As Trump DOJ Expected to Withdraw Federal Defense, New Jersey Leads More Than a Dozen States in Intervening to Protect Ban on Forced Reset Triggers and Expanded Criminal Background Checks for Gun Purchases

Forced Reset Triggers Intervention | Engaged in the Business Intervention

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced he is leading an effort by more than a dozen states to defend two major actions by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) that protect residents nationwide. These filings come as the incoming Trump Administration may abandon its defense of these two important federal policies.

The first action defends ATF’s decision to prohibit “Forced Reset Triggers” (FRTs) nationwide—a “machinegun conversion device” that allows owners to illegally convert their firearms into fully automatic weapons with the firepower of a military machinegun. The second defends ATF’s so-called “engaged in the business” rule, which implements the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act’s expansion of gun dealers that have to go through criminal background checks for their purchasers and keep records of their sales to help law enforcement solve crimes.

“Protecting our residents and combating gun violence has always been my top priority — resulting in two years running of record-low shootings,” said Attorney General Platkin. “But we can’t do it alone, and we count on federal partners to ensure illegal weapons don’t end up within our borders, or that buyers go through basic background checks. The incoming Administration has threatened these common-sense protections, so States are stepping in. We will fight devices that allow dangerous people to turn their guns into illegal military-style machine guns. And we will fight to close the gun show loophole so that felons and domestic abusers can’t get their hands on weapons by evading background checks. Any time the Trump Administration stands down to the gun industry, state Attorneys General will stand up for Americans across our country in the battle to end the gun violence epidemic.”

“Since day one, our administration has been committed to creating safer communities for all of our residents. The policies implemented over the past seven years have proven successful, leading to record lows in gun violence statewide last year,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “Our residents deserve to feel safe in every space they occupy, which is why we will continue to take all necessary actions to build on the progress we have made, keeping public safety at the forefront of our decisions.”

Forced Reset Triggers [Machinegun Converters] & Related NJ Actions

In recent years, machinegun conversion devices (MCDs) like FRTs, which dramatically increase a firearm’s rate of fire, have been frequently used in violent crimes and mass shootings, worsening the gun violence epidemic in the United States. Firearms equipped with MCDs are able to exceed the rate of fire of many military machineguns, firing up to 20 bullets in one second. ATF has noted a significant rise in the use of MCDs, leading to increasing incidents of machinegun fire – up 1,400% from 2019 through 2021.

Since at least 1975, ATF has classified devices that operate similarly to FRTs as machineguns prohibited by federal law. FRT devices replace the standard trigger on a semiautomatic firearm to allow the shooter to maintain continuous fire with one trigger pull, similar to the operation of fully automatic weapons. Despite the prohibition, in recent years, at least 100,000 FRTs have been distributed across the country.

New Jersey has identified at least 26 criminal cases in the state where MCDs were recovered—including a case where a shooter fired 28 rounds in just over one second, injuring three people. And as today’s filings confirm, it has obtained records of FRT distributors sending at least 364 shipments into this State.

In 2024, a federal judge in Texas held that FRTs do not qualify as machineguns and issued a court order prohibiting ATF from taking criminal or civil enforcement actions regarding FRTs against a broad swath of entities, and ordering ATF to return FRTs to distributors by February 22, 2025. The United States appealed that decision, and the parties are awaiting a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Today’s filing will protect communities from military-style machineguns in light of the risk that the Trump Administration will stop defending this policy, allowing FRTs to proliferate and threaten public safety nationwide. As the States’ motion explains, any decision that FRTs are legal under federal law would increase their spread across the country and increase the risk of additional mass casualty events, at a time when New Jersey remains committed to protecting residents from the scourge of mass shootings and gun violence.

Attorney General Platkin’s action builds on his efforts to address MCDs, including his December 12 lawsuit against Glock for violations of the New Jersey firearms industry public safety law.  That lawsuit alleges that Glock knowingly manufactured, sold, and distributed pistols that can easily be converted into illegal machine guns using a “Glock switch.”

In New Jersey, this matter is being handled by Shankar Duraiswamy, Ravi Ramanathan, Shira Arnow, Max Lesser, and Marie Cepeda Mekosh.

States joining Attorney General Platkin in today’s filing include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

“Engaged in the Business” Final Rule

In 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden. ATF later issued a Final Rule implementing the law’s expansion of the category of firearm dealers who must go through a background-check process before they can sell firearms to a would-be customer, and who must retain records of those sales that federal, state, and local law enforcement can use to solve violent crimes and go after straw purchasers and gun traffickers.

ATF estimates that anywhere from 25,563 to 95,505 previously unlicensed individuals would now require federal licenses, therefore subjecting them to background-checks prior to selling weapons, as well as record-retention requirements. Barring the expansion of these important licensing requirements, felons and other persons prohibited from purchasing weapons will have more avenues open to illegally purchase a firearm.

President-elect Trump repeatedly attacked ATF rulemakings during his 2024 campaign, and mentioned this Final Rule, threatening an impending withdrawal of a federal defense of this rule. New Jersey and 14 states are intervening to protect this critical rule and the implementation of bipartisan legislation to keep our communities safe from gun violence.

In New Jersey, this matter is being handled by Ravi Ramanathan, Shira Arnow, Emily Erwin, Monica Finke, and Bryce Hurst.

States joining Attorney General Platkin in today’s filing include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

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