State Legality MatrixForced Reset TriggersIllinois
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Treated as machine guns by the Illinois Attorney General under the existing unlawful-use-of-weapons statute; PICA's rate-of-fire provision also reaches them.
Controlling law: 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(7), (a)(14)
Contested entry
The Attorney General's office treats FRTs as banned under existing Illinois law and joined the 2025 multistate suit over the federal settlement. Section 24-1(a)(14), added by the Protect Illinois Communities Act, separately bars any device, part, kit, tool, or accessory designed to and functioning to increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire above its standard rate. SB1936 (the proposed Rafael Wordlaw Act, 104th GA) would write forced reset triggers into the machine-gun definition expressly; its last action was referral to Senate Assignments on February 6, 2025, and it has not been enacted.
The statute in practice
Illinois's unlawful-use-of-weapons statute, 720 ILCS 5/24-1, regulates machine guns in subsection (a)(7), and subsection (a)(14), added by the Protect Illinois Communities Act, separately bars any device, part, kit, tool, or accessory designed to and functioning to increase a semiautomatic firearm's rate of fire above its standard rate.
The Attorney General has publicly stated that forced-reset triggers are banned under existing Illinois law. SB 1936 in the 104th General Assembly would write forced reset triggers into the machine-gun definition expressly; its last action was referral to Senate Assignments on February 6, 2025.
What it means for you
SB 1936 has not been enacted. Rare Breed Triggers lists Illinois as a no-ship jurisdiction.
Federal law
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.
Federal baseline verified 2026-10-20. 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.
Common questions
No. Treated as machine guns by the Illinois Attorney General under the existing unlawful-use-of-weapons statute; PICA's rate-of-fire provision also reaches them. Controlling law: 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(7), (a)(14).
The controlling law is 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(7), (a)(14). Treated as machine guns by the Illinois Attorney General under the existing unlawful-use-of-weapons statute; PICA's rate-of-fire provision also reaches them.
No. The Attorney General relies on existing Illinois law, and section 24-1(a)(14) already bars rate-increasing devices; SB 1936 is a separate proposal to add explicit wording.