The federal government is advising gun owners that devices marketed as replacement triggers for AR-style firearms could classify owners’ firearms as machine guns.
An examination of forced-reset triggers shows they enable the weapon to fire a second round without having to release the trigger, which, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, subjects them to more restrictions under the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act.
“Both the NFA and GCA regulate machineguns,” the ATF said in an open letter last week. “’Machinegun’ is defined under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) and 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(23) as — Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”
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ATF issued an Open Letter on Forced Reset Triggers. Marketed as replacement triggers, some FRTs allow a firearm to automatically expel more than one shot w/ a single, continuous pull of the trigger, making them prohibited machineguns per the GCA & NFA. https://t.co/1w8wueebz3 pic.twitter.com/N3MCSFDpcj
— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) March 24, 2022
Guns that use forced-reset triggers are subject to GCA prohibitions regarding the possession, transfer, and transport of machine guns and NFA restrictions on registration, transfer, taxation, and possession. Anyone who violates the GCA’s and NFA’s rules can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, the letter states.
The ATF encouraged anyone with a gun using a forced-reset trigger to contact the agency on how to divest possession of their firearm. Gun owners should also contact their local ATF field office if they are unsure whether their firearm is a machine gun as defined by the GCA and NFA.
The gun rights organization Gun Owners of America leaked the ATF’s letter in late January and said it was “disappointed but not surprised to see the ATF preparing to confiscate triggers.”
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Several pro-gun groups, including GOA, the National Rifle Association, and the Second Amendment Foundation, have not yet responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
