Forced-reset triggers aren't machine guns. They just speed up one's ability to fire by automating the trigger reset, which allows a new pull of the trigger. It's a device that never met the legal definition of a machine gun, but was the target of restrictions by the ATF just the same.
Now, the jihad against them is over, and the response is downright unhinged.
See, it's not just that they don't like the deal, it's that they're either completely ignorant of what these triggers do, or they're lying. It could be both, admittedly, but either way, they're trying to gin up fear and outrage.
The Trump administration has decided to permit the sale of devices that enable standard firearms to fire like machine guns, a move that one person familiar with the matter said was “by far the most dangerous thing this administration has done” on gun policy.
The Justice Department on Friday announced a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the National Association for Gun Rights. The lawsuit challenged an ATF rule banning “forced reset triggers” — devices that allow semiautomatic weapons to fire rapid bursts of bullets.
“This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.”
Vanessa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Giffords, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the move.
“The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions,” said Gonzalez. “This is an incredibly dangerous move that will enable shooters to inflict horrific damage. The only people who benefit from these being on the market are the people who will make money from selling them, everyone else will suffer the consequences.”
Except the Trump administration did nothing of the sort.
Forced-reset triggers are not machine guns. They don't meet the definition of a machine gun. Those legal definitions matter. If you don't like it and want them banned, the Supreme Court has already ruled that the ATF can't decide to redefine them. That's why bump stocks are now legal.
And honestly, machine guns should be legal.
The truth of the matter is that the National Firearms Act has been on the books since 1934, and since then, we've seen the rise of full-auto sears that weren't invented until after the 1986 machine gun ban. Criminals might not be using these universally, and the fearmongering about them is probably overstated, but the fact that they exist at all in the hands of bad guys is a testament to the futility of gun control.
Forced-reset triggers might be a way around the ban, but that doesn't change the fact that the ATF rule on these was going to fall. There's no legality to the rule at all.
So, the DOJ did what it should have done from the start and backed off.
I hate to break it to the anti-gunners, but if you want to ban something that doesn't meet the letter of the law, the Supreme Court made it very clear. You have to go through Congress to ban it.
"But Congress won't ban these things," some might respond.
And, to be fair, they're right. They're absolutely right that Congress is unlikely to find enough votes to get through all the legislative obstacles to put this on the president's desk, regardless of who is president.
Funny how that shakes out, ain't it?
Yet the return of forced-reset triggers might just give us a bit of an edge when it comes to gang-bangers with full-auto switched-equipped Glocks laying down a butt-ton of fire. More importantly, it at least gives us a choice in the matter.
