Are Binary Triggers Legal in North Carolina?

North Carolina section 14-288.8 bars weapons of mass death and destruction, a category that includes any firearm capable of fully automatic fire and any combination of parts designed or intended for converting a device into such a weapon, with an exception for possession in compliance with the National Firearms Act.

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.