{"id":114889,"date":"2026-01-30T18:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T00:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=114889"},"modified":"2026-01-30T18:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T00:04:16","slug":"114889","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=114889","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

DOJ and ATF Overreach: Weaponizing Patent Law Against the 2A<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise to see the federal government trample on gun rights time and again. But the latest stunt from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) takes the cake. On January 26, 2026, the ATF filed a \u201cStatement of Interest\u201d in a purely civil patent infringement lawsuit between Rare Breed Triggers and Hoffman Tactical. This isn\u2019t about crime or national\u00a0security;\u00a0it\u2019s a business dispute over intellectual property. Yet here comes Uncle Sam, sticking his nose where it doesn\u2019t belong, all in the name of \u201cpublic safety.\u201d If this doesn\u2019t scream anti-2A overreach, I don\u2019t know what does.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s back up and break this down for those who might not be knee-deep in the gun world. Forced reset triggers, or FRTs, are\u00a0engineered triggers\u00a0that allow for faster semi-automatic firing by mechanically resetting the trigger after each shot. They\u2019re not machine\u00a0gunssince\u00a0they require a separate trigger pull for every round, as affirmed by multiple courts. Rare Breed Triggers pioneered the FRT-15, a popular model that lets law-abiding citizens like you and me shoot\u00a0fasterwithout converting\u00a0semi-automatic\u00a0firearms into fully-automatics.\u00a0Hoffman Tactical, run by inventor Timothy Hoffman out of Tennessee, developed his own version called the Super Safety. It\u2019s similar in concept but differs in design details. Notably, his design has been promulgated via\u00a0open-source 3D-printable files that empower DIY enthusiasts\u00a0to make their own.<\/p>\n

The beef started when Rare Breed sued Hoffman in late 2025, claiming patent infringement. Rare Breed argues Hoffman\u2019s design copies their tech too closely, while Hoffman counters that his is distinct enough and that no one owns the broad idea of forced resets. This should be a straightforward\u00a0intellectual property\/patent fight\u00a0in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee\u00a0(case number 1:25-cv-00389-CLC-CHS);\u00a0\u00a0No criminals, no threats to society, just two companies hashing out who gets to profit from a clever invention.<\/p>\n

Enter the ATF, stage left. In their Statement of Interest, they declare a \u201cstrong interest in promoting the safe use of firearms by the public, and in this particular\u00a0case, in discouraging unregulated manufacture of forced reset triggers that allegedly infringe Rare Breed\u2019s patents.\u201d They\u2019re urging the judge to grant Rare Breed a preliminary injunction against Hoffman, effectively shutting him down. Why? Because\u00a0in the DOJ\u2019s rationale,\u00a0fewer FRTs mean less \u201cdanger.\u201d This isn\u2019t neutral advice; it\u2019s a blatant push to limit access to these triggers through the backdoor of patent enforcement.<\/p>\n

To understand this meddling, we need to rewind to the ATF\u2019s long war on FRTs. Back in 2021, the agency sent a cease-and-desist to Rare Breed, classifying the FRT-15 as a machine gun under the National Firearms Act. \u00a0Rare Breed fought back, and in a landmark 2024 Supreme Court ruling in\u00a0Cargill v. Garland, the justices struck down the ATF\u2019s bump stock ban, setting a precedent that devices like FRTs aren\u2019t machine guns. \u00a0By July 2024, a Texas district court applied this to FRTs, ruling they require multiple functions per shot\u2014not the single pull that defines a machine gun.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, the ATF kept up the pressure, seizing triggers and dragging Rare Breed through lawsuits. But in May 2025, under the self-described\u00a0\u201cmost pro-2A administration in history,\u201d the DOJ settled. The feds dropped their cases, agreed to return seized FRTs (including those from Wide Open Triggers, a similar product), and Rare Breed resumed sales. Sounds like a win, right? Not so fast. The settlement had strings attached: Rare Breed promised not to develop FRTs for pistols and, crucially, to \u201cenforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.\u201d In other words, the\u00a0ATF outsourced its\u00a0infringement\u00a0agenda to a private company.<\/p>\n

Now, Rare Breed is suing not just Hoffman but several manufacturers of Super Safety designs. YouTube creators and gun forums are buzzing\u2014some call it a betrayal, with Rare Breed torching community goodwill to appease the feds. Hoffman himself received a cease-and-desist in February 2025, pulling his files offline. And the ATF\u2019s intervention? It\u2019s the cherry on top, admitting\u00a0in essence\u00a0they\u2019re using this civil suit to curb \u201cunregulated manufacture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ATF has no statutory authority to regulate firearm accessories like triggers in this way. They were created\u00a0to enforce existing laws, not invent new ones via proxy. Patent law is for protecting innovation, not as a tool for disarmament. Whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge, the bureaucracy finds ways to chip away at our rights. Remember, this \u201cpro-2A\u201d admin settled with conditions that force Rare Breed to police the market, effectively creating a monopoly that limits options for Americans.<\/p>\n

The implications are chilling. If the government can hijack private lawsuits to advance gun control, what\u2019s next? Banning aftermarket parts through\u00a0intellectual property?\u00a0Ignoring the First Amendment and stifling 3D printing innovations that empower self-reliance? Hoffman\u2019s open-source approach democratizes gun tech, putting power in the hands of the people, not corporations or the state. By backing Rare Breed, the ATF is signaling they want fewer triggers out there, period, regardless of legality.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t let bureaucrats weaponize the courts. Support organizations like Gun Owners of America who broke this story, contact your reps, boycott companies that cave to\u00a0government\u00a0pressure, and stay vigilant. The Second Amendment isn\u2019t negotiable;\u00a0it\u2019s our birthright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOJ and ATF Overreach: Weaponizing Patent Law Against the 2A It\u2019s no surprise to see the federal government trample on gun rights time and again. But the latest stunt from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) takes the cake. On January 26, 2026, the ATF filed … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bureaucraps","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114890,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114889\/revisions\/114890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}