New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that following his lawsuit alongside a coalition of 16 Attorneys General, the Trump Administration has committed to carving out New Jersey from its illegal plans to distribute thousands of machine-gun conversion devices (MCD) into communities across the United States.
In submissions made in the multistate litigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has expressly confirmed to a judge that it will not return Forced Reset Triggers (FRTs) into New Jersey or the other plaintiff states. In addition, Rare Breed Triggers, the country’s largest purveyor of FRTs, has confirmed in its court filings that it will not sell any FRTs in the plaintiff states. As a result, the coalition is withdrawing its motion for a preliminary injunction, based on a notice that lays out these representations in detail.
“These commitments are a major victory for the residents of New Jersey and our partner states who would have been endangered by thousands of machine-gun conversion devices being put out on our streets,” said Attorney General Matt Platkin. “Our strong common-sense gun safety laws and actions have already led to years of record-low shootings, and the commitments we have secured since filing our lawsuit will protect our residents from deadly automatic weapons. I will never hesitate to stand up and fight for their safety.”
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.
The commitments from ATF and RBT follow a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Platkin and the coalition in June which sought to block the ATF’s attempt to stop enforcing federal law against FRTs and to redistribute thousands of FRTs that the ATF had previously seized.
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, the States involved are Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
