Latest news with #FRTs
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA joins 15 states suing over deregulation of rapid-fire gun devices
This story was originally published on Washington is joining a multi-state lawsuit targeting a specific type of gun trigger. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced on Monday that he's joining 15 other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) over their plans to allow the sale of forced reset triggers. 'Communities are less safe with these mass-shooting devices in circulation,' Brown said in a statement. 'Essentially deregulating them is another example of this administration being driven by extreme ideology rather than commonsense.' Forced reset triggers are devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to be fired more rapidly. The suit says returning the devices to market violates federal law, arguing they turn regular guns into machine guns. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently settled with the maker of the triggers, Rare Breed Triggers, resolving previous lawsuits brought by the Biden Administration. The agreement states Rare Breed Tiggers 'will not develop or design FRTs for use in any handgun.' It also requires the ATF to return the triggers 'that it has seized or taken as a result of a voluntary surrender.' 'This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd 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.' The federal lawsuit announced on Monday was filed in the state of Maryland. Attorney General Brown is joining New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Read more of Aaron Granillo's stories here.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
States sue to block Trump administration plan to distribute machine-gun conversion devices
Caso's Gun-A-Rama in Jersey City, New Jersey, has been open since 1967. (Photo by Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Monitor) Attorneys general in 16 jurisdictions sued Monday to block a Trump administration plan to redistribute thousands of devices that convert guns to machine guns, including distribution in states where such devices are banned by state law. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, said the plan would not only expose residents of those states to greater amounts of deadly violence, but it would be contrary to federal law that calls for the seizure of machine-gun conversion devices. And it would cause federal officials to 'aid and abet violations of state law' by distributing the devices in states where they are outlawed, the suit said. The decision to return almost 12,000 forced reset triggers — which allow shooters to fire hundreds of rounds a minute with one pull of the trigger — was announced in a settlement last month between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and gun manufacturers and gun-rights groups. 'These devices enable firearms to fire up to 900 bullets per minute. The increased rate of fire allows carnage and chaos to reign on the streets,' said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown in a virtual press briefing Monday with fellow Democrats, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. 'Everyone nearby becomes vulnerable to serious injury or death. These are battlefield weapons that have no place in our communities,' Brown said. Under the Biden administration, ATF classified forced reset triggers as 'prohibited machine guns under federal law … and conducted extensive retrieval operations, seizing nearly 12,000 FRTs from the field,' according to the lawsuit. But the new administration reversed course after a Feb. 7 executive order from President Donald Trump on 'Protecting Second Amendment Rights.' On May 16, the Justice Department announced a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers, a manufacturer of the devices based in Wichita City, Texas. Under the deal, the company agreed not to develop or design such triggers for handguns, to promote safe and responsible use of its products, and to enforce its patents to 'prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.' In exchange, the government agreed not to enforce any policy where an FRT is 'contended to be' a machine gun, and to return by Sept. 30 any reset triggers seized or 'taken as a result of a voluntary surrender.' 'We won,' Lawrence DeMonico, president of Rare Breed Triggers, said in a video posted online the day settlement was announced. 'With the Trump administration's renewed focused on justice and their commitment to correcting the weaponization of the DOJ under the Biden administration, we were finally able to secure a deal that brought this fight to a close.' Representatives with Rare Breed Triggers and the Justice Department did not respond to email requests for comment Monday. The National Association of Gun Rights, which was also a party to the settlement, said it a statement that the deal will survive any challenge from the 'anti-gun attorneys general.' 'A federal court already ruled the government unlawfully seized thousands of legal triggers from law-abiding Americans — a decision that the ATF now acknowledges and accepts,' said Hannah Hill, vice president for the association. 'These states lack standing to file this lawsuit, and they know it. This suit is just reckless political lawfare.' But the states' lawsuit highlights the impact of gun violence in their jurisdictions, where it said there were nearly 47,000 gun-related deaths in 2023. Illinois had the most such deaths that year, at 1,691. Of the states represented at Mondays briefing, Maryland recorded 737 gun-related deaths in 2023, New Jersey had 430 and Delaware had 124, according to the suit. The suit also spells out the financial burden that comes with gun violence, for medical bills, police, court and prison costs. It said one fatal shooting in Baltimore can cost $2.4 million and a nonfatal shooting costs $1.5 million. In Newark, New Jersey, the cost is nearly $2.2 million for a fatal shooting and $1 million for a nonfatal shooting. 'This is not a partisan issue. It is a public safety issue,' Delaware's Jennings said. 'The Trump administration's deal to redistribute these deadly devices violates the law, full stop. It undermines public safety and ties the hand of law enforcement.' Platkin recalled the shooting death in March 2022, just two months after he took office, of SeQuoya Bacon-Jones, who was a bystander to a shooting when she was struck and killed. Platkin said SeQuoya would have celebrated her 13th birthday last Saturday. 'She had dreamed of becoming a law enforcement officer, but instead she was killed by a single stray bullet while she was playing hide-and-seek in the courtyard of her apartment complex,' Platkin said. 'I wish the Trump administration … would put little kids like Sequoya's interests ahead of the gun lobby's. But since they don't seem to care, we're going to make them care.' Besides Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, other jurisdictions on the suit are the District of Columbia and the states of Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. All but Maine and Vermont currently have state laws prohibiting forced reset triggers or guns modified with them. This story was originally published by Maryland Matters. Like Maine Morning Star, Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@ SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
16 states sue to block Trump administration plan to distribute machine-gun conversion devices
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) at a July 2024 news conference. Brown on Monday joined 15 other attorneys general suing the Trump administration over its plan to distribute thousands of machine-gun conversion devices. (Photo by Elijah Pittman/Maryland Matters) Attorneys general in 16 jurisdictions sued Monday to block a Trump administration plan to redistribute thousands of devices that convert guns to machine guns, including distribution in states where such devices are banned by state law. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, said the plan would not only expose residents of those states to greater amounts of deadly violence, but it would be contrary to federal law that calls for the seizure of machine-gun conversion devices. And it would cause federal officials to 'aid and abet violations of state law' by distributing the devices in states where they are outlawed, the suit said. The decision to return almost 12,000 forced reset triggers — which allow shooters to fire hundreds of rounds a minute with one pull of the trigger — was announced in a settlement last month between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and gun manufacturers and gun-rights groups. 'These devices enable firearms to fire up to 900 bullets per minute. The increased rate of fire allows carnage and chaos to reign on the streets,' said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) in a virtual press briefing Monday with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin (D) and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings (D). 'Everyone nearby becomes vulnerable to serious injury or death. These are battlefield weapons that have no place in our communities,' Brown said. Under the Biden administration, ATF classified forced reset triggers as 'prohibited machine guns under federal law … and conducted extensive retrieval operations, seizing nearly 12,000 FRTs from the field,' according to the lawsuit. Maryland Supreme Court upholds gun possession ban in some non-felony cases But the new administration reversed course after a Feb. 7 executive order from President Donald Trump (R) on 'Protecting Second Amendment Rights.' On May 16, the Justice Department announced a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers, a manufacturer of the devices based in Wichita City, Texas. Under the deal, the company agreed not to develop or design such triggers for handguns, to promote safe and responsible use of its products, and to enforce its patents to 'prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.' In exchange, the government agreed not to enforce any policy where an FRT is 'contended to be' a machine gun, and to return by Sept. 30 any reset triggers seized or 'taken as a result of a voluntary surrender.' 'We won,' Lawrence DeMonico, president of Rare Breed Triggers, said in a video posted online the day settlement was announced. 'With the Trump administration's renewed focused on justice and their commitment to correcting the weaponization of the DOJ under the Biden administration, we were finally able to secure a deal that brought this fight to a close.' Representatives with Rare Breed Triggers and the Justice Department did not respond to email requests for comment Monday. The National Association of Gun Rights, which was also a party to the settlement, said it a statement that the deal will survive any challenge from the 'anti-gun attorneys general.' 'A federal court already ruled the government unlawfully seized thousands of legal triggers from law-abiding Americans — a decision that the ATF now acknowledges and accepts,' said Hannah Hill, vice president for the association. 'These states lack standing to file this lawsuit, and they know it. This suit is just reckless political lawfare.' But the states' lawsuit highlights the impact of gun violence in their jurisdictions, where it said there were nearly 47,000 gun-related deaths in 2023. Illinois had the most such deaths that year, at 1,691. Of the states represented at Mondays briefing, Maryland recorded 737 gun-related deaths in 2023, New Jersey had 430 and Delaware had 124, according to the suit. The suit also spells out the financial burden that comes with gun violence, for medical bills, police, court and prison costs. It said one fatal shooting in Baltimore can cost $2.4 million and a nonfatal shooting costs $1.5 million. In Newark, New Jersey, the cost is nearly $2.2 million for a fatal shooting and $1 million for a nonfatal shooting. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'This is not a partisan issue. It is a public safety issue,' Delaware's Jennings said. 'The Trump administration's deal to redistribute these deadly devices violates the law, full stop. It undermines public safety and ties the hand of law enforcement.' Platkin recalled the shooting death in March 2022, just two months after he took office, of SeQuoya Bacon-Jones, who was a bystander to a shooting when she was struck and killed. Platkin said SeQuoya would have celebrated her 13th birthday last Saturday. 'She had dreamed of becoming a law enforcement officer, but instead she was killed by a single stray bullet while she was playing hide-and-seek in the courtyard of her apartment complex,' Platkin said. 'I wish the Trump administration … would put little kids like Sequoya's interests ahead of the gun lobby's. But since they don't seem to care, we're going to make them care.' Besides Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, other jurisdictions on the suit are the District of Columbia and the states of Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. All but Maine and Vermont currently have state laws prohibiting forced reset triggers or guns modified with them.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mass. AG Campbell sues Trump admin over plan to distribute machine gun conversion tech
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell is taking the Trump administration to court — again. This time over a plan to distribute thousands of machinegun conversion devices to communities across the United States. The suit, filed by Campbell and 16 state attorneys general nationwide, specifically targets the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In a statement, Campbell's office said the ATF's action involves so-called 'Forced Reset Triggers,' which allow shooters to reach the firepower of a military-grade machine gun. The federal agency previously had classified the devices as machine guns, keeping them off the streets and out of the hands of gun owners. However, the ATF, under a directive from the White House, signed a settlement agreement that would stop enforcing federal law against the FRTs, as they're known, and would redistribute thousands of the devices the agency had previously seized. The multistate litigation seeks to prevent that imminent redistribution, because FRTs are illegal to possess under federal law, Campbell's office said. 'Weapons of war and tools of mass destruction like FRTs have no place or purpose in everyday society—nor in any home, community, or school within the Commonwealth,' Campbell said in a statement. Read More: This $150 device turns pistols into machine guns. Here's why Mass. should worry 'The ATF's actions are a direct assault on every American's inalienable right to feel safe in their homes, schools, and grocery stores—free from the fear or threat of gun violence. I will continue to defend enforcement against FRTs and fight to protect the safety and well-being of Commonwealth residents.' The lawsuit argues that the federal government cannot violate U.S. law, even when it tries to bury those violations in a settlement agreement. Campbell and the other state attorneys general are seeking a a preliminary injunction to halt the Trump Administration from distributing the devices 'in ways that directly harm plaintiff states in contravention of federal law,' they argued. Machine gun conversion devices such as the FRTs have been frequently used in violent crimes and mass shootings, Campbell's office said, contributing to worsening gun violence. Firearms equipped with the conversion devices can exceed the firing rate of many military machine guns, firing up to 20 bullets per second. The ATF has noted a 'significant' rise in the use of the devices, leading to a 1,400% increase between 2019 and 2021, Campbell's office said. The ATF has classified devices that act similarly to FRTs as machine guns since at least 1975, which means they've been banned under federal law. Even so, the ATF has estimated that at least 100,000 FRTs have been distributed across the country. And they have been showing up more often at crime scenes, Campbell's office said. Last month, the Trump administration announced that it had settled Biden-era litigation dealing with the devices, doing so in a way that 'eviscerates' the existing prohibition in federal law, Campbell's office said. In addition to Massachusetts, attorneys general from Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington State, also are participating in the litigation. Mass. labor groups rally against ICE arrest of California union leader Here are 10 NASA missions that could be grounded under Trump's 2026 budget 'I don't know if I want to do this anymore': leaked audio highlights turmoil among Dems Graffiti on tank in Trump's parade calls for hanging 2 well-known Americans 'I would': Trump calls for arrest of California's Newsom amid lawsuit over National Guard in LA Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Delaware leading lawsuit against Trump administration over gun trigger settlement
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings is co-leading a group of state attorneys general suing the Trump administration for a settlement last month that permits "machine gun conversion devices" for semiautomatic rifles − and the administration's plan to return all previously-seized devices to their owners. The lawsuit stems from the Trump administration's May 13 settlement, which resolved lawsuits brought during the Biden administration. Those suits challenged President Joe Biden's ban on certain "forced-reset triggers." Forced-reset triggers are aftermarket devices used in semi-automatic firearms that mechanically reset the trigger after each shot. They're sometimes called machine gun conversion devices because they allow semiautomatic weapons to shoot as fast as machine guns. They do not, however, convert semi-automatic guns to fully automatic weapons. According to the Delaware Department of Justice, the lawsuit, filed in Maryland, argues that forced-reset triggers are illegal under federal law. "Although ATF previously classified FRTs as machine guns, the agency – under directive from Trump Administration leadership – signed a settlement agreement that promised to stop enforcing federal law against FRTs and redistribute thousands of FRTs that ATF had previously seized," a June 9 news release from the state justice department said. Jennings said the Trump administration's settlement seeks "to reintroduce weapons of war to our communities." The Delaware DOJ said machine gun conversion devices like forced-reset triggers allow firearms "to exceed the rate of fire of many military machine guns, firing up to 20 bullets in one second." In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives notified firearms licensees that it had determined some forced-reset triggers constituted illegal machine guns under the National Firearms Act, Reuters reported last month. This was because constant finger pressure on the trigger would keep a rifle firing, essentially creating an illegal machine gun, the Biden administration argued. A year later, the federal Department of Justice sued a company that made and distributed such devices nationwide, Rare Breed Triggers. A New York judge ultimately blocked the company from selling the devices. While the New York case was pending, however, the National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit in Texas challenging the Biden-era ban, leading a judge to conclude the ban was unlawful and barring 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. It's not clear how many, if any, forced-reset triggers were seized from Delaware residents during the Biden administration ban or how many would be returned under the Trump settlement. Nate Raymond with Reuters contributed to this report. Got a tip? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@ For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_ This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware sues Trump administration over gun trigger settlement
