This Trigger Turns An AR-15 Into A Machine Gun, Feds Say

NEW YORK CITY — A ban on a trigger device that federal officials argue illegally converts an already deadly AR-15 into a full-blown machine gun could depend on what unfolds in a New York City courtroom this week.

A Brooklyn federal judge Tuesday started two days of arguments over expanding a temporary court order that Rare Breed firearms companies based in Florida and Texas stop manufacturing and selling "forced reset triggers," as well as help federal officials track down those that have been sold.

Even as a ban remains in effect, Patch found several firearms sites that currently list the Rare Breed forced reset trigger — sold as an FRT-15 — for sale.

"People all over the nation, including in New York City and on Long Island, have purchased FRT-15s," prosecutors wrote in court documents.

The full effect of an FRT-15 can be seen in a YouTube review posted in 2021. Two men empty magazines from an AR-15 with ease, seemingly firing multiple bullets with a single trigger pull.

"There's no way this is gonna last," another said after emptying a magazine in roughly five seconds, laughing.

And federal officials don't want the FRT-15 or any other forced reset trigger to "last."

U.S Attorney Breon Peace in January filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court seeking to end the sale of those trigger replacements that it argued converted AR-15s into machine guns.

Prosecutors also want Rare Breed to help track down all triggers sold.

A Rare Breed forced reset trigger replacement can produce a rate of fire that exceeds an M-16-type machine gun, which can fire between 700 and 970 rounds per minute, the complaint states.

That rate of fire spurred the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, to warn firearms sellers in 2022 that they considered forced reset trigger assemblies to be machine guns under federal law.

Machine guns have been illegal since 1986.

"The FRT-15 is a trigger assembly that turns the AR-15 semi-automatic firearm— used in over half a dozen mass shootings in the last decade—into an even deadlier firearm," the lawsuit states.

Rare Breed's owners — Lawrence DeMonico and Kevin Maxwell —maintained in court filings that the triggers can't be considered machine guns.

But federal prosecutors argue they continued to sell the triggers despite being told multiple times that they were illegal.

"Indeed, Defendants’ disdain for law is such that, upon receiving a cease-and-desist letter from ATF, Defendant DeMonico said, 'F--- them," the complaint states. "In another instance, a caller from the office of Defendant Maxwell threatened to march down to the ATF offices. 'We are bringing the rocket launcher,' he warned."

The owners also misled customers about the legality of FRT-15s, prosecutors contend.

Many customers, including in federal Eastern District that covers Brooklyn, have since returned their forced reset trigger products, the lawsuit state.

But it appears the ongoing temporary ban on Rare Breed — which federal prosecutors eventually seek to make permanent — and the ATF's notice that they're illegal hasn't completely stopped sales.

A Patch search found the FRT-15 or modified versions of it still listed for sale on several weapons sites.

“This type of trigger system is as close to machine gun like function as you can legally get while retaining semi auto only function,” one site states.

An ATF spokesperson declined to give Patch information on how many forced reset triggers have been seized in New York, citing active litigation. The NYPD didn't respond to Patch's request for the same information.

The hearings this week will lead to scheduled summations Aug. 15.

From there, a judge will decide whether to grant prosecutors' request for a preliminary injunction that would require Rare Breed to not only help track down all triggers that haven't been recovered, but also pay restitution for people who bought them.