SEATTLE, WA – Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced Friday that the federal government and a manufacturer have agreed not to sell or return machine-gun conversion devices in Washington and 15 other jurisdictions.
The agreement follows a multistate lawsuit filed in June, in which the attorneys general challenged plans to distribute forced reset triggers—devices that increase the rate of fire of semiautomatic firearms.
According to court filings, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirmed it would not return forced reset triggers in the plaintiff states. Rare Breed Triggers, a major seller of the devices, also confirmed it would not sell them in those states.
As a result of these developments, the coalition of states has withdrawn its request for a preliminary injunction.
“These commitments came only after litigation was filed,” Brown said in a statement.
The ATF has reported a rise in the use of conversion devices in recent years, with a 1,400% increase in incidents involving machine-gun fire between 2019 and 2021.
The plaintiff states in the case include Washington, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
