Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has taken a stand against the Trump Administration by joining a group of 16 attorneys general in a lawsuit filed against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This move is in response to the ATF's announced plans to distribute thousands of machinegun conversion devices (MCD), specifically Forced Reset Triggers (FRTs), nationwide. Previously, the ATF had classified FRTs as machineguns and had seized many of these devices. Under this new directive, however, they intend to halt enforcement and redistribute these potent triggers. "Weapons of war and tools of mass destruction like FRTs have no place or purpose in everyday society—nor in any home, community, or school within the Commonwealth," AG Campbell declared in a statement obtained by Mass.gov.
The litigation effort seeks to urgently prevent the redistribution of FRTs, arguing their possession is illegal under federal law. The rate of fire facilitated by these conversion devices rivals and can exceed that of many military-grade machine guns, firing up to 20 bullets in a single second. The use of MCDs has surged, with ATF data noting a 1,400% increase in machine-gun fire incidents from 2019 through 2021. This upswing is part of a broader and bleaker narrative, illustrating the worsening gun violence epidemic across the United States.
Court rulings on the legality of FRTs have been divergent, with a judge in New York affirming their ban under federal law and a Texas judge contradicting by stating they do not qualify as machineguns under the current legal framework. Despite the ATF's past stance and ongoing legal contestations, the Trump Administration's recent settlement aims to significantly undermine the federal prohibition on such devices. According to the same Mass.gov release, the ATF has promised to stop enforcing the ban, even against those not party to the lawsuits, and has agreed to redistribute the devices it had confiscated.
In addition to Massachusetts, the attorneys general from Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are part of the coalition fighting this move. They are collectively pushing for a preliminary injunction to swiftly prevent the Trump Administration from carrying out distributions that directly contravene federal law and risk harming the Plaintiff States. The redistribution of these machinegun conversion devices, the lawsuit warns, will permanently threaten public safety. Furthermore, ATF has conceded that returning FRTs to states where they are explicitly banned would inadvertently support violations of these state laws.
