Over a dozen Democratic attorneys general vow to protect gun laws facing legal challenges as Trump prepares for his second term.
New Jersey: More than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general are stepping up to defend two gun regulations that are currently being challenged in court. One of these regulations bans devices that let semiautomatic guns fire faster.
New Jersey’s Attorney General, Matt Platkin, mentioned that his state and others are ready to jump into ongoing cases before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. One case is about forced reset triggers, or FRTs, which can make guns act like machine guns. The other case involves a rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives aimed at closing the “gun show loophole” by requiring many firearm sellers to conduct background checks.
These regulations are facing pushback from Second Amendment advocacy groups and Republican-led states. Platkin stated that the incoming administration poses a threat to these sensible protections, prompting states to take action.
While it’s unclear how Trump will approach this issue, he did assure an NRA audience last year that their firearms would be safe. This move by the Democratic AGs comes right after they sought to intervene in cases involving Dreamers, young adults brought to the U.S. illegally as kids, showing their commitment to push back against Trump’s administration.
A federal judge in Texas previously ruled that FRTs aren’t considered machine guns, which blocked the ATF from enforcing a ban on them. This case is now waiting for a decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2024, the same judge ruled that FRTs do not qualify as machine guns, preventing the ATF from taking enforcement actions against many entities and ordering the return of FRTs to distributors by February 2025. The U.S. has appealed this decision, and everyone is waiting for the appeals court’s ruling.
New Jersey is not alone in this fight; states like Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are also joining in.
The second case revolves around a rule from the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Biden signed. This rule expanded who is considered a firearm dealer, meaning that many more sellers would need to get federally licensed and conduct background checks. In May, 26 GOP attorneys general filed lawsuits against this rule, claiming it violates the Second Amendment.
Along with New Jersey, states like Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are also intervening in this case.
