Attorneys general from D.C. and several states, including Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, announced Monday they are suing President Donald Trump’s administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms over its plans to allow for the legalization of machine gun conversion devices across the U.S.
More than a dozen states and D.C. filed a federal lawsuit in District Court in Maryland against the Trump administration, after the White House last month settled a lawsuit on the issue of what are called forced reset triggers.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is among the prosecutors seeking to prevent the add-on device from being available to gun owners.
“Forced reset triggers allow semiautomatic weapons to be turned into fully automatic machine guns,” Brown said at a news conference Monday, joined by the attorneys general of Delaware Kathy Jennings and New Jersey Matthew Platkin. “The increased rate of fire allows carnage and chaos to rain down on the streets.”
Since 1986, the ATF has classified machine guns as illegal, provided they were manufactured after that date.
During President Joe Biden’s administration, it was ruled that forced reset triggers were illegal, and many owners said they had their devices seized by ATF agents. Several lawsuits were filed, and a federal judge ruled that forced reset triggers don’t qualify under the 1986 law. However, another judge in New York state ruled the devices were illegal.
After retaking office in January, the Trump administration sought to settle the lawsuit, in which the government would return some of the devices it seized.
“This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement announcing the agreement on May 16. “And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.”
Other states signing onto the lawsuit include New Jersey, Delaware, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and D.C.
The lawsuit is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent these devices from being legalized and returned.
Brown and the other state prosecutors said if forced reset triggers are legalized, even the most novice shooter could fire up to 900 bullets per minute.
Brown and others say the device turns a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun, making it illegal.
“The Trump administration settlement will make Marylanders more vulnerable to mass shootings,” he said. “We must defend common sense gun laws that keep Marylanders and Americans safe.”
Ultimately, Brown said returning these devices will make communities less safe and there will be a substantial economic impact in terms of higher health care costs because of mass shootings, and a higher risk to law enforcement officials.
“The Trump administration’s decision to send these previously seized firearms back to Maryland, where they are illegal, makes our neighbors and children more vulnerable to mass shootings,” he said. “We cannot stand by while the federal government violates its own laws and fuels the gun violence epidemic that has already claimed too many lives.”
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