State Legality MatrixBinary TriggersCalifornia
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Prohibited as a multiburst trigger activator; possession and sale are barred. Effective 2019-01-01.
Controlling law: Cal. Penal Code §§ 16930 & 32900
Contested entry
Stats. 2018, ch. 795 (SB 1346), effective January 1, 2019, added § 16930(b)(4), which lists any aftermarket trigger or trigger system that, if installed, allows more than one round to be fired with a single depression of the trigger. Section 16930(a) also reaches a trigger activating device that increases a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire. Section 32900 bars manufacture, import, sale, transfer, and possession.
The statute in practice
Penal Code section 16930 defines a multiburst trigger activator to include a manual or power-driven trigger activating device that increases a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire and, since 2019, any aftermarket trigger or trigger system that, if installed, allows more than one round to be fired with a single depression of the trigger. Section 32900 makes manufacturing, importing, keeping for sale, offering for sale, giving, lending, or possessing a multiburst trigger activator punishable by up to one year in county jail or by imprisonment under section 1170(h).
Timeline
Federal law
Binary triggers are legal under federal law and are not machine guns under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b); ATF treats the trigger pull and the trigger release as two separate functions of the trigger, so one round is fired per function. Cargill v. Garland (2024) concerned bump stocks, not binary triggers, and does not change this.
Federal baseline verified 2026-10-20. Scope: Binary triggers (Franklin Armory BFSIII and similar): fire one round on trigger pull and one on release. Forced reset triggers are a separate class.
Common questions
No. Prohibited as a multiburst trigger activator; possession and sale are barred. Effective 2019-01-01. Controlling law: Cal. Penal Code §§ 16930 & 32900.
The controlling law is Cal. Penal Code §§ 16930 & 32900. Prohibited as a multiburst trigger activator; possession and sale are barred.
California's rule took effect 2019-01-01. Stats. 2018, ch. 795 (SB 1346), effective January 1, 2019, added § 16930(b)(4), which lists any aftermarket trigger or trigger system that, if installed, allows more than one round to be fired with a single depression of the trigger. Section 16930(a) also reaches a trigger activating device that increases a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire. Section 32900 bars manufacture, import, sale, transfer, and possession.