.
Still, Ball said the device has limitations.
"Anytime we're talking about shooting a gun fast, the only thing that matters is whether you're able or not to hold that gun on a target," Ball said.
Forced Reset Triggers have been at the center of several legal battles in recent years amid an increase in machine gun fire incidents. In 2022, ATF determined that some of the devices would be classified as machine guns under the National Firearms Act, making them illegal to own.
According to the Washington Attorney General's office, ATF seized "thousands" of the devices following the designation. The Department of Justice then filed a lawsuit against Rare Breed Triggers, which produced and sold the devices online.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ATF had exceeded its authority by designating bump stocks, which allows a shooter to fire a gun more rapidly by using the weapon's recoil to bump the trigger, as a machine gun.
A federal judge in Texas cited that ruling, finding similarly that the agency could not designate forced reset triggers as a machine gun.
As part of the settlement with the Justice Department, Rare Breed cannot develop or design forced reset triggers for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement. Rare Breed also agrees to promote the safe and responsible use of its products.
In May, the U.S. Attorney General's Office noted the settlement is in alignment with President Donald Trump's "Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights" and the "Attorney General's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force."
The lawsuit brought by Washington alleges the settlement violates a federal prohibition on owning a machine gun and seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trump administration from distributing the seized devices.
According to the Washington Attorney General's Office, machine gun conversion devices allow firearms to shoot up to 20 bullets in one second.
Use of the devices has increased in recent years, with machine gun fire incidents up 1,400% from 2019 through 2021, according to ShotSpotter, Inc., which has placed acoustic sensors in about 130 U.S. cities.
Ball said while he doesn't "necessarily have a dog in the fight or care" about the disagreement regarding forced reset triggers, a rise in the usage of "Glock switches" is a reason for concern. The small, mostly 3-D-printed devices can be attached to the end of a firearm and transform a semi-automatic pistol into a fully-automatic weapon.
"That is a device that legitimately turns a firearm into a machine gun," Ball said.
In September, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts seized 350 internet domains that were used to illegally import the switches and silencers from China. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Chicago alone seized more than 1,500 of the devices, according to the agency.
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