16 Anti-gun attorneys General seek to block agreement to return illegally seized triggers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 9, 2025
Loveland, CO – The National Association for Gun Rights condemned news of a lawsuit filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia seeking to invalidate parts of a settlement agreement signed between the ATF and NAGR requiring the government to return triggers deemed by a federal court to have been illegally seized.
“A federal court already ruled the government unlawfully seized thousands of legal triggers from law-abiding Americans – a decision that the ATF now acknowledges and accepts,” said Hannah Hill, Vice President for the National Association for Gun Rights. “These states lack standing to file this lawsuit, and they know it. This suit is just reckless political lawfare.”
According to the lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court for Maryland, the states are seeking an injunction to block the return of illegally seized forced reset triggers (FRTs) nationwide. Widely accepted as a lawful device, the Biden administration unilaterally banned these triggers, wrongfully claiming they were “machine guns” under federal law when in fact, they are not.
The settlement agreement signed in May requires the ATF to facilitate the return of illegally seized FRTs and to withdraw from ongoing litigation against FRTs in New York and Texas. These same states attempted, unsuccessfully, to intervene in the ATF’s withdrawal from the New York case.
“The courts have already swatted down these rabidly anti-gun Attorneys General once before, and even though they’re now seeking refuge by shopping their case out to yet another venue, we hope the court in Maryland will see through these shenanigans,” said Hill.
While FRTs remain federally lawful, the settlement does not affect bans on FRTs enacted by state legislatures, which remain in effect until separately overturned by legislative action.
“We remain confident that the settlement agreement will be upheld and remind all parties in the meantime that the orders from Judge Reed O’Conner’s ruling in the Northern District of Texas remains binding,” concluded Hill, “we expect parties to comply with both in good faith.”
For more information, please contact Taylor Rhodes at [email protected].
The National Association for Gun Rights is a 501(c)(4) organization headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, dedicated to defending the Second Amendment and fighting for the rights of peaceable Americans to keep and bear arms. Since its founding in 2001, NAGR has worked to hold anti-gun politicians accountable and promote maximum individual liberty by mobilizing more than 4.5 million members and grassroots activists nationwide.
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