By: Friedrich Seiltgen

Copyright © 2023

The National Association for Gun Rights scored their second victory in less than a week for gun rights when Judge Reed O’Connor, federal district court judge in the Northern District of Texas, granted a preliminary injunction Saturday in NAGR’s lawsuit challenging the ATF’s expansion of the statutory definition of “machinegun” in reference to Forced Reset Triggers, stating “the ATF’s expanded definition of ‘machinegun’” is “likely unlawful.”

The National Association for Gun Rights filed the lawsuit in August against the ATF in federal court in the Northern District of Texas, “seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to end Defendants’ arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise unlawful efforts to misclassify Forced Reset Triggers as ‘machineguns’ under the National Firearms Act of 1934.”

If Judge O’Connor’s name sounds familiar, it’s because this action was filed in the same appellate circuit that ruled earlier this year that bump stocks are not machineguns in Cargill v. Garland. Judge O’Connor also granted the preliminary injunction last week in NAGR’s lawsuit challenging the ATF’s pistol brace rule.

The injunction only covers the parties in this lawsuit (including National Association for Gun Rights members) and stops the ATF from:

(1) Initiating or pursuing criminal prosecutions for possession of FRTs;
(2) Initiating or pursuing civil proceedings for possessing, selling, or manufacturing FRTs based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns;
(3) Initiating or pursuing criminal prosecutions for representing to the public of potential buyers and sellers that FRTs are not machineguns;
(4) Initiating or pursuing civil actions for representing to the public of potential buyers and sellers that FRTs are not machineguns;
(5) Sending “Notice Letters” or other similar communications stating that FRTs are machineguns;
(6) Requesting “voluntary” surrender of FRTs to the government based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns;
(7) Destroying any previously surrendered or seized FRTs; and
(8) Otherwise interfering in the possession, sale, manufacture, transfer, or exchange of FRTs based on the claim that FRTs are machineguns.

“The courts continue to push back against the ATF’s regulatory overreach,” said Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights. “The first goal of the Texas lawsuit is accomplished – to protect NAGR’s members and supporters who own FRTs from an out-of-control ATF. The end goal is to win the case and bring a permanent end to the ATF’s FRT trigger ban.”

If you are looking for a gun rights organization that doesn’t give an inch, look at the NAGR. They are 2-0 in less than a week, and members are covered under the Forced Reset Trigger and Brace ban injunctions.

The National Association for Gun Rights

The National Association for Gun Rights is the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide. The National Association for Gun Rights has led the charge to halt the radical anti-gun agenda nationwide.

For more information, go to www.nationalgunrights.org.

That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”

Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response.

His writing has appeared in RECOIL, www.floridajolt.com, The Counterterrorist Magazine, American Thinker, Soldier of Fortune, Homeland Security Today, Off Grid, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International.

Contact him at [email protected].