The Justice Department is again lending the federal government’s weight to Rare Breed Triggers’ private patent-enforcement campaign, and ATF is remarkably candid about what it hopes to accomplish.
DOJ filed a seven-page Statement of Interest on August 31 in In re: Rare Breed Triggers Patent Litigation, the consolidated litigation pending before Chief U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III in the Eastern District of Texas.
“The government, through the ATF, has a strong interest in promoting the safe use of firearms by the public, and in this particular case, in discouraging unregulated manufacture of forced reset triggers that allegedly infringe Rare Breed’s patents,” the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asserted in a Monday filing in United States District Court.
“The government submits this Statement of Interest to provide the Court with the ATF’s views on public interest considerations for the four-factor test for a preliminary injunction,” ATF declared. “For a preliminary injunction, the four-factor test requires a showing of (1) a likelihood of success on the merits; (2) a likelihood of irreparable harm (with no adequate remedy at law); (3) the balance of the hardships is in favor of the party seeking injunction; and (4) that an injunction is in the public interest.”
“This statement of interest is substantively parallel to a January 26, 2026 statement the government filed in ABC IP LLC and Rare Breed Triggers v. Timothy Hoffman et al.,” ATF explained, noting “the government is filing this statement of interest to ensure its interests are represented in the consolidated proceedings and for purposes of judicial economy.”
Second Amendment journalist John Crump reported on that intervention, noting the dispute is over allegations that the Hoffman “super safety” infringes on Rare Breed Trigger patents.
“What makes this case extraordinary is the federal government’s intervention. The ATF’s filing explicitly states that it has a ‘strong interest… in discouraging unregulated manufacture of forced reset triggers,’” Crump wrote. “It argues that enjoining Hoffman would advance public safety and support the agency’s broader efforts to limit the proliferation of FRTs. Remarkably, the government cites a May 2025 settlement agreement it reached with Rare Breed, after years of aggressive enforcement actions against the company, as justification for now backing Rare Breed’s private patent enforcement crusade.”
Len Savage, firearms designer, expert witness, and president of Historic Arms, LLC, has more basic concerns: Where does ATF presume it gets the authority from to limit proliferation? And he asked that question – and more – in a Tuesday email to the lawyer who filed the Statement of Interest, Walter Brown, Senior Litigation Counsel, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice.
“Section III of the statement does NOT state what law or regulation you are basing this interest on?” Savage asked. “You mention 18 U.S.C. § 922(o); see also 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) but then acknowledge that Forced Reset Triggers are NOT machineguns? (Therefore, not regulated under either).”
“Your statement appears to admit YOU and DOJ are using Rare Breed as an ATF proxy to enforce something other than United States Code or the Code of Federal Regulations– Rate of fire,” Savage noted. “Please show me anywhere in the U.S.C. or C.F.R. that rate of fire is regulated in any way? Only method of fire is regulated. If it fires more than once per function of the trigger it’s highly regulated. If not, there is NO regulation.”
His concerns are legitimate, his points dead-on. Whether or not — and how — they are responded to will tell gun owners much.
ATF Intervenes in Forced Reset Trigger Patent Lawsuit for “Public Safety”
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
