The Trump administration will allow the sale of forced-reset triggers, which make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly, with the federal government ending a long-standing ban as part of a settlement that also requires it to return seized devices.
The agreement announced Friday by the Justice Department resolves a series of cases over the aftermarket trigger that the government had previously argued qualify as machine guns under federal law . The settlement is a dramatic shift in Second Amendment policy under the Republican administration, which has signaled it may undo many of the regulations that the previous administration of Democratic President Joe Biden had fought to keep in place in an effort to curb gun violence.
"This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement .
Gun control advocates said the settlement would worsen gun violence.
"The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," said Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at GIFFORDS, a gun control group.