State Legality MatrixBinary TriggersConnecticut
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Prohibited as a rate of fire enhancement that fires more than one round per operation of the trigger. Effective 2018-10-01.
Controlling law: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-206g; Conn. P.A. 26-41, § 2
Contested entry
Public Act 18-29, effective October 1, 2018, defines a rate of fire enhancement to include a device that causes a semiautomatic firearm to fire more than one round per operation of the trigger, where the trigger pull and reset constitute a single operation, including a binary trigger system. Public Act 26-41, effective October 1, 2026, rewrote § 53-206g(c) and keeps binary trigger systems in that clause while adding forced reset triggers and pistol converters. Violations are a class D felony, with a class D misdemeanor first offense for specified certificate holders who possessed a device before July 1, 2019.
The statute in practice
Connecticut section 53-206g bars selling, transferring, purchasing, possessing, using, or manufacturing a rate of fire enhancement, defined to include a device that causes a semiautomatic firearm to fire more than one round per operation of the trigger, where the trigger pull and reset constitute a single operation of the trigger, including a binary trigger system. Public Act 26-41, effective October 1, 2026, rewrote the definition, keeping binary trigger systems and adding forced reset triggers and pistol converters.
Timeline
What it means for you
A violation is a class D felony. A first offense is a class D misdemeanor for a holder of a specified Connecticut carry permit or eligibility or ammunition certificate who possessed a device before July 1, 2019. A person moving into the state has 90 days, and a service member deployed from the state on October 1, 2018 has 90 days after returning, to render a device permanently inoperable, remove it from the state, or surrender it.
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 rate of fire enhancement that fires more than one round per operation of the trigger. Effective 2018-10-01. Controlling law: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-206g; Conn. P.A. 26-41, § 2.
The controlling law is Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-206g; Conn. P.A. 26-41, § 2. Prohibited as a rate of fire enhancement that fires more than one round per operation of the trigger.
Connecticut's rule took effect 2018-10-01. Public Act 18-29, effective October 1, 2018, defines a rate of fire enhancement to include a device that causes a semiautomatic firearm to fire more than one round per operation of the trigger, where the trigger pull and reset constitute a single operation, including a binary trigger system. Public Act 26-41, effective October 1, 2026, rewrote § 53-206g(c) and keeps binary trigger systems in that clause while adding forced reset triggers and pistol converters. Violations are a class D felony, with a class D misdemeanor first offense for specified certificate holders who possessed a device before July 1, 2019.
Section 53-206g supplies its own definition: for this offense, the pull and reset of the trigger constitute a single operation of the trigger, and the definition expressly identifies a binary trigger system.