I’m Lance Rankin, owner of Western Sport, an FFL and SOT dealer up in Roanoke, Texas. Compliance is my daily bread, so when a Senate hearing turns into a debate over what legally makes a machine gun, I pay attention. The video above covers the exchange, and it’s worth your time.
The short version: Senator Jack Reed pressed the ATF director on forced reset triggers, specifically the Rare Breed FRT-15, and the director wouldn’t budge from the statutory definition. That’s rarer than it should be, and it matters for anyone who owns or is thinking about one of these triggers.
What the senator argued
Senator Reed’s position boiled down to rate of fire. He cited his own experience with M16s, argued that 30 rounds in 4 seconds is effectively an automatic weapon, and questioned the Department of Justice settlement with Rare Breed that resolved the long fight over the FRT-15. He also pointed to a Washington Post report claiming there were internal objections to that settlement, including from ATF’s own counsel.
What the director said back
The director’s answer was the correct one, legally speaking: rate of fire is not the test. The definition of a machine gun sits in 26 USC 5845(b), and it turns on whether a weapon fires more than one shot automatically, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. One pull, multiple rounds: machine gun. One pull per round, no matter how fast: not a machine gun.
A forced reset trigger uses the bolt’s movement to reset the trigger faster than your finger could manage on its own, but you still pull it for every single shot. That’s the whole distinction. The director also noted that the settlement was specific to the Rare Breed FRT, and that other rate-increasing devices get evaluated case by case. As of this hearing, he said the Rare Breed FRT is the only forced reset trigger pack with that recognized legal status. Don’t assume a knockoff design enjoys the same protection, because it doesn’t.
Why I think this matters
You can dislike FRTs. Plenty of shooters do, and plenty love them. But the law is written down, and it says what it says. When a senator tries to substitute “it sounds fast” for the statutory text, that’s not law enforcement, that’s lawmaking by frustration. A skilled shooter with a bone-stock AR-15 can run a trigger surprisingly fast too. Congress wrote the definition around the mechanism, not the speed, and if Congress wants a different definition, Congress can pass one.
From behind the counter, the practical takeaway is this: the legal status of trigger devices has whipsawed for years, through classifications, raids, court fights, and now a settlement. As of this writing the Rare Breed FRT sits on legal ground, but this area of law moves fast. We carry the Rare Breed FRT-15L3 here in Roanoke for the customers who want the one design with that recognized status behind it. Before you buy or install any trigger device, check its current status yourself, and if you’re unsure, ask a dealer or an attorney who follows this stuff. That caution has kept a lot of my customers out of trouble.
If you’re newer to all this, my guides on what an FFL dealer does and building an AR-15 are good background reading. Questions about anything trigger-related, call the shop at 817-393-4000. I’d rather answer a question before the purchase than after.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
