Judge Vacates Another ATF Rule: Forced Reset Triggers Are Not 'Machineguns'

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor decided against yet another Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) rule Tuesday, vacating the agency’s rule that classified forced reset triggers (FRTs) as “machineguns.”

Two of the plaintiffs in the case were Texas Gun Rights, Inc., and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). There were individual plaintiffs, as well.

Plaintiffs sued the United States Attorney General, the ATF, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and others over the rule, which made it a felony to possess an FRT. Their suit centered on the ATF’s broadening of the term “machinegun” to include FRTs.

An FRT is a trigger that resets a semiautomatic firearm’s trigger mechanically, thus allowing the gun to be fired faster. However, the gun still fires only one round per trigger pull.

O’Connor noted the semiautomatic action of a firearm is not changed by the installation of an FRT: “When firing multiple shots using an FRT, the trigger must still reset after each round is fired and must separately function to release the hammer by moving far enough to rear in order to fire the next round.”

He applied various court decisions regarding the ATF’s bump stock rule, noting, “FRTs do not fire multiple rounds with a single function of the trigger and, thus, do not qualify as machineguns.”

The FRT rule is the second ATF rule O’Connor has vacated in 2024. On June 13, 2024, Breitbart News reported that O’Connor vacated the ATF’s AR pistol brace rule, noting that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.