Attorney General Bonta Secures Protections Against Forced Reset Trigger Returns in California Following Lawsuit Against Trump Administration

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the Trump Administration's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has agreed, following a multistate lawsuit by California and other states, that it will not return thousands of forced reset triggers (FRTs) into states, like California, that prohibit FRTs under state law. FRTs were previously regulated as machine guns at the federal level, but Trump's ATF agreed to return FRTs that had previously been seized. In filings made in the lawsuit, ATF expressly confirmed to a federal judge that it will not return FRTs into California or other plaintiff states. Instead, ATF now offers FRT owners options to dispose of their FRTs, such as transferring them to a state where they are legal to possess or surrendering them, effectively providing the relief the states sought in their lawsuit. Therefore, the states have agreed to dismiss the lawsuit.

"I am pleased to say that commonsense gun violence protections will remain in California. We are glad this legal action worked to stop these dangerous devices from entering our state," said Attorney General Bonta. "Forced reset triggers effectively turn semi-automatic firearms into more dangerous machine guns, and they are and will remain illegal in California. Our efforts are grounded in a devastating reality: gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens in our nation, surpassing any illness or accident."

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 to owners in 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.

Here is a copy of the dismissal.