State Legality MatrixForced Reset TriggersRhode Island
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Treated as prohibited under Rhode Island's rapid-fire device bans; statutory coverage of one-pull FRTs is contested.
Controlling law: R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 11-47-8(d) & 11-47-8.1
Contested entry
The 2018 device ban names bump-fire devices, binary triggers, and trigger cranks and turns on enabling full-automatic fire; forced reset triggers are not named, and § 11-47-8.1(d) expressly preserves replacement triggers designed to lighten or improve the trigger pull. Coverage of one-pull FRTs is contested and untested in court. Rare Breed's published no-ship list includes Rhode Island; this cell stays conservative at banned.
The statute in practice
Rhode Island General Laws section 11-47-8(d) prohibits possessing a bump-fire device, binary trigger, trigger crank, or any other device that, when attached to a semi-automatic weapon, allows full-automatic fire. Forced-reset triggers are not named in that list.
Section 11-47-8.1 prohibits modifying a semi-automatic weapon so that it can shoot full-automatic fire with a single pull or hold of the trigger, and states that it does not prohibit replacement triggers or trigger components designed to decrease trigger pull weight or improve the quality and release of the trigger pull.
What it means for you
A violation of section 11-47-8(d) is punishable by one to ten years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. Rare Breed Triggers lists Rhode Island 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 prohibited under Rhode Island's rapid-fire device bans; statutory coverage of one-pull FRTs is contested. Controlling law: R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 11-47-8(d) & 11-47-8.1.
The controlling law is R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 11-47-8(d) & 11-47-8.1. Treated as prohibited under Rhode Island's rapid-fire device bans; statutory coverage of one-pull FRTs is contested.