LANDMARK LAWSUIT SETTLED: Rare Breed Triggers Sales Resume after DOJ, ATF Concede Defeat, Seized Gun Parts to be Returned to Owners Nationwide
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Sales of the Forced Reset Trigger (FRT-15®) resumed Friday after Rare Breed Triggers finalized a major legal victory this month with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agreeing to permanently end their lawsuits against the company after four years of litigation.
The case will go down as a landmark victory for gun owners, advocates of the Second Amendment, and for countless American citizens who were dragged out of their homes and vehicles at gunpoint by overzealous federal agents, had their private property unlawfully seized, their businesses shut down, and their lives disrupted or left in ruins.
In 2021, the ATF issued a cease-and-desist letter to Rare Breed Triggers, a Texas-based manufacturer of triggers for firearms. The order demanded that Rare Breed Triggers stop producing and selling their wildly popular FRT-15, claiming that the trigger was unlawful after the agency arbitrarily decided to classify it as a machine gun. This was despite the fact that the operation of the trigger defied the definition of a machine gun. (It is important to note that the FRT-15 cannot fire more than one round by a single function of the trigger.)
In a bold move and an act of civil disobedience, the company responded with a press release declaring that they would be refusing to comply with the cease-and-desist order because they believed the company was operating well within the scope of the law.
After issuing the cease-and-desist, the ATF essentially sat on their hands and waited more than six months while more than 100,000 FRTs were sold, before launching “Operation Reticent Recall.” Under the operation, the ATF began widespread seizures of products from American citizens, confiscating millions of dollars’ worth of private property, inventory, and manufacturing materials, forcing several businesses across the country to shut down.
Throughout this process, Rare Breed Triggers President Lawrence DeMonico pledged to take legal action, and did so, in defense of his products and his customers.
In 2024, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, agreed with Rare Breed Triggers and ruled on their behalf, marking what many thought was an end to the ordeal. However, the government promptly appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. At the same time, it continued to pursue parallel lawsuits against the company in other states, allowing the litigation to drag on. On Friday, however, the lawfare came to an end when the DOJ and ATF formally agreed to settle all of their cases with Rare Breed Triggers, withdraw their appeal in the Fifth Circuit, and pledged not to go after Rare Breed’s Forced Reset Triggers in the future.
“This victory is a landmark moment in the fight against unchecked government overreach,” said DeMonico. “The ATF and DOJ tried to silence and bury us, not because we broke the law, but because we refused to bend to the will of a tyrannical administration.”
According to the settlement agreement, the DOJ and ATF will drop their appeal in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and all other cases against Rare Breed. Additionally, the ATF will return all seized or voluntarily surrendered triggers, upon request by individual owners, by September 30, 2025, per ATF website instructions. Additionally, Rare Breed will immediately begin taking actions to enforce U.S. patent protections and will initiate lawsuits against those who have infringed on their patents.
“This victory sends a clear message: the executive branch cannot sidestep Congress and impose new laws through executive fiat by twisting the meaning of established legal definitions,” said DeMonico. “With the support of the National Association for Gun Rights and renewed leadership at the DOJ under President Trump, we fought the machine and won. I made a promise to see this through no matter the consequences, and today, I can proudly say: promise kept!”
For more information visit rarebreedtriggers.com.
As always, Rare Breed Triggers encourages the safe and responsible use of our products.
-Rare Breed-
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