Fifteen states have agreed to withdraw their bid for a preliminary injunction that would have barred the Trump administration from allowing the sale of forced-reset triggers that make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly. In turn, the Trump administration has agreed not to return any of these devices that have been seized to their owners, and to prohibit the sale of redistributed FRTs into those states.
The suit filed in June argued that returning the triggers would violate federal law, pose a threat to residents and law enforcement and worsen gun violence.
The states include Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, along with the District of Columbia. Their attorneys general are all Democrats, though the office in Hawaii is technically nonpartisan.
The Biden administration had argued that these triggers turn AR-15-style rifles into illegal machine guns under federal law.