ATF Can Do the Illegal Right Away. Unconstitutional Requires a Little Effort - #2A
The ATF’s Weaponization of Patent Law
The ATF’s Weaponization of Patent Law
(Jamie G. McWilliam, Firearms Research Ctr, U of WY) - When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to get rid of forced reset triggers (FRTs), it lost in federal court. So why then do manufacturers of certain reset mechanisms find themselves tied up in litigation over their products? It comes down to a strategic move by the ATF.
Under current law, “[t]he term ‘machinegun’ means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.” The key phrase for these purposes is “by a single function of the trigger.”
An FRT (using the term in its generic sense) operates by automatically resetting a firearm’s trigger after each shot. The shooter is then able to squeeze the trigger again without having to consciously release, and then reapply, pressure on the trigger. This allows the trigger on a semiautomatic firearm to be operated much faster than without an FRT. But the trigger is still being pulled, reset, then pulled again, for each shot and follow-up shot. Put simply, like all semiautomatic firearms, one equipped with an FRT fires only one bullet for each function of the trigger.
In 2021, the ATF sent a cease and desist letter to Rare Breed Triggers, demanding that it cease production and sales of their FRT because the agency deemed it to be…