Florida Charges a Texan for Selling Forced-Reset Triggers Federal Law Allows
A 24-year-old Texas man now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine in Florida for selling forced-reset triggers. Skyeler "Bleau" Jackson says he is the first person ever charged under a Florida statute passed in 2018. Investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office made the arrest. The case turns on a state law that never mentions FRTs, while federal regulators now treat them as legal. Jackson sold a product that is lawful in most states and got prosecuted in the one state that reads an old law broadly enough to reach it.
Key Details
The facts of the case are simple, even if the law is not.
- Defendant: Skyeler "Bleau" Jackson, 24, of Texas.
- Charge basis: A Florida statute enacted in 2018 as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
- Enforcing agency: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators.
- Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
- Statute language: The law bans bump-fire stocks and any device that alters a firearm's rate of fire to mimic automatic fire or exceeds what a person can achieve unassisted by a kit, tool, accessory, or device.
- Text omission: The statute does not mention forced-reset triggers by name.
- Signing governor: Then-Governor Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator, signed the act in 2018.
Jackson's case is the first prosecution under this provision that his side has identified. Forced-reset triggers remain lawful under federal law. Florida remains one of the few states where the state statute could still be read to ban them.
Background
Forced-reset triggers came under federal scrutiny in 2018. The ATF classified Rare Breed Triggers' FRT-15 as a machine gun that year, which pulled the product off the market and forced the company to fight back in court. Rare Breed sued, and the Justice Department settled the case in May 2024. Under that settlement, federal regulators stopped treating FRTs as machine guns. The reclassification did not carry over to every state, and Florida's law was written before the federal fight ended.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas act followed the February 2018 shooting at the Parkland high school. Lawmakers raised the minimum age to buy a long gun to 21 and created a bump-stock ban in the same package. The rate-of-fire language came in as a catch-all, written to cover bump stocks and similar devices. Lawmakers did not write it with FRTs in mind, and they did not name a single device. That vagueness is now the basis for a felony charge.
Why It Matters for Gun Owners
This case reaches far past Florida. Any seller who ships parts across state lines needs to know the destination state's rules, not just the federal ones. Federal legality does not protect a seller from state charges. An FRT that ships legally to Texas can become a crime the moment it crosses into Florida. Dealers in FRTs, aftermarket parts sellers, and online shops should check every state they ship to before the next order goes out.
Buyers face the same risk. A Florida resident who installs a forced-reset trigger may not know that a statute written for bump stocks covers it. Owners traveling through Florida with FRT-equipped rifles should consider removing the parts or leaving the rifles at home. Watch for the Palm Beach County case to move forward, because the courts will decide whether the statute reaches FRTs at all. The answer will set the rule for every Florida gun owner who has one installed.
DownRange Analysis
This prosecution fails the Bruen test in spirit, even if a court upholds it on the technicalities. Under Bruen, the state must justify a restriction with a historical tradition of similar regulation. Florida cannot point to a tradition of banning devices that its own statute never names. A law that requires investigators to decide whether a trigger mimics automatic fire is a law that gives fair notice to no one. Jackson's defense should press a vagueness argument hard. A statute that leaves the public guessing about legal conduct invites arbitrary enforcement.
The market takes the hit first. Sellers will pull FRT inventory from Florida ship lists, and buyers will hesitate on any purchase bound for the state. Here is what a gun owner should do right now. Do not sell or ship FRTs into Florida. Do not install one if you live there or plan to travel with it. Keep purchase records and check the status of the Palm Beach case before you make any decision about your own parts.
