Latest news with #forcedresettrigger
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
ATF's pro-gun lawyer opposed Trump administration's latest move on guns
When Robert Leider became chief counsel at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in March, agency employees briefed him about a controversial device known as a 'forced reset trigger,' according to people familiar with the discussions. The device allows semiautomatic weapons to fire more rapidly, and ATF had classified them as machine guns, effectively making them illegal.
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Administration Abandons Fight to Ban Powerful Gun Accessory
The Trump administration has given up a legal fight to ban a device that makes semiautomatic weapons more powerful. The Justice Department said Friday that it had reached a settlement ending litigation filed by the Biden administration to block the sale of the device, called a forced-reset trigger. 'This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.' Forced-reset triggers allow gun owners to fire their semiautomatic weapons at great speed. Aided by the device, a shooter can fire hundreds of rounds in a minute with an extended squeeze, Biden administration officials had said. The accessory is similar to a bump stock, which President Trump banned during his first term after a gunman used one to massacre dozens of concertgoers in Las Vegas. Bump stocks, like forced-reset triggers, allow semiautomatic rifles to fire at speeds approaching those of machine guns. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the bump stock ban. But the Biden administration had sought to maintain a ban on forced-reset triggers. A federal judge in Texas struck down the forced-reset trigger ban, but the Biden administration appealed the case. The Justice Department said the new settlement included gun-safety provisions and would prevent the sale of forced-reset triggers in pistols. Still, gun safety advocates decried the settlement, saying that it would allow gun owners to transform their firearms into virtual machine guns, making life in America more dangerous. 'Machine guns have no place on our streets, and this move from the Trump administration will only lead to tragedy,' John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement.
Associated Press
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Justice Department deal ends a ban on an aftermarket trigger. Gun control advocates are alarmed
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will allow the sale of forced-reset triggers, which make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly, with the federal government ending a long-standing ban as part of a settlement that also requires it to return seized devices. The agreement announced Friday by the Justice Department resolves a series of cases over the aftermarket trigger that the government had previously argued qualify as machine guns under federal law. The settlement is a dramatic shift in Second Amendment policy under the Republican administration, which has signaled it may undo many of the regulations that the previous administration of Democratic President Joe Biden had fought to keep in place in an effort to curb gun violence. 'This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. Gun control advocates said the settlement would worsen gun violence. 'The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions,' said Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at GIFFORDS, a gun control group. There had been several legal battles over forced-reset triggers, which replace the typical trigger on an AR-15-style rifle. The government for years had argued they are essentially illegal machine gun conversion devices because constant finger pressure on the triggers will keep a rifle firing essentially like an automatic. The deal announced Friday was between the Justice Department and Rare Breed Triggers, which was previously represented by David Warrington, Trump's current White House counsel. Rare Breed Triggers argued that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was wrong in its classification and ignored demands to stop selling the triggers before being sued by the Biden administration. 'This victory is a landmark moment in the fight against unchecked government overreach,' Lawrence DeMonico, the group's president, said in a statement. 'The ATF and DOJ tried to silence and bury us not because we broke the law, but because I refused to bend to the will of a tyrannical administration.' Under the settlement, Rare Breed Triggers has agreed not to develop such devices to be used on handguns, according to the Justice Department. The settlement requires the ATF to return triggers that it had seized or that owners had voluntarily surrendered to the government.
