The Justice Department ended three high-profile lawsuits involving a gun parts manufacturer in a win for firearms advocates after Attorney General Pam Bondi committed to easing bureaucratic restrictions on Second Amendment rights.
The deal marked the first major action from the DOJ’s Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force following President Donald Trump’s February executive order aimed at restoring gun protections. The settlement, announced Friday, halts the federal government’s efforts to regulate and seize “forced-reset triggers” under the National Firearms Act.
“This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Bondi said in a statement. “We are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety and restore clarity to the law.”
The agreement resolves three cases:
• United States v. Rare Breed Triggers (E.D.N.Y.)
• NAGR v. Garland, now NAGR v. Bondi (5th Cir.)
• United States v. Miscellaneous Firearms and Related Parts (D. Utah)
It followed the Supreme Court’s June 2024 ruling in Cargill v. Garland, which held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by banning bump stocks via regulatory rulemaking. A month later, a federal judge in Texas applied the same logic to forced-reset triggers, a type of firearm component allowing users to fire semiautomatic rifles more rapidly, giving Rare Breed legal momentum.
The DOJ acknowledged that continuing the fight in court would likely be unsuccessful in light of Cargill and agreed to a permanent injunction blocking further federal enforcement against legally defined FRTs. The government will return any seized triggers to owners and cease efforts to reclassify the parts as machine guns.
The Rare Breed website celebrated the news with a notice: “The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we’re free!”
Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, praised the outcome as a historic legal victory.
“We didn’t just beat the ATF — we put them in a submission hold, and they tapped out,” Brown said. “This decision marks a new era of holding the DOJ and ATF accountable when they trample the rights of law-abiding gun owners.”
However, the settlement includes limitations. Rare Breed agreed not to develop FRTs for pistols and to enforce its patents to block potentially unsafe imitations. The company will also promote responsible product use, something its packaging already did in great detail, according to court filings from the litigation.
Gun control groups quickly condemned the move.
“This means that these highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously and without a Brady Background Check,” the Brady Campaign said in a press release. Giffords issued a more alarmist statement, alleging, “Trump just effectively legalized machine guns.”
The settlement came amid the Trump administration’s efforts to reverse several Biden-era gun control measures.
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The ATF has already rescinded its “zero tolerance” policy targeting gun dealers and launched reviews of pistol brace restrictions and rules on used gun sales. Bondi’s task force is expected to play a central role in overseeing these changes.
“The DOJ and ATF will conduct an in-depth review over the coming months,” the ATF said last month in a statement, adding it will consult gun rights organizations and industry leaders during the process.
