The Department of Justice announced last week the settlement of litigation between the federal government and Rare Breed Triggers, closing three pending court cases.
 
Citing President's Trump’s February Executive Order on the Second Amendment to evaluate "the positions taken by the United States in any and all ongoing and potential litigation that affects or could affect the ability of Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights," the DOJ packed it in on its offensive against forced reset triggers. 

"This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement on the settlement last week. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety."

Noting that the Supreme Court last June, in Cargill v. Garland, held that the ATF exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued a rule classifying a bump stock as a “machinegun,” and that a U.S. District Court in Texas had already applied Cargill to the Rare Breed case, the Justice Department acknowledged the agreement "avoids the need for continued appeals in United States v. Rare Breed Triggers and continued litigation in other, related cases concerning the same issue."

The cases involved in the settlement, besides U.S. v. Rare Breed Triggers, currently on appeal in the 2nd Circuit, are NAGR v. Garland (now NAGR v. Bondi) in the 5th Circuit, and U.S. v. Miscellaneous Firearms and Related Parts and Equipment Listed in Exhibit A in Utah.

"The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we’re free!" said Rare Breed's website on Friday. "Expect the website to be updated on Monday, May 19."

The government is bound by a permanent injunction from going after FRTs in the future, as long as they meet the legal definition upheld in a summary ruling on NAGR v. Garland last summer and return all seized or surrendered FRTs to their owners. This is vindication for the dozens of FRT owners who filmed viral interactions with visiting ATF agents in the past year.

"This is one of the most stunning victories in the history of the gun rights movement. We didn’t just beat the ATF – we put them in a submission hold, and they tapped out," said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights. "This decision marks a new era of holding the DOJ and ATF accountable when they trample the rights of law-abiding gun owners. We made them give back what they took, and that’s a precedent they’ll never forget."

On the downbeat, the settlement also holds that Rare Breed "will not develop or design FRTs for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety." This has led some savvy gun rights pundits to question the totality of the victory won in the case, especially to other FRT makers and owners outside of the Rare Breed case. 

Big-name national anti-gun groups were quick to decry the settlement, with both Brady and Giffords crying wolf about the danger presented by FRTs. "This means that these highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously and without a Brady Background Check," said Brady, while Giffords went so far as to say, "Trump just effectively legalized machine guns." 

We'll stand by to see where the Bondi's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force stands on other pending gun rights cases.