Are Forced Reset Triggers Legal in Arizona?

Arizona Revised Statutes section 13-3101 defines an automatic firearm by whether it fires more than one shot automatically, without manual reloading, through a single trigger function. The same definition contains an exception for firearms registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Arizona's code does not add a separate forced-reset, trigger-activator, or generic rate-of-fire-device definition. That makes the number of shots produced by each trigger function the central state-law fact.

Under the 2025 DOJ settlement with Rare Breed Triggers, an FRT fires one round per trigger function and is not an NFA machine gun federally. The settlement covers rifles and grip-forward pistols; it does not extend to grip-fed handguns (Glock, S&W M&P, Canik), whose federal FRT status remains less settled. State bans operate independently of federal law through broader state machine-gun, trigger-activator, or rate-of-fire definitions.

Scope: Forced reset triggers (Rare Breed FRT-15, Dairyland Defender, and similar) and forced-reset selectors (AR Super Safety, ARC-Fire). One round per trigger function. Binary triggers are a separate class.