Latest news with #RareBreedTriggers
The Herald Scotland
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump admin reverses Biden, allows device for semiautomatic rifles
"This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement, referring to the constitutional right to bear arms. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety." The deal was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at the gun control group Giffords, who said "the Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns." "Lives will be lost because of his actions," she said. In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives notified firearms licensees that it had determined some such devices constituted illegal machine guns under the National Firearms Act. The DOJ a year later filed a lawsuit in New York against a company that made and distributed such devices nationwide, Rare Breed Triggers, leading to a court ruling blocking it from continuing to sell them. In moving to prevent the sale of such devices, the Biden administration cited the frequency at which AR-15-style semiautomatic firearms have been used in mass shootings nationwide. While the New York case was pending, the National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit in Texas challenging the Biden-era ban, leading to a judge concluding the ban was unlawful as he barred its enforcement. The Trump administration's settlement resolved those lawsuits, which were on appeal, with an agreement to return all forced-reset triggers seized or surrendered to the government to their owners. The Trump administration agreed to not apply the machine gun ban to such devices so long as they are not designed for use with handguns. "This decision marks a new era of holding the DOJ and ATF accountable when they trample the rights of law-abiding gun owners," Dudley Brown, the National Association for Gun Rights' president, said in a statement. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leigh Jones and William Mallard)
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ permits sale of triggers that allow rifles to fire like machine guns
May 18 (UPI) -- The federal government will allow the sale of devices that enable standard rifles to operate like machine guns, a move that angered gun control groups. The Justice Department said Friday it reached a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers. This is in accordance with President Donald Trump's Feb. 17 executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights and the attorney general's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force announced on April 8. "This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety." There are two ways to speed the firing of bullets. Bump stocks use the recoil of the weapon to repeatedly bump the trigger, while trigger devices are aftermarket items that directly engage the trigger. During the first Trump administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned bump stocks, which mimic rapid trigger pulls to fire rapidly in a way similar to a machine gun. In 2017, the gunman in a mass shooting killed 58 people in Las Vegas while firing from his hotel room window using bump stocks. In 2022, ATF included specific trigger devices under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The ATF determined that the devices allow a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle to fire as fast as a military M-16 in automatic mode. In 2023, the Justice Department, as part of the Biden administration, brought a lawsuit in New York against Rare Breed Triggers. The National Association of Gun Rights filed a separate lawsuit in Texas challenging the ban and a judge there ruled the ban was unlawful. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote in Cargill v. Garland, ruled ATF exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a rule classifying a bump stock as a "machine gun." The Court's majority found that bump stocks do not meet the definition of a machine gun because they didn't allow for automatic fire with the single pull of a trigger. The next month, the Northern District of Texas applied the case to a device called a "forced-reset trigger" and concluded that they also cannot be classified as a "machine gun." DOJ is avoiding additional legal action against Rare Breed Triggers in appeals and related cases concerning the similar issue, Bondi said. The settlement with Rare Breed Triggers includes agreed-upon conditions that significantly advance public safety with respect to FRTs, including that Rare Breed will not develop or design them for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety. Rare Breed also agreed promote the safe and responsible use of its products. "The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we're free! Expect the website to be updated on Monday, May 19," the company posted on its website. The decision was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Giffords, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in 2011 while meeting with constituents in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. "The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," Gonzalez said. "This is an incredibly dangerous move that will enable shooters to inflict horrific damage. The only people who benefit from these being on the market are the people who will make money from selling them, everyone else will suffer the consequences." The national gun control advocacy group Brady United said in a press release that "highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously" and without a background check. "The Trump Administration's secret settlement with the gun lobby to permit the sale of Forced Reset Triggers will turn already deadly firearms into weapons of mass destruction," Kris Brown, president of Brady United, said in the release. "Machine guns are weapons of war that have absolutely no place in our communities. This dangerous backroom deal is not only an astonishing abuse of power, but undermines decades of sensible government gun safety policy and puts whole communities at immediate serious risk," he said. Brady previous was called the National Council to Control Handguns and founded in 1974 by Dr. Mark Borinsky, whose son was shot and killed in 1974. In 1981, White House Press Secretary Jim "the Bear" Brady suffered a bullet to the head, and the organization now bears his name.
UPI
18-05-2025
- Politics
- UPI
DOJ permits sale of triggers that allow rifles to fire like machine guns
1 of 3 | The U.S. Justice Department said it will allow the sale of devices, including by Rare Breed Firarms that enable standard guns to operate like machine guns. Photo courtesy Rare Breed Firearms/Instagram May 18 (UPI) -- The federal government will allow the sale of devices that enable standard rifles to operate like machine guns, a move that angered gun control groups. The Justice Department said Friday it reached a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers. This is in accordance with President Donald Trump's Feb. 17 executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights and the attorney general's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force announced on April 8. "This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety." There are two ways to speed the firing of bullets. Bump stocks use the recoil of the weapon to repeatedly bump the trigger, while trigger devices are aftermarket items that directly engage the trigger. During the first Trump administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned bump stocks, which mimic rapid trigger pulls to fire rapidly in a way similar to a machine gun. In 2017, the gunman in a mass shooting killed 58 people in Las Vegas while firing from his hotel room window using bump stocks. In 2022, ATF included specific trigger devices under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The ATF determined that the devices allow a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle to fire as fast as a military M-16 in automatic mode. In 2023, the Justice Department, as part of the Biden administration, brought a lawsuit in New York against Rare Breed Triggers. The National Association of Gun Rights filed a separate lawsuit in Texas challenging the ban and a judge there ruled the ban was unlawful. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote in Cargill v. Garland, ruled ATF exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a rule classifying a bump stock as a "machine gun." The Court's majority found that bump stocks do not meet the definition of a machine gun because they didn't allow for automatic fire with the single pull of a trigger. The next month, the Northern District of Texas applied the case to a device called a "forced-reset trigger" and concluded that they also cannot be classified as a "machine gun." DOJ is avoiding additional legal action against Rare Breed Triggers in appeals and related cases concerning the similar issue, Bondi said. The settlement with Rare Breed Triggers includes agreed-upon conditions that significantly advance public safety with respect to FRTs, including that Rare Breed will not develop or design them for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety. Rare Breed also agreed promote the safe and responsible use of its products. "The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we're free! Expect the website to be updated on Monday, May 19," the company posted on its website. The decision was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Giffords, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in 2011 while meeting with constituents in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. "The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," Gonzalez said. "This is an incredibly dangerous move that will enable shooters to inflict horrific damage. The only people who benefit from these being on the market are the people who will make money from selling them, everyone else will suffer the consequences." The national gun control advocacy group Brady United said in a press release that "highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously" and without a background check. "The Trump Administration's secret settlement with the gun lobby to permit the sale of Forced Reset Triggers will turn already deadly firearms into weapons of mass destruction," Kris Brown, president of Brady United, said in the release. "Machine guns are weapons of war that have absolutely no place in our communities. This dangerous backroom deal is not only an astonishing abuse of power, but undermines decades of sensible government gun safety policy and puts whole communities at immediate serious risk," he said. Brady previous was called the National Council to Control Handguns and founded in 1974 by Dr. Mark Borinsky, whose son was shot and killed in 1974. In 1981, White House Press Secretary Jim "the Bear" Brady suffered a bullet to the head, and the organization now bears his name.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Admin Reverses Biden Ban on Rapid-Fire Gun Modifications
The Justice Department has effectively legalized a controversial rifle accessory that dramatically increases firing rate after a making new deal with its manufacturer, Rare Breed Triggers. Known as a 'forced-reset trigger,' the aftermarket modification was previously classified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as an illegal machine-gun conversion device. The deal now allows sales, and will oblige the federal government to return previously seized or surrendered devices. Gun control advocates have said that the decision will worsen gun violence. 'The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns,' Vanessa Gonzalez of GIFFORDS, a leading gun-control group, told Reuters. 'Lives will be lost because of his actions.' Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the decision. 'This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,' she said in a statement. 'We are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.' The settlement marks a significant policy departure from the Biden era ATF, which had pursued an aggressive crackdown on forced-reset triggers by arguing they allow AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles to fire continuously with minimal trigger pulls—just like fully automatic weapons. The previous administration pointed to the frequency with which such weapons were used during mass shootings. Rare Breed Triggers, once represented by Trump's current White House counsel David Warrington, fought the classification for years after the Biden DOJ sued the company in New York. Its president, Lawrence DeMonico, hailed the outcome as a win against 'tyrannical' federal overreach. 'This victory is a landmark moment in the fight against unchecked government overreach,' DeMonico said. As part of the deal, the company agreed not to develop similar devices for handguns, the DOJ said. In 2024, there were 488 mass shootings across the U.S. according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines the term as involving four or more injured or dead. However, the same website has recorded a decline in mass shootings and gun violence this year.
USA Today
18-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump admin allows devices that help some weapons shoot as fast as machine guns
Trump admin allows devices that help some weapons shoot as fast as machine guns Show Caption Hide Caption ATF regulating 3D-printed machine gun conversion devices The ATF is concerned by the rise in 3D-printed "machinegun conversion devices" and has announced plans to limit them. President Donald Trump's administration agreed to permit the sale and possession of devices that let gun enthusiasts convert semiautomatic rifles into weapons that can shoot as fast as machine guns. The agreement came in a settlement announced by the Department of Justice resolving lawsuits brought under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, after his administration banned certain "forced-reset triggers." "This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement, referring to the constitutional right to bear arms. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety." The deal was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at the gun control group Giffords, who said "the Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns." "Lives will be lost because of his actions," she said. In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives notified firearms licensees that it had determined some such devices constituted illegal machine guns under the National Firearms Act. The DOJ a year later filed a lawsuit in New York against a company that made and distributed such devices nationwide, Rare Breed Triggers, leading to a court ruling blocking it from continuing to sell them. In moving to prevent the sale of such devices, the Biden administration cited the frequency at which AR-15-style semiautomatic firearms have been used in mass shootings nationwide. While the New York case was pending, the National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit in Texas challenging the Biden-era ban, leading to a judge concluding the ban was unlawful as he barred its enforcement. The Trump administration's settlement resolved those lawsuits, which were on appeal, with an agreement to return all forced-reset triggers seized or surrendered to the government to their owners. The Trump administration agreed to not apply the machine gun ban to such devices so long as they are not designed for use with handguns. "This decision marks a new era of holding the DOJ and ATF accountable when they trample the rights of law-abiding gun owners," Dudley Brown, the National Association for Gun Rights' president, said in a statement. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leigh Jones and William Mallard)
