Attorney General Dan Rayfield has joined other states in Texas gun rights cases in support of rules put in place by the Biden administration that require background checks and ban gadgets that can turn handguns into fast-fire weapons.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is enforcing a rule that goes after so-called “forced-reset triggers.” These can be made with a 3D printer and can turn handguns into machine guns with just one pull of the trigger. In a different case in a Texas district court, the goal is to overturn a rule made by the Biden administration that aims to close the “gun show loophole” by making everyone who buys guns go through a federal background check and get a license.
Rayfield’s office said in a release that both moves are proactive steps that state attorneys general are taking to protect gun safety efforts in case the new Trump administration stops defending these two important federal laws.
The conversion device rule said that guns with “forced-reset triggers” were machine guns, which are illegal under federal law. In a case brought by the National Association for Gun Rights, Texas Gun Rights, Inc., and others last year, a federal judge in Texas stopped the ATF from enforcing the law and stopping the bureau from taking any criminal or civil action related to the conversion devices. The people who were accused, including people from the U.S. Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, took their case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Oregon and the other states that want to get involved in the case to back the Biden administration filed a move saying that if the rule is overturned, they will have to pay more for health care and law enforcement.
In his statement, Rayfield said that the motion’s goal is to protect communities from military-style guns in case the Trump administration changes the rule.
The release said, “Any decision that (forced-reset triggers) are legal under federal law would be a major step backward in the effort to reduce gun violence. This comes at a time when the people of Oregon are calling for more federal action on common sense gun violence protection measures.”
Oregon voters passed Measure 114 in 2022, which banned the sale of high-capacity clips and made people go through gun safety training and a federal background check as part of getting a permit to buy a gun. Since then, though, the bill has been stuck in court challenges. The state said it was wrong for a judge in Harney County to rule against the law. In October, their cases were heard by a team of three judges.
Oregon was joined in its move by the attorneys general of New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Also, 14 states agreed with Oregon that people who sell guns should have licenses and pass government background checks. The ATF thinks that closing the gun show gap would make as many as 100,000 people get gun licenses.
While running for office, Trump said that he would overturn any gun control laws made by the Biden government.
Oregon was one of the 15 states that agreed with the move. Ariz., Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are the other states.
These are Rayfield’s second and third legal moves since he became governor. The first was when he and 13 other states stepped in to protect Dreamers’ right to buy health insurance on the federal marketplace.
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