Florida company Rare Breed Trigger, LLC manufactures a drop-in trigger that makes an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle cycle rounds faster lost its first court battle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), according to Orlando-based news outlet WFTV. This means the company must halt all sales of its FRT-15 trigger while it waits for trial.
On July 26, the ATF sent a letter to Rare Breed stating the FRT-15 trigger has been classified as a machine gun under the National Firearms Act, and the company must cease all sales or face fines and jail time.
In early August, Lawrence DeMonico, president of Rare Breed, sued the ATF after the agency said the drop-in trigger converted the semi-automatic weapon into a “machinegun,” capable of firing more than one bullet per trigger pull. He said the ATF’s claim is preposterous as the trigger must entirely cycle before the next round is fired.
DeMonico and his lawyer filed a request for a preliminary injunction as part of its lawsuit, preventing the ATF from inhibiting the company from selling its triggers ahead of trial. However, the request was denied on Tuesday, citing a lack of evidence that the ATF’s action would financially cripple the company.
The FRT-15 trigger sells for $380 on the company’s website, is currently listed as “out of stock.” Court documents show the company must stop making new triggers, and there’s a possibility that triggers in existence might be seized.
Responding to the new court development is Baltimore-based The Machine Gun Nest who said this is one case every gun owner needs to pay attention to because it could mean the ATF will continue to infringe on gun owners’ rights through executive fiat.
Saying that a trigger manufacturer cannot sell the one project they produce does “no harm” is a failure on some level there on the judge’s part. The fact that Rare Breed wasn’t issued a preliminary injunction is ridiculous. Gun owners should pay attention to this case, as the Rare Breed trigger and other similar forced reset triggers will be a convenient scapegoat for the government to continue to push forward on infringing citizens’ 2A rights.
This is another example of the ATF arbitrarily redefining their definition of what a machine gun is, which was first done with the bump stock in 2018.
Run the a.t.f. OUT of the country ….. The a.t.f. has NO sanction to even exist on this soil let alone any authority to tell anybody what they can or can’t make, sell or posess ……. IF you don’t like this a.t.f. , FUCK YA ………