Attorney General Bonta Joins Lawsuit to Prevent Trump Administration from Distributing Thousands of Forced Reset Triggers Across the Country

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta yesterday joined a lawsuit led by the attorneys general of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, suing the Trump Administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), over its official plans to return thousands of forced reset triggers (FRTs) into communities across the United States. A semi-automatic firearm equipped with an FRT allows a shooter to engage in sustained rapid fire, similar to a fully automatic machine gun, so long as the trigger is held down. Thus, a firearm equipped with an FRT can unleash massive carnage in mere seconds. Although ATF previously classified FRTs as illegal machine guns, the Trump Administration’s ATF signed a settlement agreement reverting that classification and agreed to return thousands of seized FRTs into communities across the United States. Following the Trump Administration’s settlement, Attorney General Bonta issued a law enforcement bulletin, reminding law enforcement that the Trump Administration’s settlement does not alter the fact that FRTs remain illegal under California law. In an amended complaint filed yesterday, California joined the coalition of 16 other attorneys general in this litigation to prevent the imminent redistribution of FRTs that are illegal to possess under federal law.

“It is a devastating fact that in our nation, children and teens are more likely to die by gun violence than any illness or accident. In California, we know that commonsense gun laws save lives, and we won’t stand idly by as the Trump Administration pours illegal weapons into our communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Forced reset triggers turn firearms into deadlier machine guns, and they are illegal in California. We’re joining this lawsuit to prevent FRTs from entering California and to challenge the unlawful settlement agreement entered by the Trump Administration with manufacturers of FRTs.”

Despite the federal prohibition, ATF estimates that at least 100,000 FRTs have been distributed across the country in recent years. FRTs have become increasingly popular, including among individuals who are prohibited from possessing any firearms under federal law. ATF’s records also establish that machine gun conversion devices, including FRTs, are showing up more often at crime scenes. 

Multiple lawsuits seeking either to enforce or challenge the prohibition on FRTs were filed during the Biden Administration. A federal judge in New York agreed that FRTs are banned under federal law. A federal judge in Texas disagreed and held that FRTs do not qualify as machine guns under federal law, but that ruling was on appeal when the Trump Administration announced that it had settled these lawsuits — in a way that eviscerates the federal FRT prohibition. ATF has agreed to abandon its enforcement actions and appeals; promised to stop enforcing the federal ban on machine guns against FRTs, even against individuals and sellers who were not parties to any of these lawsuits; and pledged to return FRTs that it previously seized.

This multistate lawsuit seeks to prevent the return of FRTs, arguing that they are prohibited by federal law, which prohibits anyone from owning machine guns, including devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into machine guns. The federal government cannot violate federal law, even when it tries to bury those violations in a settlement agreement. The lawsuit also argues that the return of FRTs will permanently threaten public safety nationwide. And, as the lawsuit highlights, ATF has even admitted that returning FRTs in states that prohibit them would “aid and abet” violations of state laws. In California, FRTs are “multiburst trigger activators” under Penal Code section 16930, and under Penal Code section 32900, an FRT cannot be owned, sold, offered for sale, manufactured, imported, given away, or lent. An influx of FRTs into California communities would harm public safety and increase costs to the State.

Attorney General Bonta yesterday, through the amended complaint, joins the attorneys general of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia in the lawsuit.

A copy of the amended complaint is available here.