Oregon and 14 other states have sued the Trump administration over its plan to allow the sale of forced-reset triggers that make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly and to return devices already seized to their owners.
The suit announced Monday argues that returning the triggers would violate federal law, pose a threat to residents and law enforcement and worsen gun violence. It was filed in federal court in Maryland.
There had been several legal battles over the devices, which replace the typical trigger on an AR-15-style rifle.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield signed onto the lawsuit, joining 14 other states and the District of Columbia.
“These devices turn regular guns into machine guns, and there’s a reason they’re illegal. They’re designed to unleash rapid, uncontrolled fire, and they’ve been linked to deadly school shootings across the country,” Rayfield said in a statement Monday. “The idea that the federal government would hand thousands of these devices back out into our communities is a serious threat to public safety.”
The Biden administration had previously argued the triggers qualify as machine guns under federal law because constant finger pressure on the triggers will keep a rifle firing, essentially creating an illegal machine gun.
Rare Breed Triggers, the maker of the devices, had argued that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was wrong in its classification and ignored demands to stop selling the triggers before being sued by the Biden administration.
The Justice Department reached a deal announced last month to allow the sale of forced-reset triggers with Rare Breed Triggers, which was previously represented by David Warrington, Trump’s current White House counsel.
Under the settlement, Rare Breed Triggers agreed not to develop such devices to be used on handguns, according to the Justice Department. The settlement requires the ATF to return triggers that it had seized or that owners had voluntarily surrendered to the government.
The states’ lawsuit is being led by the attorneys general of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. Other states involved are Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Vermont, along with the District of Columbia.
