Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced he and Attorneys General Kathy Jennings and Anthony Brown are leading a coalition of 16 Attorneys General in suing the Trump Administration, and in particular the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), over its official plans to distribute thousands of machine gun conversion devices (MCD) into communities across the United States.
ATF’s action involves Forced Reset Triggers, which allow even novice shooters to achieve the firepower of a military machine gun. Although ATF previously classified FRTs as illegal machineguns, ATF—under the directive of Trump Administration leadership—signed a settlement agreement that promises to stop enforcing federal law against FRTs and to redistribute thousands of FRTs ATF had previously seized. The multistate litigation seeks to prevent that imminent redistribution because FRTs are illegal to possess under federal law.
“We will not stand by as the Trump Administration attempts to secretly legalize machine guns in an effort to once again put firearms industry profits over the safety of our residents,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Forced reset triggers turn firearms into machine guns that can fire hundreds of rounds a minute, and they do not belong in civilian hands. Although the Trump Administration wants to distribute thousands of these illegal devices into our communities and endanger our residents, that will not happen on our watch. Protecting New Jerseyans has been my top priority, and our state has already seen several years of record-low shootings. To keep our state safe, we are filing suit to stop these illegal actions.”
In recent years, machine gun conversion devices 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 machine guns, firing up to 20 bullets in one second. ATF has noted a significant rise in the use of MCDs, leading to increasing incidents of machine-gun fire – up 1,400% from 2019 through 2021.
Since at least 1975, ATF has classified devices that operate similarly to FRTs as machine guns 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, ATF estimates that at least 100,000 FRTs have been distributed across the country. ATF’s records also establish that machine gun conversion devices, including FRTs, are showing up more often at crime scenes.
Multiple lawsuits seeking either to enforce or challenge the prohibition on FRTs were filed during the Biden Administration. A federal judge in New York agreed that FRTs are banned under federal law. A federal judge in Texas disagreed and held that FRTs do not qualify as machine guns under federal law, but that ruling was on appeal.
On May 16, 2025, the Trump Administration announced that it has now settled these lawsuits—and done so in a way that eviscerates the federal FRT prohibition. ATF has agreed to abandon its enforcement actions and appeals; promised to stop enforcing the federal ban on machine guns against FRTs, even against individuals and sellers who were not parties to any of these lawsuits; and pledged to redistribute FRTs that it previously seized.
Today’s lawsuit seeks to prevent the redistribution of FRTs because they are prohibited by U.S. law, which prohibits anyone from owning machine guns, including devices that convert firearms into automatic weapons. The lawsuit explains that the federal government cannot violate U.S. law, even when it tries to bury those violations in a settlement agreement.
The coalition will seek a preliminary injunction to halt the Trump Administration from distributing FRT devices in ways that directly harm Plaintiff States in contravention of federal law.
The lawsuit explains that the redistribution of machine gun conversion devices will permanently threaten public safety nationwide. And as the lawsuit highlights, ATF has even admitted that returning FRTs in states that prohibit them would “aid and abet” violations of state laws. The Attorneys General seek to prevent those harms from occurring.
In New Jersey, this matter is being handled by Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, Deputy Solicitor General Shankar Duraiswamy, and Deputy Attorneys General Marie Cepeda Mekosh, Chris Ioannou, Max Lesser, Justine Longa, Amanda McElfresh, Nathaniel Rubin, and Lucy Sprague.
In addition to New Jersey, this lawsuit is co-led by the Attorneys General of Delaware and Maryland. The lawsuit is joined by the Attorneys General of Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
