A federal judge in Texas has ruled in favor of gun rights groups who sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in a bid to overturn the agency’s prohibition of forced reset triggers, devices that increase the firing rate of semi-automatic guns.
U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas wrote in a July 23 order that the ATF exceeded its authority when it classified forced reset triggers as machine guns and, with very narrow exceptions, made them illegal.
“Each time an agency circumvents the legislative process it chips away at the most prudent reason for the separation of powers that is, ensuring unelected and unaccountable individuals do not make the law,” the judge wrote, adding that the country’s foundational documents granted lawmaking authority to duly elected officials in order to “safeguard against future tyranny.”
“While this case may seem focused on firearms, it represents so much more,” the judge wrote.
“It is emblematic of a devastating problem that increasingly rears its head in federal courts: rampant evasion of the democratic process.”
The case was brought by Texas Gun Rights (TXGR) and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), whose initial complaint challenged the ATF’s classification of forced reset triggers as machine guns on the premise that the ban was arbitrary and capricious, and violated constitutional rights.
“We are absolutely thrilled that the court has dealt such a decisive blow to the ATF’s unconstitutional agency overreach,” Hannah Hill, executive director of NAGR, said in a statement.
In response, the ATF argued in legal briefs that outlawing the devices was needed to protect public safety. The briefs included an open letter to all federal firearms licensees warning them that violations of the ban were punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In siding with the gun rights groups, the judge argued that the ATF overstepped its regulatory authority and failed to provide a valid rationale for the ban. He declared the ATF’s classification of the conversion devices as unlawful and ordered the agency to cease any actions based on the classification, including seizing forced reset triggers or destroying any previously surrendered ones.
The judge also ordered the ATF to stop sending any notices or letters to manufacturers or gun dealers stating that the devices are machine guns, or from interfering in their production or sale.
A spokesperson from the ATF’s public affairs office told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the agency had no comment on the ruling.
The ATF’s director Steven Dettelbach, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said in a January 2023 statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had obtained a temporary restraining order against companies that were selling forced reset triggers, that the conversion devices pose a threat to the public and are increasingly a risk to law enforcement.
“These machine gun conversion devices—which are machine guns under federal law—can turn any semi-automatic AR-type firearm into a weapon capable of shooting at a rate of fire similar to or exceeding that of an M16 machine gun manufactured for military use,” he stated at the time.
The ATF’s ban on the forced reset triggers was in part motivated by the October 2017 mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas.
Judge O'Connor said in his order that there’s “no denying the tragic nature” of the shooting.
“But no matter how terrible the circumstances, there is never a situation that justifies a court altering statutory text that was democratically enacted by those who are politically accountable,” he wrote.
“That responsibility belongs exclusively to Congress.”
