Blue State AGs Drop Request for Injunction in Forced Reset Trigger Settlement

As we reported earlier today, a group of Democratic attorneys general who were seeking an injunction halting the ATF’s return of some forced reset triggers to their rightful owners had a very bad day in court this week, with the U.S. District Court judge overseeing the case essentially telling the anti-gunners they didn’t have a case. 

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and his colleagues must have seen the writing on the wall, based on the motion they submitted after Wednesday’s hearing. 

HILARIOUS: Two days after a hearing that went extremely poorly for them, the anti-gun states challenging the FRT settlement decided that they now believe the government when it said 1.5 months ago that it was never planning to return seized FRTs to states where they’re illegal https://t.co/zn9Kbb7DpC pic.twitter.com/1cl6RSQQSy

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) July 11, 2025

Platkin was touting this as some kind of win on social media, instead of what it really is: an attempt to save face. 

NEW: The Trump Admin and the largest purveyor of Forced Reset Triggers in the U.S. agreed not to return or sell machine gun conversion devices in NJ.

The commitments we secured are keeping NJ residents safe from automatic weapons.

We will never stop fighting for you. pic.twitter.com/d6NNryGwuv

— Attorney General Matt Platkin (@NewJerseyOAG) July 11, 2025

They didn’t secure any commitments. The DOJ and ATF had already said that any FRT’s originally sold to individuals in states where the devices are now banned wouldn’t be shipped back to a state where they’re prohibited; a fact we reported more than a month ago. Although Platkin and his colleagues are patting themselves on the back today, their lawsuit had no effect or impact on the settlement itself and was in no way responsible for the ATF’s guidance on returning FRTs to owners in states where they’re banned. 

The ATF’s guidance makes it clear that, despite the claims of Platkin and his co-plaintiffs, FRTs are not going to be shipped to states where they’re illegal… nor will they be returned to anyone ineligible to possess a firearm. 

Some states independently prohibit the possession of forced reset triggers or trigger activating devices.  If you live in a jurisdiction in which the possession of a forced reset trigger is prohibited by law, ATF will work with you to return the device in a place where it may be lawfully possessed, or upon request, will transfer the device to a third party who may lawfully receive it.

FRTs will not be returned to individuals who are prohibited by law from possessing firearms.

That satisfies most of what Platkin and the other AGs were asking a federal judge to impose on the parties to the settlement, though their lawsuit also sought to “preliminarily and permanently enjoin the Government Defendants from implementing or enforcing… to any distributor, dealer, seller, or other entity that sells, resells, or otherwise distributes FRTs into Plaintiff States, either directly or indirectly.” 

The anti-gun AGs were still sticking to that last argument as recently as Wednesday, when U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told them their “standing position is weak.” 

According to the motion to withdraw their request for a preliminary injunction (which was incorrectly dated June 10, for what it’s worth), the AGs just learned on July 9 that the ATF plans on returning no more than twelve forced reset triggers to commercial sellers other than Rare Breed Triggers. Perhaps they should have inquired about that before filing a lawsuit claiming the DOJ’s settlement with RBT would lead to a flood of illegal machine guns in their states. 

Of course, if they did that they wouldn’t have been able to grandstand as crusaders of public safety, which was the entire point of this ridiculous lawsuit from the get-go. Platkin and company accomplished nothing but generating a few headlines… and making fools of themselves in federal court. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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