Attorney General Ford Sues Trump Administration to Prevent Efforts to Distribute Thousands of Machine Gun Devices Across Country

Carson City, NV — Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. announced he is joining a coalition of 16 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration, in particular the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), over its official plans to distribute thousands of machinegun conversion devices (MCD) to communities across the United States.

The ATF’s action involves Forced Reset Triggers, which allow even novice shooters to achieve the firepower of a military machinegun. Although ATF previously classified FRTs as machineguns, ATF — under directive from Trump administration leadership — signed a settlement agreement that promises to stop enforcing federal law against FRTs and that promises to redistribute thousands of FRTs the ATF had previously seized. The multistate litigation seeks to prevent that imminent redistribution, because FRTs are illegal to possess under federal law.

“If the ATF distributes these devices across the country, not only will the agency run afoul of federal law, it will also put Americans at risk of further gun violence across the country,” said AG Ford. “These devices, which allow normal guns to fire at a rate that exceeds many military-grade automatic weapons, have no legitimate use in our society. Our country's gun violence epidemic, which Nevadans are sadly far too familiar with, will be made worse by this action.”

In recent years, machinegun 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. The 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, the ATF has classified devices that operate similarly to FRTs as machineguns 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, the ATF estimates that at least 100,000 FRTs have been distributed across the country. The ATF’s records also establish that machinegun 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 machineguns 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. The ATF has agreed to abandon its enforcement actions and appeals; promised to stop enforcing the federal ban on machineguns 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 machineguns, 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 machinegun 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.

 
Joining AG Ford in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

ATF complaint

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