Fifth Circuit Faces Trigger Restrictions After Bump Stock Ruling

A federal appeals court questioned whether replacement triggers that can replicate automatic fire are machine guns, after the Supreme Court’s June decision rejecting a federal ban on another rapid-fire device.

A three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Monday heard arguments on whether to uphold a lower court ruling that two replacement triggers for standard semi-automatic rifles — the FRT-15 and Wide Open Trigger — shouldn’t be considered machine guns.

US District Judge Reed O’Connor in that ruling had pointed to the Supreme Court decision in Garland v. Cargill, which found the firearm ...