Are Forced Reset Triggers Legal in South Dakota?

South Dakota Codified Law section 22-1-2 defines a machine gun by automatic discharge of two or more cartridges from a magazine through a single firing-device function. The definition does not create a separate forced-reset-trigger or rate-increasing-device category.

Section 22-14-6 addresses possession of a controlled weapon and includes a federal-licensing exception. The definition must be resolved before that exception becomes relevant.

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.