Trump administration strikes deal to allow sales of rapid-fire gun modification

The Trump administration has struck a deal to allow sales of a trigger mechanism that modifies a semiautomatic firearm to allow it to fire more rapidly. Gun-control advocates have argued that the devices convert semiautomatic weapons into machine guns, which are banned under federal law.

Under the terms of a settlement announced Friday by the Justice Department, “forced reset triggers” can be sold legally so long as their manufacturer, Rare Breed Triggers, refrains from developing similar devices for pistols and enforces its patents to stop copycats.

The legal settlement represents a reversal of the Biden administration’s efforts to use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to confiscate conversion devices, some of which allow semiautomatic weapons to fire at rates approaching those of automatic weapons. The agency had previously threatened charges against anyone manufacturing or possessing the contraptions, which have proliferated throughout the country and are often used by drug traffickers and gang members, according to the bureau.

The deal is one of several actions recently by Attorney General Pam Bondi to quickly dismantle Biden-era gun regulations that she said unlawfully target law-abiding gun owners and sellers.

“This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,” Bondi said in a news release. “And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.”

Gun rights groups that joined Rare Breed’s 2023 lawsuit against ATF hailed the settlement as a victory. They argue that because the device “resets” the trigger into a downward position, it does not enable a semiautomatic firearm to fire at rates equivalent to those of a fully automatic weapon, which is designed to fire multiple rounds with one trigger pull.

“This is a complete and total vindication of Rare Breed Triggers and everyone who stood up for the Constitution,” Lawrence DeMonico, the company’s president, said in a statement. “We refused to fold — and we won.”

Gun violence prevention groups and critics such as former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head during a 2011 mass killing, condemned the settlement.

“The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions,” said Vanessa Gonzalez of the gun-control organization Giffords. “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.”

Republicans have long denounced ATF, viewing its role as more political than law enforcement. In recent months, President Donald Trump has sacked the bureau’s top leaders, removed a memorial to gun violence victims at its D.C. headquarters and sought to reorient the agency’s focus. Trump administration officials proposed merging the bureau with the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a memo.

The National Association for Gun Rights, a group co-founded by Trump’s White House counsel, David Warrington, joined Rare Breed’s lawsuit, which was one of several that sought to overturn ATF’s crackdown on the trigger devices. The Biden-era ATF had tried to stop the company from “illegally selling” conversion devices to replace the standard trigger for AR-style rifles, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Court records show Warrington withdrew as an attorney on the case after Trump said he would appoint him to the White House legal team.

The case eventually landed in the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. After a lower court decision in favor of Rare Breed last July, ATF began returning forced reset trigger devices it had confiscated to their owners. The appeals court judges later cited a recent Supreme Court decision striking down a federal ban on bump stocks, a similar device designed to increase a semiautomatic weapon’s rate of fire. In a 6-3 decision, the justices ruled that bump stocks were not legally machine guns, which are banned.

Brady United, one of the oldest gun-control groups in the country, denounced Friday’s settlement as a “backroom deal with the gun lobby.”

“The Trump administration knew it would likely lose in court if they tried to overturn the existing law,” the organization’s president, Kris Brown, said in a statement Friday. “They also knew they would face overwhelming public opposition if they attempted to legalize these devices through the normal rulemaking process. So instead, they decided to quietly bow to the gun industry and give them the profits they want at the expense of our public’s safety.”

Everytown USA, another gun violence prevention organization, said Saturday that the legalization of forced reset trigger devices is a threat not only to communities but also to law enforcement: “Machine guns have no place on our streets, and this move from the Trump Administration will only lead to tragedy.”