A federal judge in Texas sharply limited the Biden administration's ability to enforce a ban on forced reset triggers, which are after-market accessories that allow AR-15 type rifles to be fired more rapidly by automatically returning the trigger to its starting position after it is pulled. While the order U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth does not block the rule altogether, it could have a broad effect because it applies to all members of the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). The group says it has 4.5 million members, Reuters reports. The order extends to any "downstream customers" of any commercial gun sellers that belong to NAGR or Texas Gun Rights, the state's largest gun rights group, which sued the administration in August.
O'Connor's order is a preliminary injunction, not a final ruling. He had previously issued a narrower temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the ban only against the individual plaintiffs. The lawsuit claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' 2021 decision to classify guns equipped with forced reset triggers as machine guns, which are generally illegal, was arbitrary and capricious, violating the federal Administrative Procedure Act. "Our injunction against the ATF's misguided attempt to redefine forced reset triggers as machine guns isn't just a battle win, it's the first in a series of victories we anticipate in the larger war to rein in - and ultimately abolish - an overzealous ATF," said Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt.