State Legality MatrixBinary TriggersIllinois
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Prohibited under PICA's ban on devices that increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire. Effective 2023-01-10.
Controlling law: 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(14)
Contested entry
Public Act 102-1116 (the Protect Illinois Communities Act, effective January 10, 2023) added § 24-1(a)(14), which bars manufacturing, possessing, selling, transferring, or using any device, part, kit, tool, accessory, or combination of parts designed to and functioning to increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire above its standard rate; a violation is a Class 2 felony. Illinois' machine-gun definition (single function of the trigger) does not independently reach binaries, so this rate-of-fire provision is the operative hook.
The statute in practice
720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(14), added by the Protect Illinois Communities Act, bars manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, importing, transferring, or using any device, part, kit, tool, accessory, or combination of parts that is designed to and functions to increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire above the standard rate for semiautomatic firearms not equipped with it. A violation is a Class 2 felony. The provision is separate from Illinois's machine-gun definition and does not depend on counting functions of the trigger.
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 under PICA's ban on devices that increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire. Effective 2023-01-10. Controlling law: 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(14).
The controlling law is 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(14). Prohibited under PICA's ban on devices that increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire.
Illinois's rule took effect 2023-01-10. Public Act 102-1116 (the Protect Illinois Communities Act, effective January 10, 2023) added § 24-1(a)(14), which bars manufacturing, possessing, selling, transferring, or using any device, part, kit, tool, accessory, or combination of parts designed to and functioning to increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire above its standard rate; a violation is a Class 2 felony. Illinois' machine-gun definition (single function of the trigger) does not independently reach binaries, so this rate-of-fire provision is the operative hook.