So a question was raised, asking if this super safety is similar to the Forced Reset Trigger that the ATF already decided was a machine gun. The ATF has deliberately reworded the statute in order to make it more to their advantage:
On March 25th, 2022 the ATF raided Rare Breed Trigger’s vendor and inhibited them from shipping triggers. Currently, the ATF is trying to classify these triggers themselves as a machine gun. The ATF issued an open letter to Federal Firearms Licensees on March 22 of this year. If you don’t have the time or inclination the read the letter about Forced Reset Triggers, the important part is below:
“ATF’s examination found that some FRT devices allow a firearm to automatically expel more than one shot with a single, continuous pull of the trigger. For this reason, ATF has concluded that FRTs that function in this way are a combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun, and hence, ATF has classified these devices as a ‘machine gun’ as defined by the NFA and GCA.”
“Accordingly, ATF’s position is that any FRT that allows a firearm to automatically expel more than one shot with a single, continuous pull of the trigger is a ‘machine gun,’ and is accordingly subject to the GCA prohibitions regarding the possession, transfer, and transport of machine guns. They are also subject to registration, transfer, taxation, and possession restrictions under the NFA.”
You will note that ATF even states that Congress defined a machine gun as:
Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger
The ATF has engaged in some linguistic gymnastics to say:
FRT devices allow a firearm to automatically expel more than one shot with a single, continuous pull of the trigger.
Note that this isn’t what the statute says. Why is this important?
The FRT, Bump stocks, and the Super Safety all cause the operator of the weapon to hold their finger in position so that the recoil of the weapon causes the shooter’s finger to pull the trigger very quickly.
- In the case of the Bump stock, the entire weapon is moving.
- With the FRT, a spring is forcing the trigger to reset by using the bolt to push the trigger forward
- The Super Safety is using the motion of the bolt to engage and disengage the safety, which on the AR will reset the trigger. The rate of fire is about 400 rounds per minute. Seems fast until you realize that the cyclic rate of the M-16 and the M-249 are right about 800 rounds per minute.
The ATF is going to go after any device that causes rapid fire. The way that an AR’s fire control system works means that it is fairly easy to modify for rapid fire that comes in about half the rate of FA. The ATF would declare all AR’s as machine guns if they thought they could get away with it.