Last month, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department (LCSD) arrested a man for carrying a concealed firearm without a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit (CHP) and having an AR-15 equipped with a binary trigger, which the Sheriff’s Department claimed made the firearm a machine gun.
Loudoun County is an upscale suburb of Washington, DC. It is the wealthiest county in the country, and it tends to lean left on most issues. Although the county is primarily controlled by Democrats, the Sheriff’s Department is led by Republican Mike Chapman, who claims to be a pro-gun Sheriff.
In a now-deleted social media post on Facebook, the Sheriff’s Department claimed that the arrest started as a routine traffic stop when police discovered an AR-15 in the car. When officers examined the AR-15, it was determined to be equipped with a binary trigger, leading to the man’s arrest.
According to the social media post, binary triggers are illegal in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The LCSD claims that a binary trigger converts a semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun, much like a drop-in auto sear (DIAS). Although Virginia has a law against “trigger activators,” it is generally understood not to include binary triggers. In fact, Democrats have been trying unsuccessfully to ban the devices for years.
Binary triggers are also not machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) as the post claims. A machine gun fires multiple rounds with a single function of a trigger. In a binary trigger, only one round is expelled by a single function of the trigger. This distinction seemed to be lost on the LCSD.
After the post was made on Facebook, the gun community rose up in mass to attack the LCSD’s stance on binary triggers. The pressure was overwhelming, and after AmmoLand News reached out to Sheriff Chapman’s Facebook account, the post was deleted. AmmoLand News then contacted LCSD’s public relations officer, Chad Quinn, who confirmed that the post was deleted due to the public backlash from the gun community.
Mr. Quinn stated that after the backlash, the binary trigger charges were not filed against the man. When asked about LCSD saying that the triggers were illegal, the man stated that, in their opinion, the post about binary triggers was accurate. When asked how they concluded that the triggers were unlawful, he indicated that they drew on their extensive experience to interpret the Virginia law.
When we explained how a drop-in auto sear works compared to a binary trigger, the public relations officer stated that the Sheriff’s Department would need to obtain clarification from the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, as he still believed the information in the post was accurate. The fact that a binary trigger could be confused with a DIAS shows the need for education of law enforcement officers.
The LCSD stated on record that no one will be arrested and charged with having a binary trigger in Loudoun County, even though the Department was not willing to concede that they are legal in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This statement gives Loudoun County gun owners a partial win.
When asked about stores that sell binary triggers in Virginia and companies that ship to Virginia, the Department had no further comment other than saying they would check with the AG, which, after Tuesday’s election, could be Democrat Jay Jones, who advocated for killing Republican children.
This situation goes beyond Loudoun County and shows the ambiguity of the Virginia law. The law is written in a way that could lead to the misinterpretation of the legality of things like force reset triggers (FRTs). Depending on who wins on Tuesday, it could be weaponized to attack gun owners.
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About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
