More than a dozen Democratic AGs say they'll defend gun regulations ahead of Trump's 2nd term
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More than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general said Thursday they plan to defend two gun regulations now being challenged in court, including one banning devices that enable semiautomatic guns to fire more quickly. New Jersey Democratic Attorney General Matt Platkin said his state and others with Democratic attorneys general, plan to intervene in cases already in the court system ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration Monday.
One case involves devices known as forced reset triggers, or FRTs, which can be installed on weapons, functionally turning them into machine guns, according to Platkin. The other centers on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulation that came out of a 2022 law. The rule aims to close what is sometimes called the “gun show loophole,” by requiring up to an estimated 95,500 firearm sellers to conduct background checks.
Second Amendment advocacy groups and Republican-led states have challenged the rules in court. “The incoming Administration has threatened these common-sense protections, so States are stepping in,” Platkin said in a statement. It's uncertain exactly how Trump would proceed, but he told an NRA audience during last year's campaign that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.".
The action comes just a day after New Jersey and other Democratic state attorneys general sought to intervene in cases involving so-called Dreamers, young adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and coincides with Democratic efforts to push back against Trump's second administration.
