Justice Department deal ends a ban on an aftermarket trigger, gun control advocates alarmed

The Trump administration will allow the sale of forced-reset triggers, which make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly, with the federal government ending a long-standing ban as part of a settlement that also requires it to return seized devices.

"This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

"The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," said Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at GIFFORDS, a gun control group.

There have been several legal battles over forced-reset triggers, which replace the typical trigger on an AR-15-style rifle. The government for years had argued they are essentially illegal machine gun conversion devices because constant finger pressure on the triggers will keep a rifle firing essentially like an automatic.

"This victory is a landmark moment in the fight against unchecked government overreach," Lawrence DeMonico, the group's president, said in a statement. "The ATF and DOJ tried to silence and bury us not because we broke the law, but because I refused to bend to the will of a tyrannical administration."

Under the settlement, Rare Breed Triggers has agreed not to develop such devices to be used on handguns, according to the Justice Department. The settlement requires the ATF to return triggers that it had seized, or that owners had voluntarily surrendered to the government.