The Trump administration will now allow the sale of forced-reset triggers, which make semiautomatic rifles shoot faster. This change comes as part of a settlement that also says the government must give back any of these devices it had taken.
The Justice Department announced the agreement on Friday, resolving several cases about the aftermarket trigger. The government had previously said these devices were the same as machine guns under federal law. This marks a big change in Second Amendment policy under the Republican administration, which has suggested it could remove several rules that the Biden administration had kept to try to reduce gun violence.
“This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement.
Gun control supporters say this decision could lead to more 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 safety group.
The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podiumForced-reset triggers have been at the center of legal arguments for years. These triggers replace standard ones on AR-15-style rifles. The government had claimed that keeping constant pressure on these triggers allows the rifles to fire almost like automatic weapons, making them illegal.
The agreement was made between the Justice Department and Rare Breed Triggers, a company that used to be represented by David Warrington, who now serves as Trump’s White House lawyer. Rare Breed Triggers argued that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was wrong to label the triggers as illegal and said the agency ignored requests to stop enforcement before the Biden administration sued them.
“This victory is a landmark moment in the fight against unchecked government overreach,” said Lawrence DeMonico, president of the company. “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.”
As part of the deal, Rare Breed Triggers has agreed not to create versions of these devices for handguns. The settlement also says the ATF must return any triggers it took or that were handed over by owners.